While we were having lunch, across the road we saw this cow come walking along. He was followed by a herd of cows and some Costa Rican cowboys, shown in the second photo.Hacienda Guachipelin is a working cattle ranch in addition to being a eco-lodge, restaurant, and adventure park. It is 1,600 hectares, or nearly 4,000 acres. About 1/3rd of the land is used for pastures. About 20% of the land is being reforested with environmentally threatened trees. The remainder is being preserved as tropical forests with eco-tourism activities such as hikes to waterfalls.
The Guanacaste region of northwest Costa Rica has a different ecology than the rest of the country. The weather is sunny and dry for much of the year. There are not banana plantations. Instead of the small family farms of coffee that are common in the moist central highlands and valleys, Guanacaste has a tradition of cattle ranches and cowboys.
Tomorrow, I will show photos of our first activity after lunch. After watching these cowboys, we decided it was time to saddle up.
What a great couple of cowboys. Looks like they knew they were having their picture taken.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos. I can see it's still possible to fulfill my childhood dreams:-)
ReplyDeleteNice looking cattle
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting parade to enjoy during your lunch. Neat sideshow and link to Scottsdale Daily Photo.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that all the employees seem to wear red shirts. These must be the breeding stock as it looks as if they are all cows. Sounds as if they have a lot going on on in that area.
ReplyDeleteIs this the same place that Julie and I had our adventure to the waterfall and the fumaroles?
ReplyDeleteThat lunch patio looks so familiar and I know there were cattle across the road from us as we ate.
MOOOOOOOOOOO!! Cool photos of the cows! Were they on their way to market? Regards from EAGAN daily photo muchos gracias - Adios!
ReplyDeleteNice post! Are the cowboys called Gauchos in Costa Rica as they are in Argentina?
ReplyDeleteBuenos Aires Photo Blog
We rarely see working cowboy nowadays. This is indeed a moment worth capturing. The usual mental image we have of cowboys are those that we usually see in cowboy flicks. But here’s a bit of trivia. There are also cowboys outside America. Mexicans have charro. In Australia, they are called stockemen. South Americans have gaucho, chalan, and huaso.
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