Monday, June 14, 2010

Costa Rican Ox Cart

PAINTED OXCART

Framed in Native Costa Rican Wood,This Mounted Super High Resolution Digital Photographic Print is available for sale from Professional Photographer Marc Soto.

Has become well known as the colorful symbol of Costa Rica, the painted ox cart. Yes, miniature versions have become popular as mini bars purchased by tourists to ship home. But the history of the ox cart is much more interesting, and they have played a very important part in the economic development of the country.

During the colonial period, they were used for the transportation of coffee, sugar cane, tobacco and other agricultural products. Teams of two oxen would pull the product laden carts down the treacherous paths.

The owners of the oxcarts painted the carts to preserve them. But as time went by, the painting became more and more elaborate. A kind of competition eventually developed over who not only had the finest team of oxen, but who had the most beautiful cart. A national icon was born. Nowadays, you can still find the occasional ox cart in use in the rural areas, and you usually won’t see the intricate designs of days gone by.

But the painted oxcart lives on as a locally beloved art form.

A Beautiful unique addition for any Art Collector.

30" x 40" Super High Resolution Digital Photographic Print
Framed in Native Costa Rican Wood in a Cherry finish.
Photographed by Professional Photographer Marc Soto.

FOB Costa Rica $1900.00 *(Glass not available for shipping)*

In 1988, the government designated the painted oxcart as the National Symbol of Work. This was in recognition of the huge contribution that the humble oxcart made to the economic and social development of Costa Rica.






Volcano Poas



Framed in Native Costa Rican Wood, This Mounted Super High Resolution Digital Photographic Print is available for sale from Professional Photographer Marc Soto.

Botos Lagoon is a filled-up crater in the Parque Nacional Volcan Poas. Its deep blue waters contrast with the dense tropical forest that surround it, making it the perfect spot for the stereotypical Indian sacrifice- throwing a young maiden into the mouth of a crater or a lagoon. Volcan Poas is one of the most visited volcanoes in Costa Rica, because of its proximity to San Jose and because of the luxuriant forest that surrounds the two craters.


The park measures 5600 hectares, and this basaltic volcano stands at an altitude of 2708 meters (8,200 feet) above sea level.

A Beautiful unique addition for any Art Collector.

30" x 40" Super High Resolution Digital Photographic Print
Framed in Native Costa Rican Wood in a Cherry finish.
Photographed by Professional Photographer Marc Soto.

FOB Costa Rica $2500.00 *(Glass not available for shipping)*








Heliconia


HELICONIA PHOTOGRAPH:

Framed in Native Costa Rican Wood, This Mounted Super High Resolution Digital Photographic Print is available for sale from Professional Photographer Marc Soto.

This Beautiful flower derived from the Greek word helikonios, is a genus of about 100 to 200 species of flowering plants native to the tropical Americas and the Pacific Ocean islands west to Indonesia. Common names for the genus include lobster-claws, wild plantains or false bird-of-paradise. The last term refers to their close similarity to the bird-of-paradise flowers.



The leaves of these plants are 15-300 cm (6 in-10 ft) long, oblong, growing opposite one another on non-woody petioles often longer than the leaf, often forming large clumps with age. Their flowers are produced on long, erect or drooping panicles, and consist of brightly colored waxy bracts, with small true flowers peeping out from the bracts. The growth habit of heliconias is similar to Canna, Strelitzia, and bananas, to which they are related.

A Beautiful unique addition for any Art Collector.

30" x 40" Super High Resolution Digital Photographic Print
Framed in Native Costa Rican Wood in a Cherry finish.
Photographed by Professional Photographer Marc Soto.

FOB Costa Rica $2500.00 *(Glass not available for shipping)*