San Marcos, Costa Rica
Encyclopedia
San Marcos or San Marcos de Tarrazú is the capital city of the canton of Tarrazú
in the province of San José
in Costa Rica
. It is also the name of the distrito (district) that includes the city. The district of San Marcos covers an area of 42.07 km²,Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), 2001 and has a population of 8,817.Estimates of Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC), May 2003
The city lies at an elevation of 1,429 meters above sea level in a mountainous area known as Los Santos, 70 kilometers south of the national capital city of San José
.
The city was founded in the 1820s by agricultural migrants from the Central Valley. The region's earliest residents were dedicated to growing basic foodstuffs, namely beans, corn, and sugar cane. Local farmers started growing coffee in the highland valley in the 1890s. The region is best known for its high quality coffee.
Its geography is suited to growing coffee, mostly because the slopes of the mountains face the morning light and the cloud cover protects the coffee trees in the afternoon. The red soil found in the valley is of volcanic origin. All this plus the altitude make ideal conditions to grow the coffees harvested by locals.
is divided in 3 districts: San Marcos de Tarrazu, San Lorenzo, and San Carlos
. The first district is the commerce center of the entire valley.
This region has a deep-seated political relationship with the Liberacion Nacional political party that stems back to the 1948 Civil War. Jose "Pepe" Figueres and his troops were not only headquartered in the neighboring community of Santa Maria de Dota, but the main concentration camp of political prisoners for these forces was housed in San Marcos' school. Moreover, a vast majority of Figueres' foot soldiers were from the present-day cantons of Tarrazu, Dota, and Leon Cortes. Furthermore, most of Figueres' workers at his cabuya hacienda, "La Lucha Sin Fin," were from this same region.
plains and Manuel Antonio National Park
. Giant pre-historic ferns and hardwoods can be found here. Birds such as the Quetzal
and small mammals are abundant.
ns and Panama
nian Indians are settling in the valley in record numbers.
The region has a number of bars, dance halls, and brothels but few other spaces for leisure activity.
Tarrazú
Tarrazú is the name of the 5th canton in the province of San José in Costa Rica. The canton covers an area of 297.50 km², and has a population of 15,142...
in the province of San José
San José Province
San José is a province of Costa Rica. It is located in the central part of the country, and borders the provinces of Alajuela, Heredia, Cartago, Limón and Puntarenas. The provincial capital is San José. The province covers an area of 4,965.9 km²...
in Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
. It is also the name of the distrito (district) that includes the city. The district of San Marcos covers an area of 42.07 km²,Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), 2001 and has a population of 8,817.Estimates of Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC), May 2003
The city lies at an elevation of 1,429 meters above sea level in a mountainous area known as Los Santos, 70 kilometers south of the national capital city of San José
San José, Costa Rica
San José is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. Located in the Central Valley, San José is the seat of national government, the focal point of political and economic activity, and the major transportation hub of this Central American nation.Founded in 1738 by order of Cabildo de León, San...
.
History
Geography
San Marcos de Tarrazu is located in the north bank of the Pirris River, in a highland valley surrounded by mountains that are part of the Talamanca Sierra in southern Costa Rica. Downtown San Marcos is 1350 meters above sea level but is surrounded by peaks as high as 3000 meters above sea level.Its geography is suited to growing coffee, mostly because the slopes of the mountains face the morning light and the cloud cover protects the coffee trees in the afternoon. The red soil found in the valley is of volcanic origin. All this plus the altitude make ideal conditions to grow the coffees harvested by locals.
Politics
The Tarrazu county or cantonCantons of Costa Rica
This is a list of the cantons of Costa Rica.Cantons are the second-level administrative division of Costa Rica. The country's seven provinces are subdivided into 81 cantons , and these are further subdivided into districts .A unique feature of the cantons is that they are the only administrative...
is divided in 3 districts: San Marcos de Tarrazu, San Lorenzo, and San Carlos
San Carlos Canton
San Carlos is the name of the 10th canton in the province of Alajuela in Costa Rica. The canton covers an area of , making it the largest canton in the country. It has a population of 137,499 , ranking it fifth...
. The first district is the commerce center of the entire valley.
This region has a deep-seated political relationship with the Liberacion Nacional political party that stems back to the 1948 Civil War. Jose "Pepe" Figueres and his troops were not only headquartered in the neighboring community of Santa Maria de Dota, but the main concentration camp of political prisoners for these forces was housed in San Marcos' school. Moreover, a vast majority of Figueres' foot soldiers were from the present-day cantons of Tarrazu, Dota, and Leon Cortes. Furthermore, most of Figueres' workers at his cabuya hacienda, "La Lucha Sin Fin," were from this same region.
Economy
Traditionally, cultural and economic progress have been directly tied to the coffee industry. More recently, however, other agricultural products, namely avocados, have helped farmers keep afloat in years of coffee decline. Perhaps the key reason this region has managed to retain its coffee production, while other regions in Costa Rica have been unable to do so has been immigration. Indeed, since the 1960s this region has exported a considerable percentage of its workforce to the United States.Flora and fauna
The district of San Lorenzo has been almost overlooked by coffee farmers mostly because of its lowlands and tropical weather. However, more recently tourism has flourished thanks to its pristine forests and clean rivers, the proximity to the QueposQuepos
Quepos is a city in Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica. It is served by the Quepos-La Managua airport. It is located at around . It is home to approximately 14,000 people....
plains and Manuel Antonio National Park
Manuel Antonio National Park
Manuel Antonio National Park, in Spanish the Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio, is a small National Park in the Central Pacific Conservation Area located on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, just south of the city of Quepos, Puntarenas, and from the national capital of San José...
. Giant pre-historic ferns and hardwoods can be found here. Birds such as the Quetzal
Quetzal
Quetzals are strikingly colored birds in the trogon family . They are found in forests and woodlands, especially in humid highlands, with the five species from the genus Pharomachrus being exclusively Neotropical, while the single Euptilotis species is almost entirely restricted to western Mexico...
and small mammals are abundant.
Demographics
The city of San Marcos, located in the highland valley of Tarrazu, has a population of approx. 12,000 people. The majority of its people grow coffee in the mountains surrounding the city. San Marcos de Tarrazu has been known in the green coffee trade industry as a source of coffee beans. Nearby towns of Santa Maria and San Pablo are also sources of specialty coffee beans. Roman Catholics comprise approx. 90% of the local population. Due to coffee picking, NicaraguaNicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
ns and Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
nian Indians are settling in the valley in record numbers.
Culture
Local culture varies little from that of the rest of Costa Rica, in that the Catholic Church and the Costa Rican state both play a critical role in determining days of celebration. Indeed, the annual Patron Saints' Day Festival is both a civic and a religious event. Whereas much of Costa Rica has allowed the cultural importance of coffee production to decline, this region is deeply wedded to this crops' production. This is evident in the fact that a majority of the region's children continue to pick coffee, a custom that has largely gone out of fashion in the Central Valley where coffee picking is almost entirely done by foreign laborers, namely Nicaraguans.The region has a number of bars, dance halls, and brothels but few other spaces for leisure activity.