Costa Rica Ox Carts: History, Sarchí, and Where to See Them

The Costa Rican ox cart, or carreta, is a two-wheeled wooden cart pulled by a pair of oxen, famous for its brightly painted geometric and floral designs. Once the workhorse of the 19th-century coffee trade, it’s now a national symbol. The best place to see ox carts being built and painted is Sarchí, a crafts town about an hour northwest of San José.

Here’s how the carts are made, why they’re painted, the history behind them, and where to see them on your trip.

The cart

What Is a Costa Rican Ox Cart Made Of?

A traditional carreta has a rectangular wooden bed mounted on two large wheels and hitched to a yoke for two oxen. The wheels are the signature feature: instead of thin spokes, they’re built as solid wooden disks, assembled from wedge-shaped sections of hardwood and bound with an iron rim. Solid wheels held up far better than spoked wheels in Costa Rica’s mud and on its steep mountain tracks.

Carts were built from durable local hardwoods such as cedar. Ox carts themselves came with the Spanish, but what sets Costa Rica’s apart is the decoration: since the early 20th century, they’ve been painted in vivid oranges and reds with starbursts, flowers, small landscapes and intricate geometric patterns.

Today

How Are Ox Carts Used in Costa Rica Today?

Trucks replaced ox carts for everyday hauling long ago, though a few farmers in remote areas still use them. Today the carreta is mainly ceremonial. You’ll see decorated carts and their boyeros (oxcart drivers) in parades, religious processions and town fiestas. The biggest event is the Día Nacional del Boyero (National Oxcart Drivers Day), held on the second Sunday of March in San Antonio de Escazú, just west of San José, when dozens of painted carts parade through town. See our guide to Costa Rica’s celebrations and holidays for other dates worth planning around.

No two carts are alike, and each region once had its own painted patterns, so a cart could show where its driver came from. Many carts also “sing”: a metal ring knocks against the wheel hub as the cart rolls, producing a ringing sound that owners once used to tell their carts apart.

History

What Is the History of the Costa Rican Ox Cart?

Oxen and wheeled carts both arrived with the Spanish; Costa Rica’s pre-Columbian peoples carried goods on foot. Early European-style carts with spoked wheels often broke down or bogged in the mud, so local builders adapted the design with solid wheels that could handle the terrain.

The ox cart’s golden age came with the coffee boom of the mid-1800s to early 1900s. Coffee had to travel from the Central Valley over the mountains to the Pacific port of Puntarenas, a trip of many days, and long caravans of carretas did the hauling. That trade, which reached Europe in the 1840s, made the ox cart essential to Costa Rica’s economy and its rural way of life, alongside the sabaneros who worked the cattle ranches of Guanacaste.

Painting took off in the early 20th century, especially in Sarchí. One popular story credits Joaquín Chaverri, founder of one of Sarchí’s best-known cart workshops, with painting his family’s cart orange for Sunday outings and starting the trend. Decoration soon became a point of pride, and better-off families commissioned ever more elaborate designs. After railways and trucks took over, the carreta’s cultural value only grew: Costa Rica named it a national symbol of labor in 1988, and UNESCO proclaimed the country’s oxherding and oxcart traditions a masterpiece of intangible heritage in 2005, adding them to its Representative List in 2008. It sits alongside other national symbols such as the flag.

The paint

Why Are Costa Rica’s Ox Carts So Colorful?

The color started out practical: orange-red paint made with lead oxide, known as minium, helped protect wood from the tropical climate. Over time, painting turned into an art form. Artisans added stars, mandala-like wheel patterns, flowers, birds and landscapes, and owners competed to have the most striking cart in town. Contests still reward the most creative painters, and some have judged carts on their “song” as well as their artistry.

For more Costa Rican folk traditions, see our guide to traditional dances and folklore.

Where to go

Visiting Sarchí to See Ox Carts

Sarchí, in Alajuela province, is the heart of Costa Rica’s oxcart tradition. The workshop most visitors tour is the Eloy Alfaro Oxcart Factory, where artisans still build carts by hand. It’s open daily from about 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. with free entry and parking, and you can watch wheels being cut and designs painted. The gift shop sells everything from key chains and miniature carretas to painted furniture.

• The giant ox cart: Sarchí’s central park, in front of the church, holds a huge painted carreta built in 2006 that Guinness lists as the largest ox cart ever made.
• Shopping: the town is lined with small family workshops and shops selling wooden bowls, painted carts and fold-up wood-and-leather rocking chairs. Many shops can arrange shipping for larger pieces.
• Demonstrations: painters aren’t always working, so message the factory ahead of time if watching a demonstration matters to you.

For more ideas, see our list of family day tours from San José and our San José guide.

Good to know

Costa Rica Ox Cart FAQ

Shopping for more than a cart? See our guide to Costa Rica souvenirs.