The Best Store in San Jose

This store sold items from the seven indigenous tribes of Costa Rica so everything was authentic and fair trade.  I loved it and have been there three times so far.

This is an actual mask used in one of their ceremonies.  It is made of real bones and really quite large.

I loved these colorful wood carvings.  They were very light; I think they were made of balsa wood.

This was my favorite of the wood carvings.  It was about $60.

These masks are one-of-a-kind and are used in an annual three-day celebration called Dance of the Devils.  Everyone in the tribe carves a mask and they are "killed" by someone in a bull mask throughout the three days.  On the last day, everyone "comes back to life" and "kills" the bull.  It's supposed to symbolize the Spanish invasion and the bull represents the Spanish so they are triumphing over the invasion.

Some of them are more ornate than others and some aren't even painted at all.  That black one on the left scared me.

This is a picture of a picture that was in a book.  It shows someone participating in the Dance of the Devils ceremony.

We actually saw a herd of wild boars in the rain forest so maybe I should have purchased this mask.

The same tribe also makes masks that are just for art.  They aren't actually used in a ceremony.  They are much sleeker looking.

These baskets are woven so tightly that they hold water.  They are very expensive; the smallest one is over $100.

Fertility symbols.  Or the sales lady said "inspiration."

These bags are hand woven by the women of the tribe that makes the masks.  They make their own cotton and dye it with natural dyes.

This is the loom they use to weave the bags.

This art is made of tree bark.

They carve jewelry and little figurines out of these seeds and it ends up looking like ivory.

Another view of the seed.

Seeds in various stages of carving.

The shine comes only from sand paper, there is no varnish or anything.

The beginning of the carving process.

Another view of the seed.

A picture of a picture of the tree.

A picture of a picture of them harvesting the seeds.  It's all sustainable materials, which is cool.

Reproduction gold pieces.  We saw the originals in the National Museum.

A case of figurines and earrings carved from seeds.  I purchased a pair of pink flower earrings.

Another seed.

Cool wood carvings.

I bought the colorful, blue mask near the center of this picture.  Because they are used in the ceremony where people get "killed" they have broken pieces.  I think that is so cool and authentic.  So one of my horns is broken.

I really wanted to buy this sea life mask but I decided I like the used masks better than the art masks.