www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I know all the Souvenir stores carry walking canes made from different Costa Rican woods. Most of the canes I've seen in those stores are "O.K." not terrible expensive but I was wondering if anyone knows of a store in C.R. that specifically specializes in higher end (more expensive) walking canes made from the finest C.R. woods. Thx.

Try the small town of Sarchi. I purchased some nice things there years ago. Also ask around th HDR where there wood carvings were made. There was a small production Artesian that made a lot of those excellent marine life carvings that they have to this day. Hope this helps.

+1 Sarchi was set up as an artisanal sales spot for the goods crafted by US Mennonites fleeing conscription in the Korean War. Nice place to visit even if you're not buying.

Nice info Jazz, I had forgotten about that. I also think there are other settlements near the San Carlos area. As a side note. Have you been down to SWFL yet?

There are other Mennonite communities in and around the areas of the Volcano Arenal – La Fortuna and Monteverde – St Elena.
As we all know Costa Rica constitutionally eliminated its standing army in December 1948.

In 1950, a group of Quakers from Alabama left the US in protest to the involvement in the Korean War, or to escape the draft – it depends on whom you believe as to the exact reasons why they left. A year after they arrived they purchased land and carved out the little settlement of Monteverde. It was untouched jungle (rain forest) located on a cloud shrouded mountain which they now call a “cloud forest”. It doesn’t take too much imagination to understand why. There they started creamery (cheese factory) and still produce a very good product line.

The MonteVerde Cloud Forest is one of only 3 in the world--CR's hidden treasure.

I never knew that. Do you know the other 2?

It's hardly a "hidden treasure"--it's in the top 3 list of CR attractions, and is so crowded that there's a daily quota on the number of visitors allowed to enter. There are other Cloud forest reserves that have the same scenery but without the crowds, much more "hidden treasure"-like: Santa Elena and Los Angeles.

Yes I was big-time mistaken on both points, as this Wikipedia article shows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_forests