Santa Ana

Santa Ana's tranquil town center, with its rugged stone church, has changed little through the years, even though condos and shopping malls now spread out in all directions. The church, which was built between 1870 and 1880, has a Spanish-tile roof, carved wooden doors, and two pre-Columbian stone spheres flanking its entrance. Its rustic interior—bare wooden pillars and beams and black iron lamps—seems appropriate for an area with a tradition of ranching. Because it's warmer and drier than the towns to the east, Santa Ana is one of the few Central Valley towns that doesn't have a good climate for coffee. (It is Costa Rica's onion capital, however.) Though development encroaches every year—Santa Ana is well on its way to becoming another Escazú—you can still find pastures and patches of forest around the area; it isn't unusual to see men on horseback here.