Close to the Cachi lake in the Province of Cartago the small village of Ujarrs is located. Ujarras is not far San Jose an is easy to reach through the city of Cartago. The Ujarra Valley, part of Costa Rica’s Central Valley Metropolitan Area, is one on the most beautiful. The main attraction in Ujarras are the ruins of the medieval Church of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception, constructed in the middle of the 16th century has a curious history. It is said that the church of Ujarras, before it was destroyed by floodings and earthquakes, contained a paining of the Virgin Mary, that was found in a box discovered by an Indigenous fisherman. However they were not able to move the box and built a limestone church on top of the box. The powers of the Virgin of Ujarras are credited for miraculous bell ringing as a flood warning and helping to stop a rampage in 1666 of Morgan’s pirates coming in from the Caribbean Coast. Not much is left of the church nowadays and the painting has vanished, but you can have stroll through the gardens that surround the ruins of Ujarra. Every year there is special mass for the Virgin of Ujarras with processions in nearby Orosi and Ujarras, that attract many pilgrims. Higher up the mountain side there are some nice places to have something to eat or drink and enjoy a beautiful view over the valley the artificial Lake Cachi and the white water rafting Reventazon River making his way to the Caribbean side of the mountains. Only a couple of kilometres outside Ujarras you can find the enormous dam that forms Lake Cachi and generates hydroelectric energy, Costa Rica’s prime source of electricity.