The National Museum, in conjunction with community associations of the Osa, Palmar and the Diquis Delta region, invite you to the VII Festival of the Stone Spheres this weekend. This is a cultural and festive event that will serve as a warm up for the future UNESCO candidacy of the magnificent National Park of the Stone Spheres of Costa Rica.

The activities will start at 9:00 AM and will wrap up at 9:00 PM during the three days of the festival. All the activities are FREE, since the festival is aimed at promoting cultural literacy about our mysterious and endearing stone spheres. Children and adolescents are strongly encouraged to attend, since Costa Rica is interested in finding a talented researcher that will one day decipher the precise reason why the spheres were made.

The festival will also highlight the amazing biodiversity of the Osa Peninsula. There will be workshops on digital photography and video recording, medicinal plants, protecting cultural heritage, and birdwatching in the region.

Bird and plant life tours will be guided by specialists from the National Museum (bring your binoculars), and budding astronomers will get a chance to wake up extra early and watch the sunrise as it aligns with the spheres. One of the theories behind our man-made petrospheres is that they served as instruments of celestial observation, which makes sense since the Bribri people are considered to be the earliest astronomers in the Americas.

Other activities will include workshops for children, face painting, handcrafts, ethnic cuisine, mangrove tours, dance exhibitions, indigenous culture, mangrove tours, film screenings, alternative rock by Raza Bronze, parades, and even a traveling circus from Perez Zeledon.

To get to the festival by automobile, drive southbound on La Costanera until you see the bridge over the Terraba river. Turn right on the first exit past the bridge to get to the park.

The Tracopa bus line in San Jose stops at Palmar Norte. They have new comfortable buses, and the cost of a one way ticket is about $10. You can find out more about Tracopa and bus travel to our Southern Zone in our previous article: Bus travel in Costa Rica

Nature Air and SANSA Regional fly to the Palmar Sur airport from their respective air bases in San Jose. A one-way trip is about $125 on either one. You can find out more about domestic flights in Costa Rica in our previous article: Charter and Domestic Flights in Costa Rica

For lodging options, please visit the Festival of the Stone Spheres page at the National Museum.