Central Valley

Traveling in style

Last week I got to do and see a lot around the Central Valley, and was fortunate to meet Carrie, a great traveller and friend.

We went to a public concert in San Jose and listened to a very diverse selection of music, going from Folklore to Salsa, to Classical to Heavy Metal. Yeah! We also hiked the rain forest looking for waterfalls, visited a 3000 years old archeological site, had amazing views of the entire Central Valley near an active volcano, and listened to Trova music up in the mountains with a view of San Jose - all while relying on public transportation, eating local food, and using just common sense.... this IS traveling with style!

Guayabo - Est. Since 1000 BC

The Guayabo National Monument is the most important archeological site in Costa Rica. The city was built and inhabited from 1000 BC to 1400 AD and only a section has been excavated. It is up in the mountains close to Turrialba, in the province of Cartago, surrounded by rivers and rich soil suitable for all kinds of plantations. Also, the flora and fauna are very diversed in this area. The population reached ten thousand, but the city was abandoned right before the Spaniards arrived.

Getting to Guayabo was quite a journey! We first made a stop in Turrialba, a very pleasant town. The two-hour bus ride is smooth and goes through valleys, overseeing small charming towns, and fields of sugar cane, coffee, dairy, cattle, and viveros as far as the eye can see. At times it was sunny, then it would get rainy, switch to fuggy, and go back to sunny.

Turrialba is a bit hot, but there is a cool breeze, specially in the morning and at mid afternoon. People are friendly and food here is good. There is a really nice church and lots of sculptures around the central park where we had a Copo Saprissista. Copos are shaved ice with super sweet fruit syrup and two milks - condensed and powder - served in a plastic cup.... very tasty in a hot day! The copero was a die-hard Saprissista. His copo-cart was all in purple and decorated with flags and accessories of his soccer team.

After a visit to the church, we took our second bus going to Guayabo. It is only 11 km, but enough to make the bus ride an adventure! The road at the beginning is in good conditions, but it gets rough higher up in the mountains. It was pouring rain and some parts of the road had been washed away, yet, the bus driver decided he wanted to go fast and barely slow down at sharp curves. It was so fuggy that at times we could only see the silhouette of houses fading in the air, and then only trees and flowers.

So, we made it to Guayabo alive! The 30-minute hike to the site is easy and goes through the rain forest. The view of the site is impressive, sitting in the middle of a thick dark green forest in a rainy day. There are some building foundations in the main plaza, a working aqueduct, carved stones, and a cobble stone road that extends for 200 mts. The signs are mostly in Spanish, but easy to understand.

To me, Guayabo is a magical place that my ancestors built more than 3000 years ago. The government has not done much to develop the area, which is not so good because there is no money to do more excavations, but on the other hand it helps to keep the towns nearby more local and genuine. When you come to visit, make sure to stop at Restaurante E.I.M.I. There is a small butterfly garden you can go to for a small tip while your meal is being prepared. Say hi to Osvaldo and his dog, Luna, will ya!

There are many other things to do in Turrialba. You can hike to the crater of the Turrialba Volcano, which is still active; go white water rafting at the Reventazon River, or visit some of the dairy farms. I've heard night life here is good too. A piece of advice would be to stay for the night.


Los Chorros and all four provinces

Los Chorros is a private reserve in the rain forest outside of Grecia, Alajuela. About 2 km before the main entrance there is Hacienda Los Trapiches, a recreational center that has a watermill machine that extracts sugar cane juice on Sundays. Walking along the "high way" the view of the valley is amazing. The mountains look like waves in the ocean, decorated by small towns at the distance and sugar cane fields everywhere. The sound of the river and the wind going through the leafy tress at the bottom of the canyon complement this simple and memorable experience.

We walked down the hill through rustic trails for about 20 minutes, and there they were, two majestic waterfalls 180 ft tall each. We crossed a small hanging bridge and walked along a huge stone wall that separated the waterfalls. At the bottom of the wall and almost perfectly lined up there are a series of holes through which thin streams of cold water flow. The second waterfall is hidden further away to the left at the end of the L-shaped canyon. It is powerful and impressive and the fall is extremely noisy and produces a really strong and cold wind. Standing right there surrounded by nature at its best was such a mesmerizing experience.

We also met a really nice Colombian-Costa Rican couple who offered as a ride to go to the Poas Volcano. Monica and Marvin were visiting from Alaska with their toddler, David, who became very good friends with Carrie. Marvin stepped on the gas, but we arrived late and the park was closed. It was a bit upsetting that we didn't see the volcano after a long drive, but that didn't matter. We had good conversations and a great view of the ENTIRE Central Valley. I mean, we could see all four provinces and the two largest mountain chains in Costa Rica. We then went back to Grecia for dinner and had fresh locally produced strawberries and the best roasted chicken in town!

Bougainvillea Gardens

I had visited the gardens at Bougainvillea Hotel in Heredia the week before. The attraction here are the many different flowers, plants and trees that grow in diverse areas of the country - orchids, bamboo, cactus, oak.... The trails are similar to the ones in a rain forest, and there are lots of hummingbirds flying around. Also, there are sculptures of animals all over the property, and coffee and sugar cane fields next to the swamp. This is a really good spot for a quite afternoon and coffee, away from the noise of the city, and it is only 15 minutes from Santo Domingo, going towards Santo Tomas.

Santo Domingo is another nice town outside of Heredia. Here, there are a few well maintained colonial style buildings that are large and colorful. The view of the mountains behind the church also gives the town a little sense of colonial life, even though this is mostly an urban area. There are some good local bars and restaurants and it is close to Tibas, home to the Saprissa Soccer Stadium in San Jose. Another good place to visit is INBio Park, which contains samples of different types of climate and vegetation from all over Costa Rica.

In short....

I am used to rainy days and the sweet smell of wet dirt and the calming sound of drops hitting the leaves like they where drums. Traveling by bus and looking at all of this through the window is relaxing, inspiring and a reminder of what I love in live and where I come from.

My travelling experiencing around the Central Valley these past few days was truly enjoyable. I got to see lots of places I had heard of when I lived here, but never took the time to visit. I also met a lot of interesting people and made some good friends. It is a great feeling to think I went from the bottom of the valley starting in San Jose and ended at the top of the mountains in Alajuela where I had impressive views of the four provinces I went to.

Travelling is a satisfying way of life, and when you find people who enjoy it just as much, the experience is even better.

Going to

• Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limon - volunteer work with the Bribri Indigenous group