TRAVEL & ADVENTURE
A Road Trip to
SARAPIQUÍ The Other Side of the Mountain Article and photos by Tom Schultz
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FEATURED ADVENTURE
arapiquí is an ecotourist’s dream — a vast expanse of tropical rain forest teeming with animals, bursting with vegetation and mercifully spared from the megaresorts and hordes of tourists found in many parts of Costa Rica. It’s renowned for its unspoiled forests, wild rivers and environmentally friendly ecolodges. Situated northeast of the Central Valley, the canton of Sarapiquí is not as well known as Guanacaste, Arenal, Monteverde, Manuel Antonio or even the Osa Peninsula, except among knowledgeable whitewater rafters and serious jungle researchers. It has in recent years become more popular, especially as a day trip or weekend destination for people in the Central Valley. We had heard there is surprisingly much to see and do in this northernmost part of the province of Heredia, so we set out on a grand circle tour that took both roads to and from Sarapiquí.
Leaving the always overcrowded highways of San José and Heredia, we drove north through the increasingly open and less crowded towns on route 126, which cuts between the Poás and Barva volcanoes. At the bottom of the La Paz Waterfall is a new and rather ugly bridge, which along with the scars on the mountain slopes, is a reminder of the terrible 2009 earthquake that destroyed this area, killing at least 34 and leaving some 64 people missing. Birding spot Near the top of the rise we stopped, and you should too, at the Cinchona Café Colibrí. The current structure is rebuilt on what was left after it was destroyed in the earthquake. The family that owns the restaurant has for many years put out hummingbird and fruit feeders, and the spot has become renowned in birding circles.