Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
8
Bird-watching beside a rushing river or hiking to waterfalls in
Bajos del
Toro
.
9
Relaxing by the square and breathing the clean mountain air in
Atenas
.
History
As in other parts of the country, there is little in the historical record about the ethnicities
that inhabited the Central Valley prior to the arrival of the Spanish. What is known is that
the people of the area - largely the Huetar - practiced an animist religion, produced stone
sculpture and clay pottery, and communicated in a Chibchan dialect that is now extinct.
They also developed and maintained the ancient highland city of Guayabo, which is today
the biggest and most significant pre-Columbian archaeological site in the country.
European settlement in Costa Rica would not begin in earnest until 1563, when Juan
Vásquez de Coronado founded the colonial capital of Cartago, what is today Costa Rica's
oldest Spanish city. Over the next two centuries, Spanish communities would pop up in
Heredia, San José and Orosi. Throughout this period, however, the area remained a coloni-
al backwater, a checkerboard of Spanish farming communities and indigenous peoples
who had not come under colonial dominion, and who practiced a largely itinerant agricul-
ture.
It was only after independence, in the 1830s, that the area began to prosper with the ex-
panded cultivation of coffee. The
grano de oro
(golden bean) transformed the country,
providing the revenue to invest in urban infrastructure such as electricity and pavements,
not to mention many baronial mansions. Coffee has since been overtaken as a key agricul-
tural export by pineapples and bananas. But its legacy lives on, reflected in the culture, ar-
chitecture and traditions of many highland towns.
ALAJUELA & THE NORTHERN VALLEY
Volcanoes shrouded in mist, undulating coffee
fincas
(plantations), bustling agricultural
centers: the area around the provincial capital of Alajuela, 18km northwest of San José,
seems to have it all - including Juan Santamaría International Airport, just 3km outside the
city. The proximity to the airport makes this area a highly convenient transit point if you
