Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [175]
Long before you get here, you’ll notice dozens of signs on the Interamericana advertising the best steakhouse in Guanacaste – Bar-B-Q Tres Hermanas (2662-8584; www.treshermanas.co.cr; cnr Interamericana & Rte 18; mains ₡3500-9100; 11am-9pm; ). Believe the hype! This local landmark’s specialty is barbecue beef and pork ribs, marinated and slow cooked for eight hours. Kids will love the playground and noisy bull and monkey animatronics. Leave your vegetarian friends at home.
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CAÑAS
pop 25,000
If you’re cruising north on the Interamericana, Cañas is the first town of any size in Costa Rica’s driest province, Guanacaste. Sabanero culture is evident on the sweltering and quiet streets, where full-custom pickup trucks share the road with wizened cowboys on horseback, fingering their machetes with a swagger you just don’t see outside the province. It’s a dusty, typically Latin American town, where everyone walks slowly and businesses shut down for lunch, all centered on the Parque Central and Catholic church – which are most definitely not typical.
You’re better off basing yourself in livelier Liberia, which has more traveler-oriented services. That said, Cañas is a good place for organizing rafting trips on the nearby Río Corobicí or for exploring Parque Nacional Palo Verde. And if you need to stop here for gas, you’ll find there are a couple of interesting sights to check out.
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Information
You can find public phones, a post office, library, a Banco Nacional and Banco Popular with ATMs, as well as many simple sodas and hotels here.
Emergency clinic (2669-0092; cnr Av Central & Hwy 1; 7am-4pm Mon-Fri) Has 24-hour on-call service.
Internet Ciberc@ñas (2663-5232; Av 3 btwn Calles 1 & 3; per hr ₡700; 8:15am-9pm Mon-Sat, 2-9pm Sun; ) Has fast computers, air-con and, if you get here at 8:15am, two hours for the price of one.
Minae/ACT office (2669-0533; Av 9 btwn Calles Central & 1; 8am-4pm Mon-Fri) Has limited information about nearby national parks and reserves.
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Sights & Activities
Though most visitors to Cañas simply use the town as a base for visits to nearby Parque Nacional Palo Verde or for rafting on the Río Corobicí, it’s worth the trip just to see the Catholic church’s psychedelic mosaics designed by famed local painter Otto Apuy. Sinewy vines and colorful starbursts that have enveloped the modern church’s once clean lines are enhanced by jungle-themed stained glass that’s completely different from anything on offer at the Vatican. In Parque Central opposite, park benches and the pyramid-shaped bandstand are equally elaborate. The Plaza de Toros hosts bullfights in January and February.
LAS PUMAS
Directly behind the office of Safaris Corobicí is Las Pumas (2669-6044; www.laspumas.org; adult/child US$7/2; 8am-4pm), a wild-animal shelter started in the 1960s by the late Lilly Hagnauer, a Swiss environmentalist. It’s the largest shelter of its kind in Latin America, housing big cats including pumas, jaguars, ocelots, jaguarundis and margays – plus a few deer, fox, monkeys, peccaries, toucans, parakeets and other birds that were either orphaned or injured.
This is a labor of love. The shelter does not receive any government funding and relies on visitor admission and donations to survive. Volunteers are always welcomed, but you must make arrangements beforehand. The shelter is still operated by the Swiss Family Hagnauer, a local Cañas institution; Lilly’s husband Werner manages Las Pumas, their daughter Verena runs Rincón Corobicí and Verena’s son Dany runs Ríos Tropicales (see opposite).
REFUGIO DE VIDA SILVESTRE CIPANCÍ
New in 2001, this small wildlife refuge is at the confluence