Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [395]
Today, the railroad is no longer. An asphalt highway (Hwy 32) – through Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo – links San José to the Caribbean coast, winding down the foothills of the Cordillera Central, through agricultural plantations to the swampy lowlands around Limón. Likewise, banana production is not as mighty as it once was, supplanted in many areas by pineapples and African oil palms.
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PARQUE NACIONAL BRAULIO CARRILLO
Enter this underexplored national park and you will have an idea of what Costa Rica looked like prior to the 1950s, when 75% of the country’s surface area was still covered in forest: steep hills cloaked in impossibly tall trees are interrupted only by cascading rivers and canyons. It has an extraordinary biodiversity due to the range of altitudes, from steamy 2906m cloud forest alongside Volcán Barva to lush, humid lowlands on the Caribbean slope. It’s most incredible feature, however, is that this massive park (the size of Rhode Island) is only 30 minutes north of San José.
Founded in the 1970s, Braulio Carrillo’s creation was the result of a unique compromise between conservationists and developers. At the time, the government had announced a plan to build a new highway that would connect the capital to Puerto Limón. Back then, San José’s only link to its most important port was via a crumbling railway or a slow rural road through Cartago and Turrialba. The only feasible route for the new thoroughfare was along a low pass between the Barva and Irazú volcanoes – an area covered in primary forest. Conservationists were deeply worried about putting a road (and any attendant development) in an area that served as San José’s watershed. So a plan was hatched: the road would be built, but the 400 sq km of land to either side of it would be set aside as a national park. Thus, in 1978, Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo was born.
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Orientation & Information
The most popular hiking areas can be accessed from the San José–Guápiles highway. At the southern end of the park, 19km northeast of San José, is the Zurquí ranger station (2257-0992; admission US$8; 8am-4pm), while the Quebrada González station (2268-1038/1039; admission US$8; 7am-4pm) is at the northeast corner, 22km past the Zurquí tunnel. At both, you’ll find guarded parking lots, toilets and well-marked trails. At the latter, look for the dozens of bright webs spun by golden orb-weavers in front of the station’s offices.
People who want to climb Volcán Barva on a day trip or camp overnight can stop by the Barva Sector ranger station (2261-2619; 8am-3pm), in the southwest of the park, 3km north of Sacramento in Paso Llano. There are also two remote outposts, El Ceibo and Magasay, in the extreme northwest corner.
Temperatures can fluctuate drastically, and annual rainfall can be as high as 8000mm. The best time to go is the ‘dry’ season (January to April), but it is liable to rain then, too. Bring warm clothing, wet-weather gear and good hiking boots.
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Dangers & Annoyances
There have been reports of thefts from cars parked at entrances to the trails, as well as an armed robbery inside the park. Don’t leave your car parked anywhere along the main highway. And as a general rule, you should always register at a station before setting out on a hike, and when possible, arrange for a guide.
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Activities
WILDLIFE-WATCHING
Bird-watching in the park is excellent, and commonly sighted species include parrots, toucans and hummingbirds; quetzals can be seen at higher elevations, primarily in the Barva sector.