Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [400]
Buses from San José and Guápiles have a regular service to Cariari. Note that Cariari has two terminals: the one serving San José (known as the estación nueva – new station) is at the southern end of town, while the one serving Guápiles and Caribbean destinations is about five blocks to the north, just west of the main road. This latter station is known as the estación vieja (old bus station) or Terminal Caribeño.
For transfer to Puerto Limón, take a bus to Guápiles and then transfer to one of the regular hourly buses to Limón.
To reach Tortuguero, you will have to take a bus to the dock at La Pavona from the estación vieja. From here, you can transfer to one of several boat services that make multiple daily trips to Tortuguero. There are two public companies (Clic Clic and Coopetraca), which are the cheapest, and one private one (Viajes Bananero). In recent years, there has been a great deal of confusion as to how these services operate. For precise details on making the Cariari–Tortuguero transfer, see boxed text.
Guápiles (Estación vieja) ₡400; 20 minutes; departs every 20 minutes from 5:30am to 7pm.
La Pavona for boat transfer to Tortuguero (Estación vieja) ₡1000; one hour; departs at 6am, 11:30am and 3pm.
Puerto Lindo (for Barra del Colorado) (Estación vieja) Bus-boat combo ₡2400; departs 4am and 2pm.
San José (Estación nueva) ₡1300; three hours; departs at 5:30am, 6:30am, 7:30am, 8:30am, 11:30am, 1pm, 3pm and 5:30pm
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GUÁCIMO
pop 6100
Twelve kilometers east of Guápiles, off Hwy 32, lies this diminutive agricultural town. A popular destination of the Limón cruise-ship crowd is Costa Flores (2717-6457; 90-min guided tour US$18; by reservation; ), a huge tropical-flower and palm farm, with incredible heliconia gardens that are a riot of tropical colors. Its 48 hectares include landscaped gardens and fountain-fed ponds (much of it wheelchair-accessible). The farm exports 120 varieties of blossoms to the USA and Europe. To get there follow the main road into Guácimo for 2.5km.
Several kilometers east of the main Guácimo turn-off, is the main entrance to EARTH (Escuela de Agricultura de la Región Tropical Húmeda; 2713-0000; www.earth.ac.cr; guided tours per person US$25). This innovative not-for-profit university attracts students from all over the world to research sustainable agriculture in the tropics. The curriculum focuses on agriculture and integrates various academic disciplines into plenty of hands-on activities at onsite greenhouses and biological labs. Travelers can visit the facilities on guided tours; these must be arranged at least one week in advance. Rates are discounted for groups of seven or more.
Hotel Restaurant Río Palmas (2760-0330; d with/without air-con on weekdays US$46/36, d with/without air-con on weekends US$75/65; ) is a hacienda-style roadside inn situated some 500m east of EARTH that comes with lush gardens and hiking trails. It has 25 decent rooms with cable TV and hot showers, and the restaurant is popular with tour buses making their way along Hwy 32.
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SIQUIRRES
pop 15,200
The steamy lowland town of Siquirres has long served as an important transportation hub. It sits at the intersection of Hwy 32 (the main road that crosses the Atlantic slope to Puerto Limón) and Hwy 10, the old road that connects San José with Puerto Limón via Turrialba.
Even before the roads were built, it was a significant location – for it was in Siquirres in the early 20th century that the lines of segregation were drawn. At the time, blacks were barred from traveling west of here without special permission. So any train making its way from Limón to San José was required to stop here and change its crew: black conductors and engineers would change places with their Spanish counterparts and the train would continue