If you find yourself in Costa Rica for Thanksgiving and you'd like to see something that none of your friends ever have, consider a road trip to Guayabo.
Sixty miles east of San Jose, in the province of Cartago and on the slopes of the volcano Turrialba is Costa Rica’s most important archeological site, Guayabo. Perhaps 2500 years old but certainly occupied during the Classic period of Mayan history, 200-900 A.D, it likewise fell into disuse when the Spanish arrived and the empire fell.
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Located high up in the edge of the rainforest, it’s not an easy site to find: the roads go from good to bad and the signs are far and few between. If you find yourself in San Jose and looking for something completely different to do, this may be at the top of the list for the adventurous.
At present, it is a 200 acre+ site and partially uncovered: time and money, as usual, is in short supply. There are aqueducts, paved roads of stone and mounds which may have been temples. The rock carvings are very similar to those in the Guzman Museum in San Salvador, indicating a cultural connection that existed in the pre-Mayan era, perhaps even pre-Olmec. Was it a local stronghold or a stop on the trade routes that existed from Colombia to Mexico? Ceramics, jade and gold artifacts have been found there, which could imply the latter, since jade was only found in Guatemala and gold in Colombia. Given the size of the park and the ruins, it was probably a center of power far away from the usual sea-going canoes of the early traders from both directions.
If you go, specifically ask the tour operator or the driver if they’ve been there. I had to ‘break in’ a taxi driver over the course of a few trips, when I’d bring maps for places he’d never been to. Yes, we’d get lost but with a full tank of gas, it always became an ‘aventura.’ You can usually find Oscar at the parking lot by the Del Rey or call him: 506-8352-00-38. Tell him the old gringo in the panama said ‘hello’.
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