Las Juntas de Abangares !

There are many small towns that might go unnoticed by people even if a wrong turn takes them to such unknown locations by mistake. There are times though when those small, barely known towns have the distinction of being special because of its history or because of the people who might have lived there. Las Juntas de Abangares, a town in northern Costa Rica near Cañas, Guanacaste is one of the places.

Unlike any other Costa Rican frontier towns, Las Juntas de Abangares was founded when folks of an adventurous bent were stricken with the Costa Rican equivalent to the “gold fever” in the late 1800s. Besides immigrants from inside the territory, there were others struck by the gold fever who also came to Costa Rica as far as China and Europe. They made the long trip to the Abangares Region hoping to strike it rich and settled in the area. Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Ukrainian and Chinese last names are common nowadays in town and many different ethnic features can be observed in the faces of many locals.

The town of Las Juntas was built at the confluence of two rivers, thus its name: Las Juntas, which in Spanish mean the union of two things. The name Abangares comes from “Avancari,” an Indian chief who ruled the territory during the Spanish conquest.

About 50 kilometers from the City of Esparza, Puntarenas, on the North Highway to Liberia, Guanacaste, there is the entrance to Las Juntas. On the left, there is a landmark truck stop and gas station known as La Irma, and on the right, there is the entrance to the town of Las Juntas, easily missed by most drivers. That right turn will take the traveler through green pastures and rolling hills where cows and horses placidly eat, lifting their heads only briefly to look at passing cars.

After about 6 kilometers from the turn off point, the traveler reaches the edge of town. The first thing the newcomer might see once in town, is a tiny park, which houses an important monument of historical value. There, battered by weather and time, stands a little black train engine named “Cristina” in honor to the wife of Minor C. Keith, main tycoon from the first large scale mining company in this country “The Abangares Gold Field of Costa Rica.”

The town of Las Juntas issurrounded by gentle mountain slopes that become rain forest near the top. The hot, muggy sub-tropical climate is pacified by a steady breeze of cool air coming down from the highlands of nearby Monteverde, the Quaker´s town famous for its biological reserves and prestigious cheese industry.

Geographically, it is located just north of the Port of Puntarenas, a port that used to be of great economic importance for the country in the frontier years turned into an international port nowadays. This physical proximity helped with the transportation of the gold extracted from the mines which was carried on mule back and in oxcarts to awaiting cargo ships with overseas destinations. The opening of the gold mines transformed the sleepy little town of Las Juntas into a flourishing community of unprecedented growth in the region.

The gold mining industry in Costa Rica has been since its beginning in the hands of foreign investors who have taken advantage of sizeable tax breaks inside and outside Costa Rica. Friendly and open to foreign capital, Costa Rican governments have always welcomed investment from abroad. Governments have also been criticized by many citizens about the environmental impact and repercussions normally associated with mining.

The mining installations stuck like “rough diamonds” on mountains tops, are hidden from onlookers. Exuberant vegetation surround the mining encampments. Green, lush tropical forests are the natural borders. The roads end where the encampments begin. Rarely, there is another town beyond or another road nearby. The tunnels were dug up deep in the earth entrails, away from town and away from most people stares. In other words they have always been protected from public scrutiny.

Despite of this, over the years, locals and outsiders alike have become familiar with names such as Tres Hermanos, Boston, San Martín, Cuatro Vientos and other whimsical sounding names., the gold mines are well known in the area.

The fascination of gold !

The mining industry has always intrigued people and that fascination is perhaps stronger when it comes to such timeless, shiny, precious and coveted metal: gold. What makes the Abangares Region´s mines different from the others is perhaps the mysterious settings of their locations, the solitary encampments, the dusty, steep roads leading to them, all of which of make passers byes feel as if they had traveled through time.

An important factor contributing to the legendary fame of the gold mines in Abangares is perhaps due to written accounts and tall tales that have been preserved in the memories of many locals.

There are several books written on the Gold Mines of Abangares. Stories abound about men who arrived at the mines looking for work a long distance from their own neighborhoods. Men who arrive in Las Juntas from diverse cities such as Cartago, Puntarenas, San Ramón. Many were never able to go back because they died while still at the mines. Many, left as quickly as they came and many more yet spent part of their youth laboring as miners and there were others who not knowing any other kind of work, decided to make Las Juntas their permanent residency. Their children and grandchildren also went to work for the mines, some after barely reaching school age.

Most of the written accounts depict the tough physical work of the miners and the tribulations to survive those hard existences. Desperate men who were going through hard economic times for them and their families and end up working as miners because they could not find any other type of employment in the city. Despite the grueling hard work that the mines demanded, it still allowed many families to eat, particularly for people who hardly knew how to read and write.

Those who went to work for the mines were young, others middle age and some, pretty old. Some of them were physically strong. Some were slender and small built, others average in size, but the majority of them had a strong preference for hard work and for a hard living.

Like ants, they climb the roads to the mines. They ascended and descended rocky, dusty paths, stepping to the side to make room for horse riders and farm vehicles whenever these share the same roads. They wore tall rubber boots but the older ones walked barefoot. They worked as peons clearing patches of jungle surrounding the mining installations and they work as miners collecting ore from which the silver and gold and other metals were extracted.

The rowdiness of yesterday is gone !

The conditions which miners had to endure were harsh to say the least The hours were long and so were the days. They worked under physically exhausting conditions being constantly exposed to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and different rashes and skin diseases. The miners spend the day crawling in wet, dark, bat and tarantula ridden tunnels. Rheumatic pain afflicted their sore muscles and aching joints and the long squatting and crawling inside tunnels carrying heavy buckets of ore stiffen their backs for hours. No wonder, the normal peace of the little town of Las Juntas was disrupted on paydays by dozens of noisy, drunken miners who enjoyed the rowdy atmosphere of the local taverns trying perhaps to forget momentarily the harshness of their daily lives.

But the rowdiness of yesterday is gone. Today Las Juntas de Abangares is again a tranquil town with quaint cobblestone streets and small houses with lush gardens and front yards abundant with flowers and tropical vegetation.

The well-groomed park in the center of town with its welcoming benches invites the visitor to sit down and relax and to enjoy the cool breeze that descends in mild gusts from the mountains above.

If by chance the large billboards advertising pharmaceutical products, or the giant posters with the pictures of the presidential candidates, gave you the only indication of the existence of a town beyond the lonely fork in the road; well, now you know a little bit more about the legendary past of the town you encountered by a lucky chance.

Ana is a native Costarrican who has lived in the USA for 20 years, and has now moved back to Costa Rica full time, along with her husband, Steve Brown.

© El Residente ARCR Administración S.A. San José, Costa Rica N.B. Like all information on the internet, this article may currently be incorrect or out of date.