Guanacaste

Along the Highway to Santa Cecilia, turn 3 km before you get to the town of La Cruz.

The lowland vegetation and climate change in rapid succession of marked contrasts along the río Sábalo. From west to east along a strech of 16kms, with hilltops no higher than 400 metres above sea level, the plant live shifts from dry diciduous forest to evergreen forest cloaked with epiphytes. In this short distance, the visitor passes through areas where the dry season lasts five or six month, to where it lasts only two or three, to where there is no dry season at all.

A keen observer will note how the grasses are always green to the east of the River Sábalo while the opposite occurs on the western side. There are also marked changes in flowering as one moves from the dry to the wet sector. Wasps and other insects thrive on the Pacific side where the pea-tree, white wood and mayflower burst into bloom, while on the Caribbean side during the same time of the year there is a mere sprinkling of little flowers on the freijo trees. This mosaic of landscapes can be explained in large part as a result of the geographical situation that affects the distribution of the rainfall and endows the region with unusual biological characteristics.