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Costa Rica - Road to "Valle de El General" (1 Viewer)

Peter C.

Peter C.

...just zis guy, you know?
Hi all,
I am going to be staying in CR for a week this December, and am thinking of spending some of our time on the Pacific near Dominical. I see there is a road from there (labelled #243 on Google) from thence into San Isidro de El General. I am thinking of visiting that area as well, but I have no idea what the condition of this road is - anybody been on it?

Peter C.
 
Steep and winding, but paved. Did it last year, and as long as you don't get caught behind a slow diesel truck, you should be fine.

Dominical (Hacienda Baru and Fuego Brewery were great). Visiting Alexander Skutch's homestead In San Isidro del General was surreal.
 
Last edited:
Hi Dan,

Thanks very much! That sounds great, by Costa Rican standards!

I do want to see if I can get to Los Cusingos, I have wanted to go there for years. Can you remember how long it took you to get from the coast?
 
I can't say exactly, as we stayed in San Isidro de General for a couple nights and did a day trip to Los Cusingos from there. From where we stayed to Dominical Beach (Hacienda Baru) was about an hour.
 
We took 4 hours from San Gerardo de dota to hacienda baru this Feb. That included a long lunch stop at a cafe though. Road was straightforward. Allow about two hours as passing the buses and very slow trucks is difficult for European drivers. The locals have a different view of where it's safe to overtake.
Saw potoo at hacienda baru, one of my most wanted birds.
 
cafe birder said:
We took 4 hours from San Gerardo de dota to hacienda baru this Feb. That included a long lunch stop at a cafe though. Road was straightforward. Allow about two hours as passing the buses and very slow trucks is difficult for European drivers. The locals have a different view of where it's safe to overtake.
Saw potoo at hacienda baru, one of my most wanted birds.
Click to expand...

Which one?
 
We also saw common potoo at Hacienda Baru - one of the reserve's guides had told us where to look as we were setting out, and we were able to spot it.
 
Dan Miller said:
We also saw common potoo at Hacienda Baru - one of the reserve's guides had told us where to look as we were setting out, and we were able to spot it.
Click to expand...

There are three Potoos possible in CR so it's just Common at Hacienda Baru then?

We saw Great, further North.
 

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cafe birder said:
We took 4 hours from San Gerardo de dota to hacienda baru this Feb. That included a long lunch stop at a cafe though. Road was straightforward. Allow about two hours as passing the buses and very slow trucks is difficult for European drivers. The locals have a different view of where it's safe to overtake.
Saw potoo at hacienda baru, one of my most wanted birds.
Click to expand...

Thanks cafe birder. Agree, driving in CR not for the faint-of-heart, and also not for those in any kind of a hurry. My rule-of-thumb is to look at a route, estimate the time it would take me in Canada, and then immediately double it. But at least they have the sense to drive on the right side of the road (from our perspective! :t:) ... well, most of the time.

I looked into Hacienda Baru as a stop for a couple of nights - it looks great, but unfortunately appears to be all booked on the days we are going to be in the area. I ended up getting a B&B type accommodation up the slope on #243 (the road to San Isidro) near Platanillo. Looks like a good area, which doesn't have a lot of coverage (on eBird, at least), I'll let everybody know how it goes.

Peter C.
 
Peter C. said:
Thanks cafe birder. Agree, driving in CR not for the faint-of-heart, and also not for those in any kind of a hurry. My rule-of-thumb is to look at a route, estimate the time it would take me in Canada, and then immediately double it. But at least they have the sense to drive on the right side of the road (from our perspective! :t:) ... well, most of the time.

Peter C.
Click to expand...

Driving in CR is no problem?

If you can drive in the big Cities of North America, CR should be no problem, the only thing in many places is that you guys are used to much wider roads.

San Jose is a busy City full of rat runs but with e.g 'WAYS', it's no problem. The only road we really disliked was the road to Braullio Carrillio due to it being VERY busy with huge trucks as it's a main road to Caribbean ports.
 
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