Tico Tales - Guayabo National Monument
Occasional Tales from our Life in Costa Rica
During our time in the Turriabla Region, we made a visit to the Guayabo National Monument , Costa's Rica's most significant archaeological site. (There are no Incan, Mayan or Aztec sites in Costa Rica.) At Guayabo we saw the ruins of a once large city that was likely abandoned 600 years ago. Only the stone foundations of the round wooden buildings remain, along with some still-working aqueducts and a 5 mile-long road that was once used to transport building materials. Only a small portion of the site has been excavated; much more lies hidden in the surrounding rainforest. There was a light rain the day we visited and we were among very few visitors in the park. It was our own Indiana Jones moment when we spotted the ruins rising out of a clearing in the dense forest. And just as interesting as the ruins were the leaf-cutter ants we observed all over the site. We spent many minutes watching them work. Unfortunately, the ants were too small for our camera to capture clearly.
We hiked up to the lookout and were rewarded with this view.
Foundation of the largest structure found
The road to nowhere?
Some of petroglyphs at Guayabo are more than 3,500 years old
We stopped for a blackberry smoothie on the way home.
During our time in the Turriabla Region, we made a visit to the Guayabo National Monument , Costa's Rica's most significant archaeological site. (There are no Incan, Mayan or Aztec sites in Costa Rica.) At Guayabo we saw the ruins of a once large city that was likely abandoned 600 years ago. Only the stone foundations of the round wooden buildings remain, along with some still-working aqueducts and a 5 mile-long road that was once used to transport building materials. Only a small portion of the site has been excavated; much more lies hidden in the surrounding rainforest. There was a light rain the day we visited and we were among very few visitors in the park. It was our own Indiana Jones moment when we spotted the ruins rising out of a clearing in the dense forest. And just as interesting as the ruins were the leaf-cutter ants we observed all over the site. We spent many minutes watching them work. Unfortunately, the ants were too small for our camera to capture clearly.
We hiked up to the lookout and were rewarded with this view.
Foundation of the largest structure found
The road to nowhere?
Some of petroglyphs at Guayabo are more than 3,500 years old
We stopped for a blackberry smoothie on the way home.
posted by Jason, Amy, Sophie, and Matthew @ 3:34 PM
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