San Jerónimo

About San Jerónimo:

San Jerónimo covers just over nine square kilometres on the side of Naranjo canton that faces Sarchí, with its centre at 1,110 metres. Route 710, the national road between Naranjo and Sarchí, comes in from Cirrí Sur and carries on to Sarchí Norte and Rodríguez. The Naranjo–San Jerónimo–Los Robles bus leaves from the municipal market in Naranjo every half hour from early morning into the evening, and the ride takes around twenty minutes. For Route 1 and the drive to San José, you go down through Naranjo town, which is also where people bank, shop and deal with the municipality.

In 1854 a group of neighbours asked President Juan Rafael Mora for leave to found a town dedicated to San Jerónimo; at the time, Grecia and San Ramón were the only towns in the west of the valley. For the next century the place belonged to Grecia, first as a village and from 1867 as a district that took in Sabanilla, Cirrí and Llano Bonito and, on paper, even stretched north to Upala, Los Chiles and Guatuso. The creation of Valverde Vega canton, today Sarchí, in 1949 reopened the question of where San Jerónimo belonged, and in the 1950s a plebiscite brought it into Naranjo as the fifth district. The parish held on to its old ties longer and stayed with Sarchí until the mid-1970s. The church begun in 1972 replaced a calicanto building lost in the 1910 earthquake and the metal-and-masonry church that followed it.

The district is a handful of communities rather than one town: the centre and Barrio Puebla, the urbanizaciones of Pueblo Nuevo and Jardines del Este, the caseríos of La Hacienda and Bajo Viudas, and, along the road north, Tacacal and Los Robles. The centre has had a school since 1886. Until 1962, children from Los Robles had to travel about five kilometres down to it; Escuela Los Robles now stands four kilometres north of the San Jerónimo sports ground. Naranjo’s experimental bilingual high school, the Liceo Experimental Bilingüe de Naranjo, founded in 1999, is also inside the district, 200 metres north of the Alimer food plant. Water comes from two separate systems, the Municipalidad de Naranjo in San Jerónimo itself and a community aqueduct in Los Robles.

For many years coffee was what San Jerónimo lived on. It still covers the slopes on the way up to Los Robles, where family farms grow specialty coffee as high as 1,450 metres and visitors can rent a mountain cabin among the rows. Lower down, the district has filled in with houses: it had 1,350 residents in 1984, 2,703 in 2000 and 3,264 at the 2011 census. Buyers are mostly Costa Rican families who want a house or a plot a short bus ride from Naranjo, with Sarchí and Grecia close by. Being near the bilingual liceo counts for something here, and some lots in Jardines del Este are sold on exactly that point.

Houses in San Jerónimo:

Most homes are detached family houses on compact lots. At one end sits a five-bedroom house of 172 square metres on a lot of 168, so it goes up rather than out, with a view over the Central Valley; at the other, a modern three-bedroom house of 103 square metres on a lot of 355. Some properties include a separate apartment, such as a three-bedroom house that adds up to 273 square metres of construction, which suits a buyer who wants to live in one part and let the other. Rentals are local and few: three-bedroom houses let by the month in colones, for example in Tacacal, just off the road to Los Robles. Before you make an offer on one of the houses for sale in San Jerónimo de Naranjo, check that every floor and any second unit appear on plans the municipality has approved.

Land and Lots in San Jerónimo:

Village lots are small. Plots of 160 to 300 square metres come up in the centre and in Tacacal, on public roads and sized for one family house. Subdivided lots of 470 to 520 square metres are also sold, and per square metre they come out well below the smallest village plots, so compare the price per metre and not just the total. Bigger parcels exist for anyone who wants room, among them one of 1,260 square metres facing the national road. From Tacacal toward Los Robles the road climbs and the land is mostly coffee, so walk the parcel and drive the access in the rain before you talk money. If any of the lots for sale in San Jerónimo front Route 710, ask the MOPT for the building line on that stretch before you design anything.

FAQ:

• Is San Jerónimo de Naranjo the same place as San Jerónimo de Moravia?

  No. San Jerónimo de Moravia is a district of San José province, east of the capital. This San Jerónimo is the fifth district of Naranjo canton in Alajuela, postal code 20605. Because it belonged to Grecia until the 1950s and its parish answered to Sarchí for decades, older papers and some neighbours still tie it to those cantons, so check the canton on the plan before you book a visit.

• What should I check before buying a lot in Pueblo Nuevo, Jardines del Este or up toward Los Robles?

  Start with who supplies water to that street, the Municipalidad de Naranjo in San Jerónimo or the community aqueduct in Los Robles, and get it in writing that this particular lot can be connected. Then ask the municipality for a land-use certificate and make sure the cadastral plan carries its visado. On a slope, or on the Route 710 frontage, find out what setback and retaining work the house will need. Last, request the property record from the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) to see whose name the lot is in and what liens or easements come with it.

• How do I get around without a car?

  The Naranjo–San Jerónimo–Los Robles bus runs every half hour from early morning into the evening and reaches the market in Naranjo in about twenty minutes. Naranjo is the hub: change there for Grecia or San José.

• Is there a secondary school in the district?

  Yes. The Liceo Experimental Bilingüe de Naranjo is inside San Jerónimo, 200 metres north of the Alimer plant. For primary school there is the school in the centre and Escuela Los Robles in the upper village.

• Can I rent before I buy?

  Yes, though the choice is small: mostly three-bedroom houses let by the month in colones, plus a cabin among the coffee in Los Robles for shorter stays. A few months in the very village you are considering will tell you more about the bus, the water and the street than any viewing.