San José

About San José:

San José is where Naranjo canton climbs highest: 20.9 square kilometres of coffee ridges and stream valleys north of Naranjo town, rising towards the boundary with Zarcero. Route 141, the road from Naranjo to Zarcero and on to Ciudad Quesada, runs straight through San Juanillo, and two smaller national roads, 703 and 704, reach the other villages: Cañuela and Isla de Cañuela, Barranca, San Antonio Norte, which people also call San Antonio de Barranca, Desamparados, Calle Solís Abajo and Vuelta San Gerardo. Buses run between Naranjo and San Juanillo from early morning until evening, and the same line serves Cañuela. Long before Route 141 existed, the old road from the Central Valley to the northern plains came this way. It is now known as the Ruta Nacional de los Héroes de la Campaña de 1856 and runs from San Juanillo through Cañuela, over the old bridge on the Barranca and Barranquilla rivers, and across the Río Espino into San Luis de Zarcero.

Coffee pays the bills. Naranjo’s beans are among the best known in Costa Rica, and San José grows them high: small producers deliver their cherry to the canton’s cooperatives and mills, while a few farms now sell specialty microlots for export. Finca V&G San Juanillo is one, set up in 2007 by an agronomist and an industrial engineer on 12.5 hectares between 1,400 and 1,500 metres. North-west of San Juanillo, around Cañuela, San Antonio and Barranca, the coffee gives way to dairy pasture and to plots of vegetables, avocados and chiverre, the gourd Costa Ricans cook into a sweet at Easter. Cañuela grew out of a single large estate early in the twentieth century; its school opened in 1948, its church of San Pedro went up in 1970, and the road was only paved in 2005. Municipal business and most errands still mean a trip down to Naranjo.

Height is what sells this district. On a clear day San Juanillo looks out to the Pacific, the Tilarán range and Arenal volcano, and the miradores around Cañuela take in the Central Valley from Grecia and Sarchí to Palmares and San Ramón, with Poás on the skyline. People drive up on New Year’s Eve just to see the year in over the valley. Hydrangeas grow wild on both verges through Cañuela, a village that strings out for kilometres over steep climbs and drops. The same altitude makes this a windy, misty ridge, cooler than the valley below, and that changes how you judge a house: look at ventilation, damp on walls and ceilings, and how exposed the lot is to the wind before you look at the finishes. Water needs the same care, because Cañuela’s supply comes from a mountain spring through a community-run ASADA aqueduct, and residents keep a close eye on how far it stretches.

The district had 3,162 residents at the 2011 census, almost exactly as many as in 2000, so this is not a place that is filling up fast. Most households live from coffee, cattle or vegetables, and the villages are small: Cañuela has one school, a church, a sports hall and a couple of shops. Buyers from outside tend to come for one of two things. Some want a building plot with cool air and a long view, high above Naranjo but tied to it by Route 141; others are producers after a working coffee or dairy farm. Compare plots on water, access and outlook rather than on size alone, because those three decide what a lot up here is worth.

Houses in San José:

Homes here are detached family houses, each on its own plot along the public roads of San Juanillo and the villages, some with a patch of coffee, a kitchen garden or a paddock behind. Others come up as a small farm with a modest house on it, where the land is most of what you are paying for. If you are looking at houses for sale in San José de Naranjo, ask whether the house has its own ASADA water connection and whether any later additions were built with permits. On this ridge, also look at how the house has stood up to several rainy seasons of damp and wind. A cheap house that needs a new roof is not cheap.

Land and Lots in San José:

Cañuela is the first place to look for a building plot. Lots of about 1,300 square metres, flat or gently sloping and fronting a public road, are sold on the cool climate, the rural setting and the panorama over the valley. A plot is only buildable if there is water for it, so ask the local ASADA for a written availability letter before anything else, then check that the survey plan carries its municipal visado. Where a lot was cut out of a larger farm, make sure the segregation was approved and is not just an agreement between neighbours.

Farms in San José:

Working farms change hands too, above all around San Antonio de Barranca, where active cattle farms of a few hectares and agricultural properties of seven hectares have been on offer. A coffee farm is a business before it is a view: ask which cooperative or mill takes the harvest, how old the plants are, and who does the picking. On pasture, look at water for the herd, the state of the internal tracks in the wet season, and how much of the property is too steep to work. Farms that run down to the Río Espino border Zarcero, so confirm which canton the property is registered in and where its municipal taxes are paid.

FAQ:

• Is this the San José I think it is?

  Probably not. This San José is a rural district of Naranjo canton in the province of Alajuela, with San Juanillo as its main village, a long way from the capital in both distance and character. When you compare prices or talk to sellers, make sure the property really sits in Naranjo.

• How do I get to San Juanillo and Cañuela without a car?

  Take the Naranjo–San Juanillo bus, which makes several runs a day from early morning to early evening, with fewer on Sundays, and also serves Cañuela. By car, San Juanillo is on Route 141 between Naranjo and Zarcero. Check the timetable before you plan a daily commute, because the last bus leaves in the early evening.

• What should I check before buying a view lot in Cañuela or San Juanillo?

  Start with water. Cañuela’s supply comes from a mountain spring through the community ASADA, so get a written availability letter before you pay a deposit. Then visit on a wet, windy day, walk the slope and the access road, get the certificado de uso de suelo from the Municipalidad de Naranjo, and confirm the survey plan has its visado. Finally, run a search on the property at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario), which shows who owns it, how big it is and whether a mortgage or easement comes with it.

• Can I buy a working coffee or dairy farm here?

  Yes. Coffee land and cattle farms both come up, especially towards San Antonio de Barranca. Ask for production records, find out where the farm’s water comes from and whether its use is legally in order, and if the land reaches the Río Espino, check whether it is registered in Naranjo or in Zarcero.

• Are there schools in the district?

  Yes, at primary level. Escuela República de Cuba stands in San Juanillo beside Route 141, and Cañuela has had its own school since 1948. If you have children of secondary age, ask the Ministry of Education’s western regional office which colegio serves the village you are considering.