Filadelfia

About Filadelfia:

Filadelfia lies 34 kilometres south of Liberia, on the floor of the Tempisque valley, a wide plain ringed by hills that rarely rise above 200 metres. The town itself stands just 17 metres above sea level. Route 21, the road that carries traffic from Liberia down toward the Nicoya Peninsula, crosses the district, and the international airport sits on that same road on the way to Liberia. The district covers about 125 square kilometres and borders Liberia to the north, Bagaces across the river to the east, Palmira to the west, and Belén and Santa Cruz to the south. Beyond the town barrios of Bambú, Cinco Esquinas, Hollywood, La Cruz and Santa Lucía, the villages of Corralillo, Guinea, Jocote, Moralito, Ojoche and San Francisco are spread across the farmland.

Ladino families settled here in the eighteenth century beside a grove of sietecueros trees, and the trees gave the village its first name. When Carrillo was created in June 1877, Sietecueros became its seat and was renamed in honour of Filadelfo Soto, a soldier. The canton calls itself the archaeological canton of Costa Rica, a title earned by the pre-Columbian burial grounds found near the Tempisque. July brings the fiestas of St James, the patron saint, and a week of culture and sport; on Christmas Eve, from five to eight in the evening, families keep the custom of Los Portales, opening their doors so neighbours can visit the nativity scene, leave a small offering and go home with a glass of chicha. The Municipalidad de Carrillo works 200 metres north of the central park, so permits and property tax are handled without leaving town.

Cane runs the local economy. Azucarera El Viejo grinds about half a million tonnes a year from more than 500 growers in the Tempisque basin, keeps some 400 people on staff all year and hires more at harvest, makes electricity from cane waste and protects a private reserve of more than 2,000 hectares of dry forest and wetland. Melones de Costa Rica began here in 1988 and ships its whole crop abroad, planting from November and picking from January into early May. Close by, Hacienda El Viejo takes boats down the Tempisque between El Viejo National Wildlife Refuge and Palo Verde National Park, which brings a steady trickle of visitors through the area.

The flatness that makes the valley good for cane also makes it a flood plain. The Tempisque and the Río Las Palmas, both running close to town, flooded Filadelfia badly in October 1995, 1999 and 2007, and no town on that stretch of the river has gone under more often. After the last of those floods the dike on the Tempisque’s right bank was rebuilt and strengthened over 8.4 kilometres, and the Las Palmas was rechannelled on both sides of the Route 21 bridge. In heavy storms the river still spills over at Nueva Guinea. Buyers are mostly families from Carrillo who work in the fields, the mill, the municipality or the shops, and they buy with that history in mind: which side of the wall, how high the street sits, whether the yard took water in 2007.

Houses in Filadelfia:

The usual house here is single-storey, with three bedrooms and a yard on a lot of a few hundred square metres; a furnished home of 120 square metres on a 395-square-metre lot is a fair picture of what comes up for sale. Prices are mostly set in colones with local buyers in mind, and they sit well below what a similar house costs near the coast. Before you settle on one of the houses for sale in Filadelfia, stand on the wall and look back at it. If the yard sits lower than the dike, you want to know that before you start negotiating.

Land and Lots in Filadelfia:

Land here splits into three quite different markets. On the edges of town there are plots for a family home. Toward the Tempisque the offer turns agricultural, and some of those parcels are farms that banks took back and now resell. Along Route 21 the land is commercial: a corner property of 3.7 hectares with warehouses and more than 200 metres of road frontage is the kind of parcel found there. Whatever the size, the question that sets the value of land for sale in Filadelfia is whether it sits behind the dike or out on the plain that floods.

Rentals in Filadelfia:

Rentals are long-term and aimed at people who work in the canton. The most common unit is a small apartment with its own entrance, often with water, electricity, cable and internet included in the rent, and family houses also come up. Rents are quoted in colones. If you are new to the area, a few months of rentals in Filadelfia through one rainy season will show you exactly where the water goes before you commit to buying.

FAQ:

• Does Filadelfia still flood?

  The worst floods came in October 1995, 1999 and 2007, from the Tempisque and the Río Las Palmas. Since then the dike along the Tempisque has been rebuilt over 8.4 kilometres and the Las Palmas rechannelled near the Route 21 bridge, but the river still breaks out at Nueva Guinea in heavy storms. Ask the neighbours how far the water came in 2007, and find out whether the property is on the protected side of the wall.

• How far is Filadelfia from Liberia and the beaches?

  Liberia is 34 kilometres north on Route 21, and the international airport lies along the same road. Heading north, Route 151 turns off at Comunidad for Playas del Coco. Heading south, Route 21 continues through Belén toward Santa Cruz and the roads to the Pacific beaches.

• What should I check before buying a plot near the river?

  Start with the ground itself: how close the parcel is to the Tempisque or the Las Palmas, and whether it lies inside the dike. Then confirm ownership, liens and the cadastral plan at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario), and ask the Municipalidad de Carrillo for the land-use certificate, since farmland on the plain cannot always be built on. Get written confirmation that water can be connected before you pay a deposit. Pre-Columbian burials have turned up near the river, so on a larger project with earthworks, allow time for an archaeological review.

• What work is there in Filadelfia?

  The sugar mill is the largest employer, with around 400 permanent jobs and more during the cane harvest. Melon planting starts in November and picking runs from January into May, which adds seasonal work. The municipality, the shops in the centre and river tourism around Hacienda El Viejo account for much of the rest.