Curubandé

About Curubandé:

Curubandé was split off from the central district of Liberia on 26 November 1971 and covers about 81 square kilometres north-east of the city. The turn-off is on Route 1, the Inter-American Highway, about five kilometres north of Liberia. From there a paved country road runs through pasture, teak and dry forest to the village, then keeps climbing to the Las Pailas entrance of Rincón de la Vieja National Park, some 25 kilometres from the highway. On paper the district head is Cereceda, with Colorado, Porvenir and Curubandé as its other settlements and Gallo and San Rafael as barrios. Buses run between Liberia and the village a few times a day and take about 25 minutes, but daily life is far easier with a car.

The village is built around one square, with the football pitch, the church, the primary school, a couple of mini-supers and a soda serving casados and handmade tortillas. Plenty of families still work small plots of under five hectares or run a few head of cattle, and a growing number work at the lodges, hot springs and adventure parks up the road. The biggest of them, Hacienda Guachipelín, five kilometres east of the school, has been a cattle ranch since 1880 and still keeps around 220 Brahman cattle on its 1,400 hectares alongside the hotel. The other big employer is the state electricity institute, whose Las Pailas geothermal field lies inside the district; its second plant, Pailas II, came online in July 2019 with 55 megawatts. For the hospital, banks and big supermarkets, people go down to Liberia.

Two rivers shape the place. The Blanco and the Colorado rise on the flanks of the volcano and cross the district on their way to the Tempisque, and the minerals they carry turn their pools a startling turquoise. La Pipa, the largest pool, is a kilometre from the village centre, and in the canyon of the Río Colorado, a kilometre and a half from the highway turn-off, the rock walls hold about fifty pre-Columbian petroglyphs. The district sits a little over 300 metres above sea level on average and rises towards the volcano, and the evenings are a touch fresher than on the coast. From May to November the rains turn the pastures green and the dirt side roads to mud, so a lot that is easy to reach in March can need a 4×4 in October.

About 2,500 people lived here at the 2011 census, and the district has kept growing with park tourism and the geothermal works. Most residents are Guanacastecan families who have farmed this land for generations, and Spanish is the language of the street and the pulpería. The newer buyers fall into two groups. Families from Liberia come for a bigger plot and a quieter life within easy reach of their jobs, while foreign buyers come for the volcano view, the space and prices well below the beach towns, with Playas del Coco about an hour’s drive away.

Houses in Curubandé:

Most houses for sale are local family homes in and around the village, single-storey and set on lots of a few hundred square metres. Further out you find country houses on larger plots, some with a pool and a view of the volcano, and the odd larger property such as a former bed and breakfast with a natural pool and hectare lots already segregated beside it. When you look at houses for sale in Curubandé, see the place twice if you can: in March, when the pasture is brown and the heat is at its peak, and again in October, when the rain tests the roof, the gutters and the drive in.

Land and Lots in Curubandé:

Land is the core of this market. Along the road from the highway you find small lots of around 300 square metres, roadside lots of about 1,000 square metres, and lots of 2,400 to 2,600 square metres on the paved stretch two kilometres from Route 1, with water and power at the boundary. Further in come parcels of close to a hectare, some thick with mature trees, and mountain farms of twenty hectares and more on the slopes towards the park. For land for sale in Curubandé, the volcano view and the trees set the price, and the distance from the paved road decides how much you will use it in the rainy season.

New Developments in Curubandé:

The one planned project is Harmony Homes, a small gated community in the countryside outside the village. Lots measure 8 by 30 metres, and buyers combine the builder’s models on them; every house goes up on raised foundations with a steel structure and wood finishes. Some properties carry a pair of 45-square-metre tiny houses meant to be lived in or let, and some units have private access to the river. It is the closest thing in Curubandé to a turnkey new home near Rincón de la Vieja, with the house and the lot sold as one package.

Rentals in Curubandé:

Holiday rentals here live off the park, not the beach. Guests come for the Las Pailas trails, the hot springs, the tubing and the waterfalls, and they share the road with lodges such as Hacienda Guachipelín, Cañón de la Vieja Lodge, the family-run Tiquisia Lodge and the Amazilia guesthouse at kilometre 8. Stays tend to be shorter than on the coast and the green season is quieter. If you are buying to let, remember that the Las Pailas sector closes on Mondays and that volcanic activity can shut trails at short notice.

FAQ:

• Can I live in Curubandé and work in Liberia?

  Yes, and many people do. The village is about twenty minutes by car from Liberia on a paved road, and buses make the trip a few times a day in about 25 minutes. Guanacaste’s international airport is about forty minutes away, and the Hospital Enrique Baltodano, banks and large supermarkets are all in Liberia.

• Is the volcano a risk for property here?

  Rincón de la Vieja is an active volcano, and its main danger is lahars, flows of mud and debris that run down the rivers. Most of them have gone down the northern side, towards Upala, and the southern side, where Curubandé lies, carries a moderate risk. Moderate is not zero: in 2016 heavy rain sent a mudflow down the Río Blanco that killed three people at the Oropéndola waterfall. Keep your building site well above the riverbeds, and follow the alerts from the national emergency commission, which includes Curubandé in its volcano warnings.

• The lot I like was cut out of a family farm last year. What should I check?

  Many of the small lots along the Curubandé road are fresh segregations from older family holdings, so the paperwork matters as much as the view. Have your lawyer confirm in the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) that the lot has its own registered folio, that its plano catastrado matches the fences, and that the Municipalidad de Liberia approved the segregation and will issue a land-use certificate. Ask for a letter confirming water availability from the ASADA or AyA as well, because without it you will not get a building permit.

• Can I build next to the Blanco or Colorado rivers?

  Only at a distance. The Forestry Law protects riverbanks: in rural areas you cannot build or clear within 15 metres of each bank on flat ground, or within 50 metres where the terrain is steep. On these two rivers that margin is also your best defence against a flood or a mudflow, so measure it on the ground before you fall for a riverside plot.

• Do I need a 4×4?

  Not for the village. The road from Route 1 is paved, and an ordinary car will get you to the square and back to Liberia in any month. Many farms and some lots sit on gravel or dirt side roads, though, and the track down to La Pipa is best done on foot or in a 4×4. Drive the route to any property in the rainy season before you commit.