Sierpe

About Sierpe:

Sierpe village, the head town of the district, stands on the Río Sierpe some 30 kilometres upstream from the Pacific and about 15 kilometres south of Palmar Sur. To drive there, follow the Costanera to Palmar Norte, cross the long steel bridge over the Térraba and turn right as soon as you are off it. The paved road runs for 17 kilometres, around twenty minutes, and ends in the village beside the river. Local buses leave from the corner of the park for Palmar Norte through the day, there is a direct service to San José, and by car the capital is roughly four hours away. The Golfo Dulce half of the district is reached on Ruta 245, which leaves the Interamericana at Chacarita and follows the northern shore of the gulf past Los Mogos to Rincón.

Until 2012 Sierpe also took in Drake Bay, which made it one of the largest districts in the country at more than 1,000 square kilometres; the creation of Bahía Drake cut it roughly in half. The village still earns much of its living from the people heading that way. Boats leave the riverside dock for Agujitas, tour operators run day trips to Isla del Caño and to the San Pedrillo and Sirena stations of Corcovado, and fishing boats head out of the river mouth after marlin, dorado and tuna. Around that trade sit a few restaurants, small hotels and yards where visitors leave their cars. Away from the river the plain is farmed with oil palm, rice and cattle pasture. There is a primary school in the village and a rural secondary school at Boca de Sierpe.

The district sits at an average of eight metres above sea level, and much of it is wet ground. Where the Sierpe and the Térraba meet the sea they form the Humedal Nacional Térraba-Sierpe, a Ramsar site since 1995: around 30,000 hectares of tidal channels, mangrove, lagoons and swamp forest, the largest mangrove system on the Pacific coast of Central America. That shapes building here more than any rainfall figure. In spells of heavy rain the rivers leave their banks, and communities such as San Juan de Sierpe have flooded, so the height of a plot above the water matters as much as its size. Across the peninsula the ground rises into forested hills over the calm water of the Golfo Dulce, and much of Los Mogos lies inside the Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve, close to Piedras Blancas National Park.

About 3,000 people live in Sierpe, one of the lowest population densities in Costa Rica. Outside the village they are spread across more than thirty small settlements, from Ajuntaderas, Potrero, San Juan, Taboga and Sábalo on the delta to Rincón, Los Mogos and Bahía Chal on the gulf. Work comes from farming, fishing and the tourism trade on the river. Buyers from outside tend to arrive with a clear idea: a riverfront house with a dock as a base for exploring Osa, a small business in the village that lives off the Drake Bay traffic, or a large forested tract on the Golfo Dulce.

Houses in Sierpe:

In and around the village, houses stand on plots from a few hundred square metres to about half an acre, a short walk or drive from the park and the boat landing. Some are sold furnished, and the odd one comes with a panga and a four-wheel drive thrown in, which says a lot about how people get around. Along the river there are estates of about four hectares with several hundred metres of frontage, a private dock and enough bedrooms to take guests, a few minutes by boat from the village. When you compare homes for sale in Sierpe, ask the neighbours how high the water rose in the last big flood and set that against the floor level. Then ask whether the dock was built with approval.

Land and Lots in Sierpe:

What you find depends on which side of the district you are on. Near the village there are building lots a few minutes from the centre on public streets, and now and then a bank sells off a repossessed parcel of half a hectare or so. On the hill at Sábalo, looking over the river and the Térraba wetland, a titled subdivision offers lots from about 1,000 square metres to a hectare and a half, with rough-cut access tracks and power along the public road but no piped water, so each owner applies for a concession on a stream. On the Golfo Dulce side the scale jumps: forest tracts of 80 to nearly 200 hectares around Los Mogos, ocean-view parcels on the ridgelines, and ocean-front farms of 27 to 40 hectares at Bahía Chal, which cost far more per hectare than the forest inland. With land for sale in Sierpe, how much of it you are allowed to use matters more than how big it is.

Hotels and Tourism Businesses in Sierpe:

Because the village is the river gateway to Drake Bay, small tourism businesses come up for sale here as going concerns. One example is a hostel-style hotel with a separate bar on a lot of about 1,400 square metres in the centre, a short stroll from the river, and some riverfront estates are sold with guest rooms already in use. All of them depend on the flow of travellers heading for Drake, Caño and Corcovado. Ask for a full year of accounts, the wettest months included, and make sure the municipal trading licence and health permit are current and pass to you with the sale.

FAQ:

• How do I get to Sierpe from San José?

  The quickest drive is Ruta 27 towards Orotina and then the Costanera south through Jacó, Quepos, Dominical and Uvita to Palmar Norte, roughly four hours in all. At Palmar, cross the bridge over the Térraba and take the paved road on the right for 17 kilometres until it ends. Without a car, take a bus to Palmar Norte and a local bus or taxi from there, or catch the direct bus to the village. Domestic flights land at Palmar Sur, a short drive away.

• Does Sierpe flood?

  Parts of it do. The district is a river delta at an average of eight metres above sea level, and in spells of heavy rain the rivers overflow; San Juan de Sierpe is one of the communities that has gone under. Before you buy on the plain, ask the neighbours where the water reached, look for marks on walls and fence posts, and see the place in the wet season rather than only in the dry months. A raised floor and a site above the flood line are worth paying for.

• What should I check before buying land near the Térraba-Sierpe wetland or in Los Mogos?

  The trap here is land that looks like ordinary pasture but sits inside a protected area. Rice, oil palm and cattle have pushed into the edges of the Térraba-Sierpe wetland over the years, and wetland and mangrove remain state natural heritage whatever the fence line says. On the gulf side, much of Los Mogos lies in the Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve. Have the Osa Conservation Area of SINAC confirm whether the parcel touches either one, compare the survey plan registered at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) with what you see on the ground, and confirm the permitted land use with the Municipalidad de Osa in Ciudad Cortés.

• Can I build right on the riverbank?

  Not right on it. Costa Rica’s Forestry Law keeps a protected strip along rivers, 15 metres on each bank in rural areas and 50 metres where the ground is steep, and mangrove is protected as well. Riverfront in Sierpe therefore means a house set back from the water, with a dock or landing at the edge. Ask to see the approvals for the dock and a survey plan that shows where the protected strip runs.

• Is there power and water outside the village?

  The village has both, but the smaller settlements vary. Sábalo was only connected to the grid a few years ago, through a rural electrification project that strung 8.7 kilometres of line and was meant to reach Pailón and Potrero next. Many rural lots have no piped water and rely on a well or a concession on a spring or stream, which is applied for separately. Get both confirmed in writing before you sign.