Vuelta de Jorco

About Vuelta de Jorco:

Vuelta de Jorco covers 22 square kilometres in the north of Aserrí canton. Tarbaca lies to the north, San Gabriel to the east and Monterrey to the southeast, while the whole western edge borders the canton of Acosta; San Ignacio, the Acosta seat, is three and a half kilometres from the centre. Route 209 comes down from Aserrí and Tarbaca, passes the Cristo Rey church and carries on to San Ignacio. It is the main link between Acosta and the capital, so a slip or a fallen tree on this stretch is felt in both cantons. The Acosta bus line connects the district with Tarbaca, Aserrí, Desamparados and central San José, and its Jorco branch turns round here instead of going on to San Ignacio.

The district has belonged to Aserrí since the canton was created in 1882, and a boundary adjustment before the 1984 census gave it its present size. Its name comes from the río Jorco, which crosses it; jorco is a Huetar word for a tree. Besides the centre, the district takes in Calvario, El Pilar, Jocotal, Legua de Naranjo, Los Mangos, Meseta, Minilla, Monte Redondo, Ojo de Agua, Rosalía, Salitral, San Rafael, Santa Marta, Uruca and part of Ceiba Alta. The population grew by some seventy per cent between 1984 and 2000, reached 6,499 at the 2011 census and has since passed seven thousand. That is a lot of new houses on ground that does not make building easy.

The centre sits a little above 900 metres, and the land climbs from there toward Tarbaca, where the río Jorco rises in the hills around El Cedral. Those headwaters supply drinking water to Vuelta de Jorco and to Acosta downstream. Slopes are steep, the rock is weathered sediment, and old landslide deposits are common; the environmental mapping done for the canton’s future zoning plan puts the centre in the highest fragility class. The gentler, more buildable ground lies north and south of Meseta. Heavy rain is when all this shows: erosion has cut Route 209 to a single lane at El Colono, and the road authority has had to step in with emergency work.

Coffee built the place. A beneficio was processing the district’s harvest by the 1930s, and coffee and pasture still cover much of the hillsides. Today the buyer here is mostly a family after a house with some land around it, still within a bus ride of Aserrí and San José. Electricity comes from Coopesantos, the Los Santos rural electric cooperative, water from the community ASADA, and fibre internet has reached barrios such as La Minilla. Steep farmland around Jocotal carries a tax valuation that is a small fraction of land near Aserrí town, which tells you how much flat, accessible ground is worth here.

Houses in Vuelta de Jorco:

Homes on the market range from compact three-bedroom houses of around 150 square metres to five-bedroom family houses, and a few of the houses for sale in Vuelta de Jorco come with several thousand square metres of land for fruit trees, a garden or a second building. On this ground, look first at what holds the house up. Check the retaining walls, the drainage behind the building and the way water leaves the lot in a downpour. A house with a flat yard and a stable bank behind it is worth more than one with better finishes on a badly cut slope.

Land and Lots in Vuelta de Jorco:

Small lots of two hundred square metres or a little more come up in Monte Redondo and La Minilla, some with a current water availability letter from the ASADA. Larger lots of seven hundred square metres and up, and rural parcels of several thousand, also change hands. A lot that is half flat and half slope is normal here, so measure the flat part, because that is where the house goes. When comparing lots for sale in Vuelta de Jorco, favour the ones that already come with a registered survey plan, a deed and an issued land-use certificate.

FAQ:

• Can I get to Vuelta de Jorco by bus?

  Yes. The Acosta line leaves central San José, runs through Desamparados, Aserrí and Tarbaca, crosses Vuelta de Jorco and ends in San Ignacio. Its Jorco branch starts in the district and goes straight to San José without entering Acosta. When Route 209 is blocked the buses take an alternative road, so allow for a longer trip.

• How stable is the ground, and what should I check before buying a sloping lot?

  Stability is the first question here. Much of the district is steep and prone to slides, and the centre is among the most fragile ground in the canton. Have an engineer look at the soil and the bank before you commit, and budget for retaining walls and drainage. Then check the property and its survey plan at the Registro Nacional, ask the Municipalidad de Aserrí for a land-use certificate, and get a water availability letter from the ASADA.

• How reliable is Route 209 through the district?

  Everything depends on it, and it is exposed. Erosion has narrowed it to one lane at El Colono, and falling earth and trees have closed the Aserrí–Acosta section more than once. If you will commute daily, drive it after a wet week before you decide.

• Is the land good for farming?

  Coffee and pasture cover much of it, but on the steepest slopes the soil washes away for most of the year. That ground pays back best when it is farmed with erosion control, or simply left under trees. If farming is the plan, walk the parcel in the rain and see where the water and the topsoil go.

• What is there for a family in the district itself?

  Vuelta de Jorco has its own primary school and a secondary school, the Liceo de Vuelta de Jorco, along with the Cristo Rey parish, local supermarkets, a pharmacy and a hardware store. For municipal business and bigger shopping, Aserrí town is the centre. San Ignacio de Acosta is closer, just the other way along Route 209.