Santa María

About Santa María:

Santa María covers 93.6 square kilometres on the western side of Dota, with the Naranjo river marking much of its border with Tarrazú and the canton’s other two districts, Jardín and Copey, higher up toward the Interamericana. The town is about 64 kilometres from San José. Most traffic arrives on Route 226, which leaves the Interamericana Sur at El Empalme, around kilometre 52, and drops through Jardín into the valley; the same road carries on west to San Marcos de Tarrazú and San Pablo de León Cortés, the other way back to the capital. Route 315 links the town with Copey and rejoins the Interamericana further south at La Trinidad. Beyond the town and its barrios, Bandera, Higueronal, Llano, Nubes, San Rafael and Equis, the district takes in Botella, Cedral, Guaria, Naranjo, Reyes, San Joaquín, San Lucas, Vapor, part of Quebrada Grande and Sukia, out on the far southern edge of the canton.

Families from San Marcos founded the settlement in 1863, when José María Ureña Mora claimed land in the valley and cleared the first ground a year later. The church of Nuestra Señora de la Cueva Santa, begun in 1893, still faces the park. Coffee has paid for the town ever since. Coopedota was set up in 1960 by 96 growers, now has some 800 active members, and runs its mill beside the sports ground; in 2011 its coffee became the first in the world certified carbon neutral, helped by ovens that burn coffee-plant waste instead of wood. Cattle and avocado fill out the farm economy, and the cooperative’s coffee tour and café keep visitors coming through the year.

At an average of 1,548 metres the valley is low enough for coffee on the slopes around town, well below the cold ridges of Jardín and Copey. Outside the valley floor the ground is steep almost everywhere, and in this canton steep ground moves: Tropical Storm Thomas in 2010 brought down slopes and cut roads across Los Santos, and the 1991 Los Santos earthquake started on local faults. In the south, around Guaria, San Joaquín and below Cedral, very heavy rain falls on steep, erodible hillsides that are better kept in forest than built on, while the land right around the town is where crops and houses sit most easily. The Naranjo and its tributaries, the San Joaquín and the San Lucas, drain the district toward the Pacific, and the Naranjo waterfalls are a short drive from the park.

About 6,000 people live in the district, up from 4,621 at the 2011 census, and at that census around one Dota resident in fourteen had been born abroad. The town’s best-known weeks came in March 1948, when José Figueres made it the headquarters of his rebel army, in the building that is now the Escuela República de Bolivia, and broadcast two proclamations from here. Luis Umaña’s monument to those who fell in that war, a sculpture of some 90 tonnes, stands in the central park. Santa María was made a city in 1963 and has had the José Daniel Flores Zavaleta technical high school since 1972. Most buyers are local families and growers, joined by people from the Central Valley and abroad who want a house a short walk from the park or a farm in the hills around it.

Houses in Santa María:

Family homes of one or two storeys, on town lots in the barrios around the park, make up most of the houses for sale in Santa María de Dota. Newer builds go up on the edges of town, and three bedrooms, a patio and a garage for two cars is a common layout. In villages such as Cedral, San Joaquín or Naranjo, a house usually comes with land around it, often a coffee plot or a strip of pasture. On a sloping lot, look at the cut bank behind the house and at where storm water leaves the property before you look at the finishes.

Land and Lots in Santa María:

Lots close to the centre run from about 400 to 510 square metres, sold with a residential land-use certificate, water and power available, and access from a public street or an easement. Some are offered as eligible for a housing bond or bank credit. Small groups of three or four lots come up on the edges of town, a few minutes from the park, along with the odd flat parcel of more than 3,000 square metres. If the access is an easement rather than a public street, ask the Municipalidad de Dota whether it will issue a building permit on that lot before you agree a price.

Coffee and Avocado Farms in Santa María:

Working farms come up across the hills around town, from coffee holdings of around 16 hectares with tens of thousands of coffee trees and some plantain, to mixed farms such as one of about 26 hectares at Guaria in coffee and avocado. Altitude, slope, the age of the plants and the mill that buys the harvest all bear on what a farm is worth. Ask which mill has been taking the coffee and what the last few deliveries came to. In the south of the district, walk the farm and work out how much of it is too steep to be anything but forest.

Rentals in Santa María:

Long-term rentals are small and local: one-bedroom apartments with covered parking, sometimes with water and electricity in the rent, and now and then a family house. People looking to rent in Los Santos tend to search Santa María, San Marcos and San Pablo together, since the three towns are a short drive apart. Short stays are a separate market, mostly cabins and hillside houses outside town let to coffee visitors and birders heading for the quetzal country of Copey. Before you sign, ask what the deposit covers and which bills the landlord pays.

FAQ:

• How do I get to Santa María de Dota from San José?

  Take the Interamericana Sur past Cartago to El Empalme and turn onto Route 226; the town is about 15 kilometres down that road. The other way round goes through San Pablo de León Cortés and San Marcos de Tarrazú and enters the valley from the west. Either way it is a mountain drive of about 64 kilometres. Route 2 over the Cerro de la Muerte has been closed overnight after heavy rain, so check it before a winter trip.

• What should I check before buying land on the slopes around town?

  Start with the ground itself. Ask how the lot and its access road behaved in the last big storms, and on a steep parcel pay for a soil study before you sign. Then get the certificado de uso de suelo from the Municipalidad de Dota for that exact parcel, a letter confirming water availability, and an answer on whether any of it falls inside the Los Santos Forest Reserve. Finally, pull the title at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) and walk the boundary with the plano catastrado to see whether the fences match the plan.

• Can I live in Santa María all year without driving to San José?

  Yes, for most things. The town has the municipality, a Banco Nacional branch, the Escuela República de Bolivia, the technical high school, the church and the shops around the park. San Marcos de Tarrazú, a short drive west, adds more shops and services. Bigger errands still mean a trip to Cartago or San José.

• How does Santa María compare with Jardín and Copey?

  Santa María is lower, more built up and the only one of the three with a full town centre. Jardín and Copey sit higher toward the Interamericana, colder and more forested, with weekend houses, cabins and orchards rather than streets. Buyers who want services within walking distance usually look here first, and those who want a big plot and a view look uphill.

• What is there to see in and around town?

  The 1948 monument and the church face each other across the central park, and the Coopedota coffee tour runs from the cooperative beside the sports ground. The Naranjo waterfalls are close by. Up the road, Copey has apple and plum orchards and vineyards, and Los Quetzales National Park protects the high forest of the Talamanca range.