Picagres

About Picagres:

Picagres takes up the western end of Mora canton. Puriscal lies across its western boundary, the cantons of Alajuela and Atenas lie to the north, and Piedras Negras sits between it and Ciudad Colón. Ruta 136, the secondary road that links Santiago de Puriscal with Turrúcares, runs through the district, so you can come in from Puriscal, from Ciudad Colón by way of Piedras Negras, or from the Alajuela side. Some stretches are paved and some are still gravel, and the road winds as it drops. The bus that serves the district comes from Puriscal on a line through Llano Grande; there is no direct service from Ciudad Colón, even though it is the canton seat.

The district is named after the Río Picagres, which marks part of its boundary. Picagres was busier a century ago than it is now: more than 1,500 people lived here in 1927, and the number then fell for decades before it started to climb again after 2011. Today about a thousand people share its 27 km², which makes it one of the emptiest districts in San José province. Cattle and small-scale farming are still the main work. Besides Picagres itself, the communities are Llano Grande, Cordel, Chucás, Jateo and Monte Frío, which locals also call Potrerillos.

At around 500 metres, Picagres sits well below Ciudad Colón, in broken country of pasture, patches of forest and steep stream valleys that drain north to the Río Grande de Tárcoles. On that northern edge the river is held back by the Chucás hydroelectric dam, a 50 MW plant whose reservoir is a regular stop on mountain-bike loops out of Turrúcares and Piedras Negras. Families from the valley drive down to the Río Picagres for its pools and a waterfall, at the end of a long gravel descent where a high vehicle helps. Walkers come for the Camino de las Ermitas Victorianas, whose second stage links Llano Grande, Picagres and Piedras Negras.

The ermita is the building people come to see. The Zúñiga family and local carpenters raised it around 1938 from bitter cedar donated by neighbours, then clad it in sheet metal, as many rural churches were after the 1910 Cartago earthquake, and the stained glass is still the original. In 2022 it was declared national historic and architectural heritage along with four other Mora chapels, among them the 1950s ermita in Llano Grande. Mass is said a couple of times a month, and the feast of the Dulce Nombre de Jesús falls on 2 January. The story in Mora is that its rural chapels were all built facing the sea, to mark the old roads down to the Pacific coast.

Houses in Picagres:

Houses here are country homes on their own land, not rows of houses along a street. The ones that come up are often three-bedroom family houses on half a hectare or more, with titled land, ICE electricity and, in some parts of the district, fibre internet. Smaller houses on ordinary lots appear too. If you are comparing houses for sale in Picagres, judge the drive in as carefully as the house: a few kilometres of gravel matter more than an extra bedroom once the rains start. Ask where the water comes from as well, since some homes run on their own well.

Land and Lots in Picagres:

Land is most of the market. Building lots of several thousand square metres, with water and power at or near the boundary, sit alongside fincas of two to three hectares and larger farms of 25 hectares and more, in pasture or forest. Around Cordel there are broad parcels that are mostly flat, with long frontage on a public road, which is rare in a district this hilly. Before you settle on any land for sale in Picagres, bear in mind that Mora’s regulatory plan covers only the Colón district. Picagres falls under the canton’s general rules instead, so the municipal land-use certificate is what tells you what you may build, and where a lot is reached by an easement rather than a public road, only one house is allowed on it.

FAQ:

• What kind of property can I buy in Picagres?

  Mostly land: fincas from a couple of hectares up to large farms, building lots with water and power nearby, and a smaller number of country houses on big plots. There are no apartment buildings or condominiums in the district.

• How do I get to Picagres from San José?

  Drive out to Ciudad Colón on Ruta 27, continue to Piedras Negras and pick up Ruta 136 west, or come round through Santiago de Puriscal. Ruta 136 also reaches the district from Turrúcares, on the Alajuela side. Expect gravel on parts of the route, and if you depend on the bus, it runs from Puriscal, not from Ciudad Colón.

• The lot I like is reached by a private easement. Can I build on it?

  One house. The Municipalidad de Mora allows a single dwelling per lot reached by a servidumbre de paso, so a parcel you hoped to fill with several units may not work. Ask the municipality for the land-use certificate before you make an offer, and check at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) that the cadastral plan has been registered as a finca and matches the deed, because no building licence is issued until it has. On sloping or riverside land, find out how much of the plot is actually buildable.

• Is anything planned near Cordel and Jateo?

  Yes. A waste treatment and recovery complex, Parque Industrial Jateo, has been proposed since the 1990s for a property of about 237 hectares in Cordel. It has held environmental viability from SETENA since 2013 and recently received a municipal land-use certificate, which does not by itself allow it to build or operate, and the file is still before the Municipal Council. If you are looking at land in Cordel or Jateo, ask the municipality where the project stands before you buy.

• What is there to do in Picagres?

  See the heritage ermitas of Picagres and Llano Grande, swim in the pools of the Río Picagres, ride the gravel loops toward the Chucás reservoir, or walk the Llano Grande to Piedras Negras stage of the Camino de las Ermitas Victorianas.