San Lorenzo

About San Lorenzo:

San Lorenzo is the second district of Tarrazú and the only one that touches both of the others: San Marcos lies to the northeast and San Carlos to the west. Beyond the canton it borders León Cortés to the northwest, Dota to the east, Pérez Zeledón to the southeast and, to the south, Quepos in Puntarenas province. San Lorenzo village sits two and a half kilometres southwest of San Marcos, and San Pablo de León Cortés is five kilometres to the north. Route 303 is the district’s national road, linking San Marcos with San Lorenzo and San Carlos, and a local bus leaves San Marcos for San Lorenzo from six in the morning. The south works differently: the road from Tarrazú to Quepos through Nápoles is gravel, and Quebrada Arroyo and Esquipulas are reached from the Quepos side, through Londres and Villa Nueva.

The district was created on 26 September 1923 and at first took in what is now San Carlos; its present boundaries were drawn before the 2000 census. Around 4,800 people live here, a quarter of the canton’s population spread over close to two-thirds of its land, so most villages are small and far apart. In the upper half, coffee pays the bills, and the harvest from the villages near San Marcos goes to the mills of the Los Santos zone. Farther down, coffee gives way to pasture, cattle and forest. Rural tourism has become a second income: the coast-to-coast Camino de Costa Rica walking route crosses the district through Nápoles, Naranjillo and Esquipulas, and Nápoles has a community tourism group offering homestays and cabins.

From end to end, San Lorenzo falls more than a thousand metres. The coffee villages beside San Marcos sit above 1,400 metres; the Camino makes its last real climb over the flank of Cerro Diamante, then drops to around 300 metres at Esquipulas, where the heat and damp of the coastal plain take over. That drop decides what a piece of land is good for: coffee at the top, cattle and fruit lower down, and forest on the steepest ground. Toward Quebrada Arroyo and Cerro Nara the hills face the Pacific, and the Zona Protectora Cerro Nara shelters forest on the slopes northeast of Quepos. In Quebrada Arroyo a community cooperative runs the Los Campesinos ecolodge, with forest trails, waterfalls and hanging bridges some 25 kilometres east of Quepos. On the gravel roads of the lower district, the rainy season decides whether a car gets through, and a four-wheel drive is the safe choice.

Most buyers are local families and growers adding land to a farm they already work. Others come from the Central Valley or from abroad for a finca with a view, and on the Esquipulas side the pull is the coast rather than the coffee, with Quepos and the beaches of Manuel Antonio within reach. Farms are often advertised in manzanas rather than hectares, and one manzana is a little under 7,000 square metres. Check which unit a price refers to before you compare two offers.

Houses in San Lorenzo:

Houses come up mainly in the villages along Route 303 and in barrios such as Mata de Caña, a quarter of an hour from San Marcos, and most houses for sale in San Lorenzo are family homes on a lot of their own or farmhouses sold with the land around them. Away from the main road, a house is usually part of a finca rather than a separate sale, and on some farms it is a simple cabin rather than a full home. Shopping, secondary school and the clinic are all in San Marcos, so the stretch of road between the house and Route 303 matters as much as the building. Watch how the drive copes with a heavy downpour before you look at the bedrooms.

Land and Lots in San Lorenzo:

Smaller building plots cluster around San Lorenzo centre and along Route 303, where services are closest. Beyond them, land is sold as rural parcels, often several manzanas at a time, with a mix of slope, pasture and woodland. The steep Cerro Diamante ridge and the hillsides above the Naranjillo and Naranjo rivers hold ground that is only fit for forest, and the Forestry Law does not allow forest to be cut to make room for a house. If you are looking at land for sale in San Lorenzo de Tarrazú, measure how much of the parcel is flat enough for a house and a drive before you fall for the view.

Coffee Farms in San Lorenzo:

Farms are the core of the market here. Offers run from three hectares of coffee in production to fincas of 12 to 19 hectares that combine coffee, pasture with a small cattle corral and a block of forest, often with a stream along one side, a spring and a view down to the Central Pacific. Around El Pito and Palmilera, on the side that looks toward Quepos, larger mixed farms of this kind come up for sale. If coffee is the plan, start with altitude: the higher rows near San Marcos are the ones that built the Tarrazú name, while lower ground suits cattle, fruit or a weekend farm. Ask which mill takes the current harvest and how many of the plants are young, because coffee planted three years ago is only now starting to produce.

FAQ:

• How do I get to San Lorenzo, and to the villages near Quepos?

  From San José, head for San Marcos de Tarrazú on Route 226, then take Route 303, which runs through San Lorenzo toward San Carlos; buses link San Marcos and San Lorenzo from six in the morning. The southern villages are a separate trip. Quebrada Arroyo and Esquipulas are reached from Quepos, through Londres and Villa Nueva, on gravel, and the Tarrazú–Quepos road through Nápoles is gravel as well. A high-clearance car does the job in the dry season; when it rains, take a four-wheel drive.

• What should I check before buying a farm on the slope toward Quepos?

  Start with the way in. A gravel track with a stream crossing can be fine in February and closed in October, so ask the neighbours how it held up in the last big storm. Get a recent certificate from the Registro Nacional and a copy of the plano catastrado, then walk the fences with the plan in hand, because on a slope a few metres can put a spring or a stream on the wrong side of the line. Forest, springs and land out toward Cerro Nara and its protected zone all carry limits on clearing and building, so ask the Municipalidad de Tarrazú for a land-use certificate on the exact parcel before you sign.

• Can coffee still be grown here?

  In the upper villages, yes. The district averages 1,440 metres, and the farms closest to San Marcos sit in the core of Tarrazú coffee country; many fincas on offer come with coffee in production and some newly planted rows. Lower down toward Quepos the land is warmer and wetter, and pasture, fruit and forest take over. Decide what you want to farm before you choose the altitude.

• Where do people in San Lorenzo go for shops, schools and health care?

  For the upper half of the district, the answer is San Marcos, two and a half kilometres from San Lorenzo village, with the canton’s shops, the Liceo Tarrazú and the Centro Regional de Salud Los Santos. The villages have their own primary schools, including those in Esquipulas and Quebrada Arroyo. On the Pacific side, Quepos is the nearer town in practice.

• Is there a market for cabins or rural tourism?

  A small one, and it is real. The Camino de Costa Rica brings walkers through Nápoles, Naranjillo and Esquipulas, Nápoles has a community tourism group with homestays and cabins, and the cooperative ecolodge at Quebrada Arroyo draws visitors up from Quepos. If you plan to host guests, check with the municipality that the land use allows it and which business licence you need. Every guest will arrive on the same gravel road you use, so price that in.