Travel Guide Guayabo

Located 19 km north of Turrialba towards Santa Cruz and Pacayas, the archaeological site of Guayabo is protected since the important archaeological discoveries made there. Some archaeologists do not hesitate to compare them to the remains of the Copan civilization in Honduras. Between 1000 BC and no later than 1400 AD, when the city was abandoned, Guayabo had to have about 5,000 inhabitants spread around its now open centre. It is perfectly located between two rivers and is inaccessible from an access other than the one that was built. Today, we can see kinds of mounds that served as foundations for houses, bleachers and sloping surfaces that levelled the pavements and floors of houses, paved sidewalks and a network of water systems that were partly open (and still in working order). On the stones, well preserved animal sculptures depict felines or birds from the surrounding forest. A lookout provides an overview of the excavations, but it takes a lot of imagination to reconstruct the city as it should have existed. Indeed, only 4 hectares have been dug up to date. 16 have yet to be discovered. According to recent studies, this 3,000-year-old site was to be connected to other archaeological sites in the area and even in other countries.