Guayabo National Monument

Guayabo is the largest and most important archeological site discovered to date in Costa Rica. It forms part of the cultural region known as Central Intermountain and Atlantic Basin. Some of the features of the buildings point to South America, while Mesoamerican evidence is also present, a common occurrence due to the "land bridge" nature of the Central America geoposition.

The archeological importance of Guayabo has been known since the end of the last century. At that time several expeditions were carried out to collect artifacts for museums and private collections, and the complete archeological collection of Costa Rica was exhibited at the Historic-American Expo in Madrid (1982).

Open secondary vegetation grows in the areas near the archeological site as the result of logging carried out in the region many years ago.  Most of the species are pioneering and include burio, guana and trumpet tree.

Wildlife is poor and scarce due to the small size of the monument. The most visible animals are birds, especially the keel-billed toucan and the Montezuma oropendola.  Insects, lizards and frogs are a few frequently seen examples of the fauna.