Costa Rica Guide
The Zona Sur
Golfito
The former banana port of GOLFITO, 33km north of the Panamanian border, straggles for 2.5km along the water of the same name (golfito means "little gulf"). The town's setting is spectacular, backed up against steep, thickly forested hills to the east, and with the glorious Golfo Dulce – one of the deepest gulfs of its size in the world – to the west. The low shadow of the Peninsula de Osa shimmers in the distance, and everywhere the vegetation has the soft, muted look of the undisturbed tropics. It is also very rainy; even if you speak no Spanish, you'll certainly pick up the local expression va a caer baldazos – "it's gonna pour".