Have you ever heard of bouldering? Well, they do it in Providencia de Dota. Where the heck is that? It’s a beautiful little town tucked away in the Los Santos mountains, near the National Park Los Quetzales. Most of you have never heard of El Valle de Los Santos. Well, we have a real good Costa Rica real estate agent there, Tony Warren, who has lived in the Los Santos area for some years now. He was the one who told me about bouldering.

I am writing the Spanish version of our American European Real Estate Group’s website in Spanish and in his description about the area of Los Santos, he mentioned something about bouldering. Last time I saw the word, I probably didn’t have time to call him but now I needed to ask him what the word in Spanish is. Well, today you’re going to add another word to your Spanish vocabulary as it is Escalada de Bloque.

What is bouldering

Since I didn’t really know what bouldering was all about, I checked on Wikipedia which gives a long explanation but in short: Bouldering is a style of rock climbing undertaken without a rope and normally limited to very short climbs over a crash pad (called a bouldering mat) so that a fall will not result in serious injury.

It is typically practiced on large natural boulders or artificial boulders in gyms and outdoor urban areas. However, it may also be practiced at the base of larger rock faces, or even on buildings or public architecture.

Tony sent me a Facebook page, showing the Providencia Annual Bouldering Festival was held on the 7th and the 15th of January, just last month and it seems to be a real happening. Unfortunately we missed it, but check out this video here. It shows very well how beautiful the area of Providencia is.

Providencia

The community of Providencia, which with the efforts of its people has seen the small village grow from practically nothing into a natural paradise, surrounded by mountains, crystal clear rivers, now introduces mountain sports to Costarican society.

It’s important to know that Providencia is located just over one hour drive from San Jose and about 45 minutes from Providencia, just like most of the Los Santos Valley is a place away from the usual commercial developments, utilities and other elements of modern life where the locals have managed to maintain an appropriate balance between the modern, useful and necessary, including communication with the modern world and the tranquility of living in a safe, clean, peaceful and ecologically balanced environment. The values that now seem absent in many communities across the country are still maintaining there as the locals still have that spirit of cooperation and progress you only find in rural communities.

Other entertainment

The beauty of this area is that if you’re not really interested in bouldering, you can still make this a nice trip for the weekend, as there are many places around to stay overnight. There are many farms that are fruit orchards full with apples and plums, where you can also fish your own tilapia and rent little cabins in the woods.

There is always something to do in de Los Santos Valley for those who get bored, like the horse parade. You should of course stop somewhere to get a great cup of that world famous Los Santos coffee.

That will also give those who are looking to buy a weekend home some time to look at some beautiful properties for sale in Los Santos that Tony can offer you. Contact Tony ahead of time that you are coming because Tony is now also growing his own mushrooms and he cooperates with the community a lot.

Tony is fluent in English and Spanish and can get you also introduced to all the right people in the Los Santos Valley.