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Costa Rica's Zona Sur (southern zone) is the country's least-known region, both for Ticos and for travellers. Geographically it's a diverse area, ranging from the agricultural heartland of the Valle de el General to the high peaks of the Cordillera de Talamanca, most notably the mountain pass at Cerro de la Muerte ("Death Mountain"), and Cerro el Chirripo - at 3819m one of the highest peaks in Central America. South of Chirripo, the cordillera falls away steeply into the river-cut lowlands of the Valle de Diquis around Palmar, and the coffee-growing Valle de Coto Brus, near the border with Panama. The chief draw for travellers is the Osa Peninsula in the extreme southwest, home to the Parque Nacional Corcovado , one of the country's prime rainforest hiking destinations, and the remote and picturesque Bahia Drake . Less off the beaten track is the Playa Dominical area of the Pacific coast, a surfing destination whose tremendous tropical beauty is beginning to attract increasing numbers of visitors. Golfito , the region's only town of any size, suffered from an unsavoury reputation for years after the pull-out of the United Fruit Company's banana operations in 1985, though its fortunes have improved since being made a tax-free zone for manufactured goods from Panama. Despite the abundance of budget accommodation in the Zona Sur, you'll find yourself spending more than you bargained for simply because of the time, distance and planning involved in getting to many of the region's more beautiful spots. Many people prefer to take a package rather than travel independently, and travellers who stay at the more expensive rainforest lodges often choose to fly in. Climatically the Zona Sur has two distinct regions. The first comprises the Pacific lowlands from south of Quepos roughly to the top of the Osa Peninsula, and the upland Valle de el General and the Talamancas, both of which experience a dry season from December to April. The second region - the Osa Peninsula, Golfito and Golfo Dulce - does not have so marked a dry season, while during the wettest part of the year, from around October to December, spectacular seasonal thunderstorms canter in from the Pacific. In the rainy season, some parts of Parque Nacional Corcovado become more or less unwalkable, local roads become impassable, and everything gets more difficult.
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