Shaded by coconut palms, a string of brown-sand beaches leads the eye south form Limon. Hwy 26 hugs the shore and makes brief forays inland, seeking narrow necks by which to cross the wide rivers that flood down from the Talamancas and seasonally inundate the narrow coastal plain and broad valleys.

The rugged Talamancas soar westward, clad in some of the densest montane rain forest in the isthmus. Some 9,050 hectare is protected within Reserva Biologia Hitoy-Carere, an undeveloped reserve accessed by four-wheel drive and deluged by 6 metres of rain a year.

To the north of Hitoy-Carere is Selva Bananito, a 950-hectare cattle ranch and reserve with rustic cabins and a nature lodge in premontane rain forest, accessed by horseback or hiking trails.