Barra Honda
Barra Honda is unique among the National Parks of Costa Rica: its main attraction is an intricate large system of limestone caverns which houses a multitude of forms and figures.
The nearly flat mesa of the Barra Honda hill looms 300 m above the Tempisque valley with its highest peak at 450 m altitude. It mainly consists of coral reef which is over 60 million years old.
Tectonic faulting has uplifted the area from its former seabed and rains created underground waterways. The constant dropping of rainwater on calcium carbonate has then created these underground art galleries - fancies of nature grown over millenniums of years. The caves of Barra Honda are well preserved as their vertical entrances are difficult to access.
Nevertheless, human skeletons and pre-Columbian artifacts have been found 30 feet deep Nicoya´s Cave.
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