The town of Siquirres in the Province of Limon is of little tourist importance, but is a junction of the two roads leading to the city of Limon on the Caribbean Coast. Most people drive from San Jose out of the Central Valley following Route 32 through the mountains of the Braulio Carillo National Park towards Quapiles on the lowland plains. The next town on Route 32 is Siquirres, more or less half way between the mountains and the city of Limon. The other route from the Central Valley to the Caribbean leads through Cartago, upwards along the slopes of the Irazu Volcano passing the mountain town of Turrialba, famous for its volcano and cheese, an finally winding down connecting with Route 32 in Siquirres. Although the history of Siquirres goes back to pre-Colombian times, the town itself started to develop in the beginning of the 20th century. Before the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, the region around Siquirres was the territory of the Pococi Indians who established several settlements. The Spaniards attempted to create some settlements in the last half of the 16th century along the mouth of the Suerre River, now known as the Rio Pacuare, but they were swiftly abandoned. One century later in 1651 the Governor of the Province returned to the area of Siquirres to repopulate the old settlements and reopen the more than 140 kilometer long trail through the mountains leading to the Central Valley. The next impulse came when the construction of the railroad from San Jose to Limon started and the location known as Mile 36 was chosen to build a camp site for workers and a storage for material. With the completion of the railroad around the turn of the 20th century the town of Siquirres finally started to get shape. With the railroad company that turned into the United Fruit Company came the banana plantations and later the cultivation of pineapple. Nowadays it is a town that provides the passers through with everything they need, from gasoline to a nice plate of food. Siquirres is also the finish of the whitewater rafting tours on the majestic Pacuare River, from where transportation back to the Central Valley is arranged. The railroad is long gone and all remains are old unused tracks, but the road between San Jose and Limon still is one of the main traffic arteries of the country that can be clotted with slow moving trailers and trucks.