Palapa Cabin at Santa Elena Resort, El Jobo

Abandoned thatched-roof hut at Santa Elena Resort on a wooded hillside in El Jobo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica.
Abandoned thatched-roof hut at Santa Elena Resort on a wooded hillside in El Jobo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

Santa Elena Resort sits on a wooded hillside above the coast in El Jobo, a small community in Guanacaste province near the Nicaraguan border. The property has stood vacant for years, left to the surrounding palm and brush growth. This cabin's palapa-style roof, woven from dried palm thatch over a wooden frame, a building technique common to Guanacaste's coastal lodges. Guanacaste's dry tropical climate, with its long rainless season, allows palm-thatch roofing to last for several years before it needs replacing.

Taken February 2019

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Guanacaste Coast
Coastal Guanacaste: shorelines, resort development and wildlife from El Jobo to Junquillal
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