Puerto Jiménez is the thirteenth canton of the

Puntarenas Puntarenas () is a city in the Puntarenas canton of Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, it is awarded the title of city, which is made from the Puntarenas, Chacarita and ...

province of Costa Rica. It is located in the

Osa Peninsula The Osa Peninsula ( es, Península de Osa) is a peninsula located in southwestern Costa Rica, in the Puntarenas Province, with the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Golfo Dulce to the east. The peninsula was formed geologically by a faulting sy ...

next to the Golfo Dulce and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

, it is the main gateway to the Corcovado National Park.

History

As a district, Puerto Jiménez was created as one of the original two districts of Golfito canton on 10 June 1949 through decree 552, being the other one

Golfito Golfito is a district and port town of the Golfito canton, in the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica, located on the southern Pacific Coast, near the border of Panama. Toponymy Literally translated as 'little gulf'. Geography Golfito has an ...

Canton creation

Due to the distance from the local government offices located across the waters of the Golfo Dulce gulf, and through land at a distance of 116 km and more than two hours of travel, the inhabitants of the then Puerto Jiménez district requested to become a canton on its own. The initiative was spearheaded by deputy Óscar Mauricio Cascante Cascante (

Social Christian Unity Party The Social Christian Unity Party ( es, Partido Unidad Social Cristiana) is a centre-right political party in Costa Rica. PUSC considers itself a Christian-democratic party and, as such, is a member of the Christian Democrat Organization of Ameri ...

-Puntarenas #5) and on 21 October 2021, the first draft of the law project N° 22749 for the creation of the canton was presented, which was approved on the first debate on 24 March 2022 (40 votes out of 57) and the final version was approved on 28 March 2022 (48 votes). On 8 April 2022, the president of the republic,

Carlos Alvarado Quesada Carlos Andrés Alvarado Quesada (; born 14 January 1980) is a Costa Rican politician, writer, journalist and political scientist who served as the 48th president of Costa Rica from 8 May 2018 to 8 May 2022. A member of the Citizens' Action P ...

, signed the law. By the fourth article of the law project, there will be only one district, Puerto Jiménez, becoming the third canton with this peculiarity after

Parrita Parrita is a canton and its only district in the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica. Toponymy The origin of the name, it is said, has to do with a woman named Rita who lived in one of the original settlements. Rita had a business and received pa ...

and

Monteverde Monteverde is the twelfth canton of the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica. It is located in the Cordillera de Tilarán mountain range. Roughly a four-hour drive from the Central Valley, Monteverde is one of the country's major ecotourism des ...

, all three located in Puntarenas province. Their first municipality, the body of the local government, will be elected on the 2024 municipal elections, which is the last step required to be a canton fully. The

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...

, assigned uniquely to each district, was 60702, and will become 61301 for the Puerto Jiménez district.

Districts

The canton of Puerto Jiménez is subdivided into only one

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

, occupying the same area as the whole canton: # Puerto Jiménez, with postal code 61301

Geography

Puerto Jiménez has an area of km² and an elevation of metres.

Demographics

For the 2011 census, Puerto Jiménez had a population of inhabitants.

Transportation

Road transportation

The district is covered by the following road routes: * CR RNS 245

National Route 245

Airport

The canton is served by the

Puerto Jiménez Airport Puerto Jiménez Airport is an airport serving Puerto Jiménez, a Gulf of Dulce coastal town in Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica. The airport is just east of the town. It is owned and managed by the country's Directorate General of Civil Aviat ...

. It is the third-busiest airport in Costa Rica, with 35,745 passengers in 2014.DGAC Yearbook 2014

Economy

During the 1960s, Puerto Jiménez was a haven for gold mining and logging. Today it is a popular tourist destination due to its proximity to the national park, and has an active nightlife with several bars and restaurants. The town also boasts a supermarket, several clothing and shoe stores, a bakery, an art gallery, and several other shops. There are several hotels and hostels in Puerto Jiménez, including Lunas Hostel, Cabinas Jimenez, and Crocodile Bay Resort.

Conservation

The Corcovado National Park and Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve, where sightings of

scarlet macaw The scarlet macaw (''Ara macao'') is a large red, yellow, and blue Central and South American parrot, a member of a large group of Neotropical parrots called macaws. It is native to humid evergreen forests of the Neotropics. Its range extends from ...

toucan Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five g ...

s and

trogon The trogons and quetzals are birds in the order Trogoniformes which contains only one family, the Trogonidae. The family Trogonidae contains 46 species in seven genera. The fossil record of the trogons dates back 49 million years to the Early E ...

s are common, are located partially in this canton.

References

External links

Lonely Planet profile
Cantons of Puntarenas Province Districts of Puntarenas Province Populated places in Puntarenas Province {{CostaRica-geo-stub