Santa Cruz is a canton in the Guanacaste province of

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. The head city is in Santa Cruz district.

History

Santa Cruz was created on 7 December 1848 by decree 167. On September 5, 2012, Santa Cruz was struck by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake, destroying houses in the canton.

Geography

Santa Cruz has an area of km² and a mean elevation of metres. The heart-shaped canton is on the northern Pacific coast between Potrero Bay to the north and the mouth of the Montaña River to the south. It includes Velas Cape, the furthermost western point on the Nicoya Peninsula. The

Tempisque River The Tempisque River, or Río Tempisque, is long, located entirely in Costa Rica flowing from the Guanacaste Cordillera near the Orosí Volcano and emptying into the Gulf of Nicoya. It passes through the Palo Verde National Park and is an import ...

delineates a small portion of the eastern border.

Districts

The canton of Santa Cruz is subdivided into the following

districts 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 counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

: # Santa Cruz # Bolsón # Veintisiete de Abril # Tempate # Cartagena # Cuajiniquil # Diriá # Cabo Velas # Tamarindo

Demographics

For the 2011 census, Santa Cruz had a population of inhabitants.

Transportation

Road transportation

The canton is covered by the following road routes:

Festivals

The capital city of Santa Cruz, named Santa Cruz, is a typical Costa Rican rural town. Its inhabitants are very diverse and consist mostly of farmers, fishermen, workers or employees of several of the many hotels located in the vicinity. The town is known within Costa Rica for its cultural heritage and many historical traditions. These traditions include the Fiesta de Semana Santa (Easter week celebration) and the traditional bullfights as well as many others. Every year in Santa Cruz there are a number of festivals which include bull riding ceremonies. These ceremonies, though traditional at heart, lack most of the features seen in Spanish bullfighting traditions. Usually the ring in which the bull is let loose is open to anyone, tourists as well as locals – man, woman or child. The bull riding usually starts with a man being placed on the bull with nothing but a string to hold on to. This man is inevitably, after some time, thrown off. Even though there are always medical personnel in place to supervise the bull riding, severe injuries or even death among the bullriders are not uncommon. The bulls are treated with respect and dignity and in no bullring within Costa Rica is it ever alright to deliberately injure or kill a bull in a bullfight, whereas in Spain or Mexico the very purpose of the bullfight is for a trained professional to kill the bull. The canton also includes the town of Santa Bárbara, known for its traditional annual dance of the

calabash Calabash (; ''Lagenaria siceraria''), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, birdhouse gourd, New Guinea bean, New Guinea butter bean, Tasmania bean, and opo squash, is a vine grown for its fruit. It can be either harvest ...

es (''baile de los guacales''). Since 2000 the activity has been considered of cultural interest to the community and all participants receive a hand-painted calabash vessel to thank them for their economic contribution (which they paid in the form of an entrance ticket).

References

External links

"Santa Cruz Canton Map"
Instituto de Fomento y Asesoría Municipal, 1984 Cantons of Guanacaste Province Populated places in Guanacaste Province {{Guanacaste-geo-stub