Puntarenas () is a city in the

Puntarenas Province Puntarenas () is a province of Costa Rica. It is located in the western part of the country, covering most of Costa Rica's Pacific Ocean coast, and it is the largest province in Costa Rica. Clockwise from the northwest, it borders on the province ...

, on the Pacific coast 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 ...

. As the seat of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, it is awarded the title of city, which comprises the

Puntarenas Puntarenas () is a city in the 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 comprises the Puntarenas, Chacarita and El Roble districts. A ...

, Chacarita and El Roble districts. As the city of the first canton of the province, it is the capital city of the Puntarenas Province as well, according to the

Administrative divisions of Costa Rica According to the Political Constitution of Costa Rica of 1949, in article 168, the territorial division of Costa Rica is organized by law into three types of subnational entity: For the purposes of the Public Administration, the national ter ...

Toponymy

The name ''Puntarenas'' comes from a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of ''punta'' and ''arenas'', which means "point" and "sands", respectively. In English this would translate roughly to "Sand Point". The name is first referenced by the arrival in February 1720 of the pirate John Clipperton to the area, which recorded in his journals to have arrived to a "Punta de Arena", referring to the needle-like area on which the city stands today. The name is also given to the oddly shaped province of Puntarenas, which (as the most extensive province in the country), has its largest section in the South, far from the main city.

Overview

There are some 100,000 inhabitants in the town and surrounding neighborhoods. Its

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

beaches attract many

tourists Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

, especially surfers. It is also a possible stopover point for the tourist destination

Monteverde Monteverde is the twelfth Cantons of Costa Rica, canton of the Puntarenas Province, Puntarenas Provinces of Costa Rica, province of Costa Rica, located in the Cordillera de Tilarán (Tilarán range). Roughly a four-hour drive from the Costa Rica ...

, to the northwest. Its

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

, Caldera, is one of the main ports and the oldest port in the country. There are regular scheduled ferries to and from Puntarenas and the

Nicoya Peninsula The Nicoya Peninsula () is a peninsula on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It is divided into two provinces: Guanacaste Province in the north, and the Puntarenas Province in the south. It is located at . It varies from in width and is about lon ...

History

The first European to discover Puntarenas was

Gil González Dávila Gil González Dávila or Gil González de Ávila (b. about 1480 – 21 April 1526) was a Spanish conquistador and the first European to explore present-day Nicaragua. Early career González Dávila first appears in historical records in 1508, w ...

in 1522. Despite the use of the

Gulf of Nicoya The Gulf of Nicoya () is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. It separates the Nicoya Peninsula from the mainland of Costa Rica, and encompasses a marine and coastal landscape of wetlands, rocky islands and cliffs. The first Spanish landing in Nicaragua ...

as an entryway to Costa Rica's inland territory, the port of Puntarenas was not developed until 1840 when

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

production in the highlands reached exportable volumes. In 1845 the Congress of the Republic declared Puntarenas a

duty-free A duty-free shop or store is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, who will ...

port (with the exception of

Cognac Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the Communes of France, commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the Departments of France, departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cogn ...

and hard liquor). Originally, the coffee was brought to port in oxcarts via a trail through the mountains. In 1859, a stretch of railway track was completed between Puntarenas and the town of Esparza (one of the country's earliest Spanish settlements, founded in 1574). Eventually, the railway was built all the way through to San José and service was inaugurated in 1910. With the railway connection to the Central Valley, the Pacific port's activities continued to be a major part of the region's economy throughout the 20th century. However, due to the aging and deterioration of the port facilities and the need to accommodate the much larger vessels of modern shipping fleets, a new port was constructed in the 1980s to the south of Puntarenas. The site chosen was Caldera (located at ), where ships had anchored during colonial times. Caldera was more appropriate site for larger ships, and actually was the first port site used since 1522.

Sports

The city's major football teams are Second Division sides Puntarenas F.C., who have played many seasons at the highest level, along with Jacó Rays.

Cuisine

As a major port on the Pacific coast, the gastronomy of Puntarenas is characterized by several seafood dishes, such as

ceviche Ceviche, cebiche, sebiche, or seviche () is a cold dish consisting of fish or shellfish marinated in citrus and seasonings. Different versions of ceviche are part of the culinary cultures of various Latin American countries along the Pacific O ...

. A very popular dessert is the Churchill, a type of

snow cone A snow cone (or snow kone, sno kone, sno-kone, sno cone, or sno-cone) is a ground-up ice dessert commonly served in paper cones or foam cups. This is not to be confused with shaved ice which shaves a thin layer of ice off an ice block instea ...

Climate

Puntarenas is generally hotter than the Costa Rican Central Valley, with daytime highs ranging from in the coldest/hottest months, respectively.Puntarenas temperatures from Climatezone.com
/ref>

References

External links

*
Puntarenas Province website Puntarenas commercial websitewww.radiopuntarenas.net La Radio Digital de Puntarenas
{{Authority control Populated places in Puntarenas Province