Puntarenas

Puntarenas is a district in the Puntarenas canton of Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

As the seat of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, it also includes the Chacarita and El Roble districts. And as the city of the first canton of the province, it is the capital city of the Puntarenas Province as well.

Puntarenas was discovered by Gil González Dávila in 1522. Despite the use of the Gulf of Nicoya as an entryway to Costa Rica's inland territory, the port of Puntarenas was not developed until 1840 when coffee production in the highlands reached exportable volumes.

The Puntarenas name comes from the portmanteau of Punta and Arenas, which means Point and Sands, respectively. Therefore, in English the name would mean "Sand Point".

The name is first referenced by the arrival in February 1720 of the pirate Chipperton 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 Puntarenas city.

In 1845 the Congress of the Republic declared Puntarenas a duty-free port (with the exception of Cognac 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.

Its port, 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. Its Pacific Ocean beaches attract many tourists, especially surfers. It is also a possible stopover point for the tourist destination Monteverde, to the northwest.

As a major port on the Pacific coast, the gastronomy of Puntarenas is characterized by several seafood dishes, such as ceviche. A very popular dessert is the Churchill, a type of snow cone.

CLIMATE

Puntarenas is generally hotter than the Costa Rican Central Valley, with daytime highs ranging from 30 to 35 °C (86 to 95 °F) in the coldest/hottest months, respectively.