History:

The peculiar shape of the Puntarenas province has a very sensible explanation. During the first 350 years of Spanish presence in Central America, the southern Pacific portion of what is now Costa Rica remained quite isolated from the developing population centers of the region. The high mountains between this area and the Central Valley presented a formidable barrier to the available means of terrestrial transportation. Thus, the few early settlers that ventured into the southern region came either from Panama to the south, or by boat from the port of Caldera in the Gulf of Nicoya.

The dimensions of the province are due to the fact that it includes all the many kilometers of coastline from the Gulf of Nicoya south to Panama, the large inland valleys of Coto Brus and El General, and the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula -- all areas that were once most easily approached by sea.

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. Originally, the coffee was brought to port in oxcarts via a trail through the mountains. In 1879, a stretch of railroad track was completed which connected Puntarenas with the town of Esparza (one of the country's earliest Spanish settlements, founded in 1554, a decade before the Central Valley began to be colonized) where the oxcart trail came out of the mountains. Eventually, the railroad was built all the way through to San José and service was inaugurated in 1910.

With the railroad 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 1980's just south of Puntarenas. The site chosen was Caldera, the same spot where ships had anchored during colonial times.

Prior to the Spaniards' arrival, the area that is now the Puntarenas province was home to numerous groups of native peoples with varied lifestyles depending on the habitats in which they lived. The coastal inhabitants were no strangers to the sea and ventured out into open water either in dugout canoes or in balsa wood rafts. In addition to fish, they harvested other marine products such as shellfish (dug from the mudflats at low tide), sea turtles and turtle eggs, and murex shells from which they obtained a purple dye used in tinting cloth.

The greatest of the Costa Rican pre-Columbian mysteries comes from the southern part of the province, near the towns of Palmar Norte and Palmar Sur, where hundreds of large stone spheres have been found. The largest of these granite boulders measures 2.5 meters in diameter, and weighs 13,000 kilograms. Many, however, are not much larger than bowling balls. How these nearly perfectly spherical stones were shaped with such precision is still a matter of speculation, as is their exact use by the indigenous inhabitants of the region.

Unfortunately, the chance for archeological interpretation of the spheres was forever lost when the aforementioned area was converted into banana plantations and bulldozers moved the stones from where they had been placed long ago by the natives.

Settlement of the southern sector of the province was slow in coming, despite periodic expeditions into the region during colonial times. Thus, this area, together with the eastern slopes of the Talamanca Cordillera, was one of the last strongholds of indigenous culture in Costa Rica.

Not until 1870 was a horse trail put through from the Central Valley to the Valley of El General. However, given the difficulty in traveling to this new frontier, colonization did not immediately follow the construction of this trail. In fact, the southern part of Puntarenas province remained sparsely populated by non-natives until the mid-1930's, when banana plantations in the Caribbean lowlands were severely affected by a fungal infection known as "Panama disease" leading the United Fruit Company to abandon those areas and look elsewhere to begin new plantations.

The heat and high rainfall of the southern Pacific lowlands made for an ideal banana-growing climate (again, as in the Caribbean, at the expense of vast areas of tropical rain forest), and between 1936 and 1955 this area experienced an unprecedented wave of human impact.

Ports were built in the banana company towns of Quepos and Golfito for the purpose of shipping the fruit to foreign markets. The construction of the Inter-American Highway from San José to Panama in the 1940's further opened the region to agricultural colonization by independent Costa Rican farmers.

In the mid-1950's, disease in the banana plantations again caused serious problems for the local economies, which were heavily dependent on the production of this crop. Along the coast north and south of Quepos, the banana company actually destroyed the banana plantations and converted them to fields of African oil palm. These are still active today (and still expanding) and produce a vegetable oil used in cooking as well as oils used in cosmetics.

Today, an important aspect of the provincial economy is tourism. The country's most popular beach resorts, Puntarenas (including Doña Ana and Barranca beaches), Jacó and Manuel Antonio, are all found in this province, as are 14 national parks and reserves -- more than in any other province. National Parks

National Parks:

1) Peñas Blancas National Wildlife Refuge
2) Guayabo, Negritos and Pájaros Islands Biological Reserves
3) Curú National Wildlife Refuge
4) Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve
5) Carara Biological Reserve
6) Manuel Antonio National Park
7) Ballena Marine National Park
8) La Amistad International Park
9) Corcovado National Park
10) Caño Island Biological Reserve
11) Golfito National Wildlife Refuge
12) Cocos Island National Park

Other Points of Interest:

1) Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve:
Settled by North American Quakers in the early 1950's, the mountain dairy community of Monteverde has become a veritable ecotourist Mecca because of the nearby Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (a private reserve owned and operated by the Tropical Science Center).

Established in 1972, the Cloud Forest Reserve protects habitat for one of the world's most handsomely plumaged birds -- the Resplendent Quetzal. Noted for their shimmering green and red coloration and the elongated tail coverts of the adult males, quetzals are seasonally abundant in the reserve and community area (from December through August) Many other bird and mammal species can be seen with relative ease throughout the year, including the emerald touca, collared redstart, blue-crowned motmot, black guan, Hoffmann's two-toed Sloth, kinkajou and half a dozen or more species of dazzling hummingbirds. The opportunity to walk through this nearly enchanted, often mist-enshrouded environment and admire the epiphyte-laden vegetation of the cloud forest is well worth a visit.

A diverse and well-maintained trail system allows visitors to explore a small percentage of the reserve's total 11,000 hectares without feeling crowded.

(NOTE: The hummingbird show at the Hummingbird Gallery (on the left just before the reserve parking lot) is free and nothing short of amazing. At least six species can be seen in a 10- or 15-minute viewing span on any day of the year, but you can easily find yourself lingering a lot longer as these feathered fireballs zip back and forth between the feeders and frequently hover just inches away from you.)

To get there from San José, take the Inter-American Highway west for nearly 150 kilometers until the turnoff for Monteverde on the right just before coming to the bridge over the Lagarto River. Continue on the gravel road for 35 kilometers to reach your destination.

Approximately a four-hour drive from San José, the last 90 minutes or so of the journey over gravel road are dusty during the dry season (from December through April) and can be muddy in the wet season. Most car rental companies will insist that you take a 4x4 if you are going to visit Monteverde.

When it comes to climate, Monteverde residents refer to three seasons: dry, wet and misty. The misty season (from mid-November through February) is actually the first half of the dry season and is characterized by wind-driven clouds that bathe the forest, and frequently the community, in mists as they are blown across the ridgetop from the Atlantic side of the country. A poncho is definitely recommended during this portion of the year, while an umbrella should do fine for the afternoon rains that typically fall from May through November. Sweaters will handle the evening chill on almost any night of the year. Daytime temperatures vary with cloud cover and wind conditions, so layers are the best suggestion, but on calm, sunny days, shorts and T-shirts are suitable.

The Monteverde area has an interesting history. Looking for an alternative to the increasingly militaristic U.S. society, a group of 44 Quakers from Fairhope, Alabama, pulled up stakes in 1950 and came to Costa Rica -- a nation that had taken the bold measure of abolishing its armed forces two years earlier in 1948. After visiting a number of highland areas the length of the country (climates unaffected by many of the more troublesome tropical diseases that were still a problem in the lowlands at the time), the group decided to settle in Monteverde. The Quakers purchased 3,000 acres of land near the top of the ridge overlooking the Gulf of Nicoya below. To support themselves with something more than mere subsistence farming, they formed a cooperative cheese factory to take advantage of the excellent natural conditions for dairy farming, but nearly impossible conditions for transporting fresh milk to the San José market. Today, Monteverde cheese is renowned throughout Costa Rica and is also exported.

2) Santa Elena Reserve:
In response to the growing numbers of visitors to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, this reserve was created in the early 1990's, just a few kilometers to the northwest along the same mountain chain. The cloud forest habitat that it protects is quite similar to that found at the neighboring reserve, as is the associated wildlife, including Resplendent Quetzals.

One unique possibility at the Santa Elena Reserve, if the clouds permit, is to view Arenal Volcano. Even though the active volcano is some 20 kilometers away from the lookout points, it is still an imposing spectacle on clear days.

The reserve is owned and managed by the Santa Elena Agricultural High School. The trails were constructed with high school volunteers from the Canadian Youth Challenge organization. To get there, take the dirt road out of Santa Elena towards Tilarán and bear right at the first fork beyond the soccer field. Four-wheel-drive could be necessary during the wetter months from May to February.

3) Robert & Catherine Wilson Botanical Garden (San Vito):
Now owned and administered by the Organization for Tropical Studies, the garden was begun in 1963 by its namesakes and portions were landscaped by the famous Brazilian landscape architect, Roberto Burle-Marx. The Wilsons originally attempted to grow tea on the property, but with coffee already an established crop in the region, local people weren't interested in the alternative crop. Having formerly run a garden in Miami, a botanical garden was a natural alternative for the couple.

The Wilsons' fondness for certain plant families reveals itself in the large collection of palms, bromeliads, heliconias, aroids, marantas and ferns assembled through the years on the 10 hectares of cultivated area. An adjoining 145-hectare tract of premontane wet forest, the largest remaining patch in the region, adds to the garden's attractiveness. Some 220 bird species, 80 mammal species and 71 species of reptiles and amphibians have been identified on the property.

At about 1,000 meters above sea level, the daytime temperatures in the garden are warm and evenings are cool. The area receives an average of four meters of rain per year, mostly from May through November. To get there from the town of San Vito, drive south to the village of Agua Buena. The garden is 5.6 kilometers from San Vito. Meals and lodging are available at the gardens. Telephone/Fax: (506) 773-3278.

4) Gulf of Nicoya: 
This extensive inlet of sea water is the result of a geological fault that has caused the land to submerge, leaving exposed only the tops of what were formerly low hills. These are the various islands that dot the gulf and include Chira Island (the country's largest with an extension of 52 square kilometers), San Lucas Island (formerly a prison island) and the biological reserves of Guayabo, Negritos and Pájaros Islands.

The protected anchorages near Caldera and the spit of land that is now the city of Puntarenas provided important access to the Spanish colonists who came first from Panama and later from Guatemala and Nicaragua. These and many other parts of the coastline that are protected from the direct impact of ocean swells support mangroves, which in turn furnish breeding sites for numerous marine organisms. Consequently, the local fishing industry would suffer greatly if these mangroves were to be destroyed. However, all mangroves areas in Costa Rica are protected by law, at least in theory.