Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí

Before the Spanish conquest the plains of the Sarapiquí were home to the Botos, an Indigenous people of the northern lowlands. In the colonial period the river was a possible route to the Caribbean by way of the San Juan, and in 1820 Joaquín Mora Fernández, brother of the first head of state, explored it down to its meeting with the San Juan. After independence the government offered rewards for routes to the coast through the north, and with great effort the Sarapiquí trail was opened from Heredia to a landing on the river known as El Muelle.

The river's most famous moment came in the war against William Walker. On 10 April 1856 the filibusters entered Costa Rica by way of the Sarapiquí, and a battle was fought at Sardinal; the river is now considered a national monument for its role in moving arms, goods and soldiers during that war.

For most of the following century Puerto Viejo was a small riverside settlement within the canton of Heredia; its first school opened only in 1952. On 18 November 1970 Sarapiquí became the tenth canton of the province of Heredia, and Puerto Viejo, as its head town, received the title of city. In 1953 the American botanist Leslie Holdridge founded La Selva nearby, which the Organization for Tropical Studies bought in 1968 and turned into one of the world's leading rainforest research stations. More recently the river has been dammed for hydroelectric power, and the 2009 Cinchona earthquake in the mountains upstream badly affected it.

Puerto Viejo's culture is that of the northern plains: a farming and river town whose people work on the banana and pineapple plantations, on cattle farms and, increasingly, in tourism. The river has always been central to its life, used to carry people and farm produce, and boats still tie up at the town dock.

The canton has a large foreign-born population: at the 2011 census 17.8 per cent of the canton's residents had been born abroad, and the Nicaraguan border lies to the north. Catholic life centres on the town church; when the canton was created in 1970 its church community was dedicated to Saint Augustine. Local pride runs deep in the history of the river, which carried soldiers and arms in the 1856 war against William Walker and is now a national monument.

Science and conservation give the town an unusual international side. La Selva hosts around 300 scientists and 100 university courses every year, and it also serves as a centre of environmental education for the local community. Wildlife watching, above all birdwatching, and boat trips on the river have made the area one of the country's best-known places for lowland rainforest, and nature tourism is now part of the town's identity alongside its farms.

The district of Puerto Viejo had an estimated 23,246 people in 2022, spread over about 428 square kilometres, and most of its people live in the countryside rather than in the town. It is the head town of the canton of Sarapiquí, the largest canton in the province of Heredia, and the place where the surrounding villages come for shops, banks, schools and government offices.

The economy rests on agriculture — bananas, pineapples, plantains, sugar cane and cattle — and on tourism based on the rainforest, the protected areas and the river. The rivers are still working routes, used to move farm produce and people, and lodges and guides keep to the hours of the forest, when birdwatching starts early in the morning.

The climate shapes everything: it is hot and humid all year, rain can fall at any time, and the rivers are prone to flooding. The roads to San José and Heredia cross the mountains, and buses connect the town with the capital. The building of hydroelectric dams on the river since the privatisation of electricity production has been a source of controversy, including a corruption scandal in 2012.

Food in Puerto Viejo is everyday Costa Rican cooking with the produce of the lowlands. Breakfast is gallo pinto, rice and black beans fried together with onion, sweet pepper and cilantro, served with eggs and tortillas; lunch is a casado of rice, beans, salad, fried plantain and a piece of chicken, fish or beef, eaten at the sodas, the small family-run diners in the town centre.

The farms around the town grow bananas, plantains, pineapples and sugar cane, and they turn up at many meals: fried plantain beside the rice and beans, and pineapple eaten fresh or blended into frescos, the fruit drinks made with water or milk that are served across the country. Beef from the surrounding cattle farms is part of everyday cooking too.

Lodges outside town serve these dishes to visitors along with international cooking. Olla de carne, a stew of beef, cassava, potatoes and other vegetables, is a traditional dish, and coffee is drunk throughout the day, often brewed through a cloth chorreador, the traditional Costa Rican filter.