Quepos

Quepos is named after the Quepo people, who lived on this stretch of coast before the Spanish arrived and made their living from farming, fishing, turtle hunting and pearl diving. In 1563 Spanish conquistadors led by Juan Vázquez de Coronado settled the area, founded San Bernardino de Quepo and subjugated the local people under an encomienda. By 1746 the surviving Quepo had been moved to a reservation shared with another Indigenous group, and the area was only resettled from the late 19th century.

The town was reborn with bananas. In the 1930s the United Fruit Company moved banana operations from the Caribbean to the southern Pacific, building offices, workshops and hospitals, first at Parrita and then at Quepos, which with Golfito became one of the main Pacific ports for banana exports. The company's subsidiary installed a power plant and completed a hospital here in 1940; the hospital passed to the state in 1962. As the population grew, Quepos became a district in 1941, and its first church was built in 1943.

After the civil war of 1948, the founding junta of the Second Republic made Quepos the head of a new canton, named Aguirre after Rolando Aguirre Lobo, a local man who had worked for the banana company and was killed in the civil war; the canton took the name Quepos in 2015. Small-scale fishing and tourism became the mainstays of the economy, helped by the creation of Manuel Antonio National Park in 1972, when the local community sought to protect the coast from development.

Quepos combines a working port with one of the country's busiest tourist areas. In the centre, fishermen, market traders and bus crowds set the pace, and the town has many bars and restaurants and a lively nightlife. Along the hill road to Manuel Antonio, life is shaped by visitors, with hotels, restaurants and tour stalls among the forest.

Sport fishing is part of the town's identity. Quepos is known for its offshore fishing, especially for sailfish and marlin, but also for snapper, wahoo, dorado, bigeye tuna and roosterfish.

Manuel Antonio National Park is the other point of pride. Founded in 1972 after local people pushed to protect the coast, and after protests against restrictions placed on the beaches by foreign owners, it is the most visited national park in Costa Rica, drawing more than 4.3 million visitors between 2012 and 2022. Its sloths and three of the country's four monkey species are a major feature, and visitors are told never to feed the animals.

Quepos district had about 19,900 people at the 2011 census, and a 2022 estimate put it at about 21,500; it has one of the highest population densities on the central Pacific coast. Besides the town itself, the district includes Manuel Antonio, Cerros, Damas, Paquita, Boca Naranjo and many other villages.

The economy rests on small-scale fishing and tourism. Hotels, restaurants, tour operators, park guides, fishing charters and boat tours employ many people, alongside the port, the market and the services of the canton's main town, including its hospital. Much of the hotel trade is up the hill on the Manuel Antonio road, while most workers live in the town and the surrounding villages.

The day follows the sea and the park. Fishing boats head out early, visitors make for the park in the morning, and buses shuttle between town and the beaches all day. The heavy rains of most of the year shape life too, with downpours common outside the short dry season from January to March.

Quepos is a fishing town, and fish is what it does best. Ceviche, raw diced fish cured in lime juice with onion and coriander, is sold cheaply at a cevichera in the market beside the bus station and in many restaurants, and the fish landed by the town's boats ends up grilled or fried on many menus.

At the sodas, the small family diners of the centre, the day starts with gallo pinto, rice and beans fried together and often seasoned with Salsa Lizano, a thin, light-brown sauce. Lunch is the casado, a plate of rice, beans, salad, fried plantain and a piece of fish, chicken or beef.

Fresh fruit is blended into frescos with water or milk. Along the Manuel Antonio road, restaurants serve international menus to visitors with views over the forest and the ocean, while the market and sodas in the centre remain the cheaper, everyday choice.