History & origins

The First Nosareños

E. Gutiérrez · August 13, 2025 · Updated August 16, 2025 · 3 min read

Leer en español →

The first Creole and mestizo families who gave rise to the community of Nosara, as we know it today, arrived between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Around 1900, families, mainly from Nicoya and Santa Cruz, settled near the mouth of the Nosara River, establishing the area’s first hamlets.

Some families stayed only for a few months or years, while others “put down roots” and remained permanently, dedicating themselves to farming and food production. Their main motivation was clear: to take advantage of the fact that the Nosara River did not dry up during the dry season, ensuring year-round harvests.

This early chapter is preserved thanks to the testimony of María Celia Avilés Barrantes, who moved to Nosara on January 6, 1913, just three weeks after being born in Arado, Santa Cruz, on December 15, 1912. Upon their arrival, the Avilés Barrantes family found the following families already established in the area:

• Alberto Ruiz Acevedo
• Cruz López Fajardo
• Valentín López Chaves
• José Arrieta

Traveling with Celia were her parents, Anastasio Avilés and Magdalena Barrantes, along with her siblings: Blas, José Inocente, Ramona, María Josefa Patrocinia, and Rita Sergia Avilés Matarrita.

Over time, other notable individuals joined the community, shaping its history and future. They worked tirelessly to open roads, secure services, and improve local conditions, laying the foundations of Nosara’s cultural identity. Today, their descendants are recognized as the town’s original or “local” families.

The first official birth records in Nosara (1916–1939) document the presence and growth of these pioneering families.

Birth Records in Nosara (1916–1939)

Secretaría de Gobernación - Archivo Nacional

Ríos Castillo, A., & Verwest, J. (2003, mayo). Una entrevista con Doña Celia Avilés Barrantes. La Voz de Nosara, 1–2.