The town gets its name from the Quepo Indian tribe, a subgroup of the Borucas, who inhabited the area at the time of the conquest. As a result of diseases brought by the Europeans, warfare with other Indian groups, and slavery, there were no pure blooded Quepo left by the end of the 19th century. Quepos first came to prominence as a banana exporting port. Due to disease, African palm oil replaced bananas as the local major crop and, because the finished product is much less bulky than bananas, Quepos declined as a major shipping port. Even as late as the 1950’s regular communication with the rest of the country was not easy. Roads were almost non-existent. There was a small railroad between Quepos and Parrita; at low tide the Alpa Airline landed a small plane on the beach in front of Main Street. Tourists (almost all Costa Rican nationals) came principally in Jan., Feb., and Mar. By the mid 1960’s “a road came in from San Jose with Quepos being the end of the line (7 hours on a Bluebird bus). ...By 1980 a colony of gringos, mostly refugees of one sort or the other, had built homes and begun businesses at Manuel Antonio. Additionally in 1980, a Sansa Airlines DC-3 began service to the area. The tourist industry at this time consisted of a gringo bar - El Barba Roja, a few luxury villas at La Mariposa, some rustic cabinas, a beachfront bar called the Mar y Sombra and that was it!”

BUT THAT WAS THEN AND THIS IS NOW. The tourist industry, and subsequently the area, has grown exponentially in the intervening years. Today Quepos/Manuel Antonio is an eclectic and quite delightful mix of expatriated adventurers from around the world, as well as an intrepid group of locals who have hung around for the “pura vida”. (This brief history includes exerpts from the writings of William Deverell (one of the early Manuel Antonio expats), and contributions from Enrique and Isabel (former owners of Isabel’s Restaurant).

THE QUEPOS INDIANS by Don Melton

During the rainy season of 1519 the legendary Hernan Ponce de Leon, known for his discovery of Florida while seeking the fountain of Youth, became the first Spaniard to lay eyes on the twelve miles of Manuel Antonio’s rugged coastline comprised of surf swept beaches, protected coves, virgin hardwood enshrouded headlands, islands, bays and mangrove estuaries. Aboard the square rigged vessel Santa Maria de Buena Esperanza (both ships built by Balboa, the discoverer of the Pacific) don Hernan was deterred by the fierce attitude of the nearly 1000 Indians and so did not attempt to disembark. Ponce de Leon never noticed that on Mogote Island at the end of Manuel Antonio at the mouth of the Naranjo river lived the tribal medicine man. Nor did he realize that their main village was up that river, or that the Quepos dove some 60 feet to gather the valuable pinkish-cast pearls, or climbed out on the dangerous wave swept headlands to harvest from rare mollusks a beautiful purple dye. Nor did don Hernan learn about eight unique kinds of machinery built by the Quepos in order to capture green sea turtles. The intertidally operated devices are still visible today.

During the dry season of 1563 the popular conquistador Juan Vazques de Coronado, younger brother of the legendary Francisco Vazques de Coronado that explored the southwest of North America in quest of the chimerical Seven Cites of Cibola, traveled overland to Quepos on a mission of peace. Accompanied by 70 soldiers, a contingent of Indians and the premostrant of priest Martin de Bonilla, Coronado encountered the lord of the Quepos, Corrohore, near the village on the bank of the Naranjo river. Corrohore quickly explained that his sister Dulcehe and others had been captured by the Coto Indians and would soon be sacrificed. Corrohore pleaded for help of which Coronado agreed to render. A fierce battle was fought and the prisoners were freed.

The priest Martin de Bonilla observed the customs and habits of the Quepos Indians. The elderly men became fine weavers of elegant cloth, women tended the crops, men hunted, fished, built sweat baths and other structures, sacred rites and rituals were performed by shaman, seasonal trade networks were established by planning and preparation and living arrangements shifted between the coast and foothills depending on the time of year. Martin de Bonilla persuaded Coronado to solicit the Catholic King Philip II for permission to begin missionizing the Indians of Costa Rica beginning with Quepos.

Fray Lorenzo de Bienvenida was resolved by the Franciscans to accompany Juan Vasquez de Coronado to Spain for the purpose of convincing the Monarch that now was the time of missionize Costa Rica in early 1566 with money and gifts to construct the first mission. The newly appointed governor Juan Vasquez de Coronado drowned before taking office.

The Quepos Mission, San Bernadino, is believed to be the oldest mission in Costa Rica (1570) built nearly 200 years before the oldest Spanish mission of California (1769). The San Bernardino closed down more than 250 years ago in 1731. Since the rediscovery of the mission site in 1974 more than half of the surviving ruins have been destroyed. What remains will unlikely last long due to looting, farming and new settlement.