128Canopy Blog

Several religious treasures have been hidden away from the public eye for the lack of an appropriate space for their display.

Articles that date all the way back to Costa Rica’s colonial era and when Cartago used to be the capital are safe guarded at one of Costa Rica’s state banks in a vault.  Costa Rica’s most visited Catholic Church, the Basilica of Cartago, doesn’t have a safe place to display the relics within its premises.

Church authorities are promoting the idea of either building or acquiring a building near the Basilica that will house the National Religious Museum.  Authorities have announced that the project will have an approximate cost of $1.5 million.

The Church’s authorities currently have a number of historic jewels, chalices, wooden images of the Virgin of Los Angeles that date back to the colonial era and jewel encrusted crowns that the Virgin would wear.  The collection also includes several presents that former Popes have made to the Virgin of Los Angeles as well as an alleged wood splinter from the cross of Jesus Christ.

The Church representatives are currently looking for a construction site or for a building that can be turned into the museum.  They want to be able to give the museum world class quality and standard.

Plans for the National Religious Museum include not only a display area, but an auditorium, video room, cafeteria and bathrooms for the public.

Puntarenas has long been one of Costa Rica’s most active ports throughout history.  As a matter of fact, Costa Rica’s development is attributed to its coffee production and to the port of Puntarenas from which the coffee sacks were shipped.

The estuary in Puntarenas is a 6 kilometer strip of shallow water which allows for boats to engage in several activities that range from tourism to fishing.  However, the estuary has become more and more dangerous over the last few years due to its sediment build up.  Some sectors even have a 30 cm depth which makes it impossible for even a rowboat to make its way through.

Several companies have had a number of setbacks due to the navigation problem along the estuary.  Some boats have to wait up to 8 hours to be able to navigate into the estuary to deliver their cargo.  One shrimp boat was recently trapped in the mud for three days.  The Dona Sandra shrimp boat had to be towed by three other boats.  Its hull was damaged and the owner had to fork out around $10,000 for its repair.

The set back for dredging the estuary is mainly financial.  The cost to dredge the 6 kilometers which make up the estuary is roughly around the 5 million dollar range.  This large amount of money worries locals since a decree was recently emitted in which the Ministry of Public Work and Transportation (MOPT), has assigned entire responsibility and maintenance to the municipality of Puntarenas.

Although the Municipality has a very decent global budget, the dredging of the estuary is still out of its reach.  The Puntarenas Municipality along with the Puntarenas Chamber of Tourism and Dock Union have come before government authorities for their help.