Chomes

About Chomes:

The district covers about 119 square kilometres between the Gulf of Nicoya and the first hills climbing toward Monteverde, with Montes de Oro to the east and Abangares to the west. Average elevation is four metres, so much of it sits barely above the tide. The Interamericana crosses the higher ground, and two turn-offs matter: the Chomes junction, which drops to the village and its small dock, and Ruta 132, which runs out to the tip of Punta Morales. Buses on the Interamericana stop at both junctions, and smaller national roads tie in the inland hamlets, from San Agustín and Pita to Sarmiento and Yomalé.

The name goes back to Chomi, a cacique Gil González Dávila wrote about when he travelled this coast in 1522. In 1561 Juan de Cavallón came ashore here to begin his expedition inland, and the first cattle to reach Costa Rica arrived through this stretch of coast. Centuries later Chomes mattered again as the country’s main salt-making centre, and a canal was cut between the sea and the Río Lagarto so boats could come in and load salt. The village school turned one hundred in 2012.

Today the gulf and the mangrove pay the bills. The women of CoopeMolus-Chomes organised after a red tide of about eight months hit the shellfish harvest in 2013; they leave young molluscs in the mud, and in two years they planted close to 20,000 mangrove seedlings, work that earned them an international award in 2024. Shrimp farms and salt pans still work the estuary flats around Chomes, Cocoroca and Santa Juana, and the shellfish gatherers say the ponds keep eating into their mangrove. At Punta Morales the sugar industry’s port terminal ships out raw sugar and molasses, and the Universidad Nacional runs its marine and coastal science station on the Estero Morales, where an oyster-seed laboratory supplies small oyster farms around the gulf.

Water decides a great deal here. Community water boards, among them the ASADAs of Chomes, Judas and Punta Morales, pump from wells beside the Lagarto and the Guacimal, the same riverbeds where sand and stone are dug for construction. Neighbours blame that digging for the erosion that put the Lagarto over its banks at Lagarto and Orocú in the 2022 rainy season, and the Puntarenas municipal council has since voted a moratorium on mechanised extraction in the Guacimal. At the 2011 census the district had 5,522 residents, most of them from fishing, shellfish and farming families. Buyers from outside tend to want a recreational finca, a weekend place near the water, or a large farm close to the highway.

Houses in Chomes:

Lots outnumber houses, and most homes for sale in Chomes are family houses in the village, in Judas, in Punta Morales or along the roads down from the Interamericana, usually on far more ground than a town buyer expects. Around Playa Blanca in Punta Morales a few owners let cabinas to weekend visitors who come for the beach or a day of fishing in the gulf. With the whole district only a few metres above sea level, ask how the house came through the last heavy rains and how far it stands from the river or the estuary. Near the shore, check too whether it falls inside the 200-metre maritime-terrestrial zone, where what you hold is a municipal concession rather than freehold title.

Land and Lots in Chomes:

Land is the bulk of what changes hands. Village plots in Punta Morales and Chomes are sized for a single house, while parcels of several thousand square metres line the roads between the Interamericana and the coast. Some lots for sale in Chomes actually lie in Costa de Pájaros, which belongs to the neighbouring district of Manzanillo, and the cadastral plan will tell you which district a lot is in. Mangrove is state wetland that cannot be cleared or filled, and along the coast the municipal land-use certificate deserves as much attention as the asking price.

Farms in Chomes:

Inland from the coast the district turns to pasture and cropland, and that is where the larger properties are. Recreational fincas around Morales leave room for a house, fruit trees and a few animals, while working cattle farms run past a hundred hectares, some a few kilometres from Ruta 1 with frontage on public roads. A handful of parcels sit right on the Interamericana, with long frontage that opens up uses beyond grazing. Rivers and streams cross much of this land, so measure the protected strip along each bank and find out whether an extraction concession lies upstream or alongside.

FAQ:

• Where is Chomes and how do I get there?

  On the eastern shore of the Gulf of Nicoya, north of the city of Puntarenas, between the Guacimal and Lagarto rivers. From the Interamericana, take the Chomes junction for the village and the dock, or Ruta 132 for Punta Morales. Buses running along the Interamericana stop at both turn-offs.

• Is Punta Morales part of Chomes?

  Yes. Punta Morales, with Playa Blanca, the sugar terminal and the university’s marine station, is one of the district’s villages. Costa de Pájaros, a little further up the coast, is not: it belongs to Manzanillo, even though it is often advertised as Chomes.

• Does Chomes flood?

  Parts of it do. Most of the district lies at sea level between two rivers, and in the 2022 rains the Lagarto broke its banks at Lagarto and Orocú. Walk any plot in the middle of the wet season, look for water marks on walls and fence posts, and ask the neighbours how high the last flood reached.

• What should I check before buying near the mangrove or a river?

  Three local risks come first, in this order: whether the parcel touches mangrove, which is state wetland and cannot be filled; whether it falls inside the 200-metre maritime-terrestrial zone; and whether it borders a riverbed where an extraction concession is running or in process. Once those are clear, ask the ASADA for a water availability letter and the Municipalidad de Puntarenas for a land-use certificate. Last comes the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario): title, cadastral plan and liens, and boundaries on the plan that match the ones you walked.

• What services are there in the district?

  Chomes has its village school, founded in 1912, and the district’s secondary school, the Liceo de Chomes, is in Judas. For a hospital, banks and bigger shopping trips, residents drive to Puntarenas.