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Events: Costa Rica's Puntarenas Carnival

Event Date: February 14 - 24, 2008 (annual event)
Location: Puntarenas

Events Costa Rica

One of the most popular Costa Rican event and carnivals, Puntarenas Carnival is fills  the coastal town with wild pachanga music and other latin beats every February.

The large-scale Costa Rica carnival procession is filled with the continuous parading of comparsas (organised groups of carnival dancers) and vivid mascaradas (giant smiling painted heads) on the Paseo de los Turistas in the town centre. The event features cultural activities such as art exhibitions and fishing tournaments sprouting up throughout the week.

The paramount choosing and crowning of the carnival queen takes place in the Plaza Pacífico on the first day of events, followed by the coronation dance and an explosion of fireworks in the evening. The real party, however, gets going with the carnival procession on the Saturday of the final weekend, starting in the Balneario Municipal and filing up the Paseo de los Turistas. A colourful stream of bopping heads and jigging bodies swerves to the music, making this Costa Rica event worth every effort to attend.