We arrived by cab into Puerto Viejo and found another sleepy little town full of small restaurants, cafes, and shops and hostels bordering on an exquisite black sand beach on the one side and small inlets and shallow reefs with white sand beaches on the other. It was pretty hot so we decided to find accommodation asap and went hunting for the recommended and advertised ones hostels we had seen. They were the usual mess and not particularly great for the money they were demanding. There is an absolute piss take around the world by hostel owners who have “cool” places which usually provide crappy rooms; uncomfortable beds and large bar areas which aren’t that expensive; but usually too much for what they offer. We turned around and walked out of several places before finding a locally owned hotel, that was not only cheaper than the hostels in the guide books, but was superior in layout, bedding quality and room sizes, not to mention the actual state of the place. It is called Talamanca if you do head there and was a left when walking south about 1km out of town towards Rockin J’s. We paid 10k Colones per night for both of us. A quick shower later and we headed into town to find out what it was all about.
Puerto Viejo, as mentioned is full of small bars and cafes, owned locally and by expats from the US and UK primarily it seems. They have done a good job in creating bright and fun little places, generally serving food that is reasonably priced. It is too expensive for a developing country; with the majority of tourists not being backpackers in the past few years, I suppose they have been adjusted slightly, and this is a trend matched across all tourist areas in Costa Rica. We found that they western restaurant and bar owners were far friendlier than some locals who seem to miss the point slightly- working in hospitality doesn’t mean you can just rip people off to make money out of them; you do need to be friendly! The town languages were Creole, English, Spanish and surprisingly, a lot of German!
There was good internet all round the town, and the main internet café also has a large screen up and shows three films every night which is great way to have a cheap evening away from the computer and the many bars, and attracted a good number of travelers every night. It got extremely hot each day so we found ourselves looking for shade and internet to pass the midday sun.
We had a very relaxing time in Puerto Viejo, catching up on blog writing, wandering around taking it easy. The black sand beach was terrific, Jen spent some time rubbing a lot of the sand all over her and looked quite funny when she finally headed for the water she was really quite covered, it sticks really well. The stuff doesn’t come off to easily though and we spent ages rubbing it off in the water, and also added black specs into her bikini top and bottom. The black beach carried on for miles and miles, we walked for miles coming across a number of small hotels and houses just behind the beach, all quite idyllic we thought! Waking up surprisingly early each day was a little annoying and we’d often find we were in town looking for breakfast before the places were open, which is around 8:30 usually. One of the best breakfast places we found overlooked the small harbour on the way into town and service and food was superb. There was also a French style bakery that made a typical coffee and croissant breakfast which was near the bus station. Lunch and dinner always seems to be similar, rice, beans and chicken or fish … maybe it was because of our budget though.
Puerto Viejo was great, and while we didn’t do any surfing or diving there this time, I would happily return for more of the very relaxed way of life here and perhaps head out to practice surfing and do more diving. We were ready to roll on at the end of the stay and looked forward to the next bit, Panama! All we needed to do was board a bus or two and head south.
The trip to the border cost next to nothing, 2 USD each I seem to recall. The chicken bus heads north along the coast then across the hills and south to the border. The border itself is a river with a narrow old rail bridge with planks of wood as the road surface serving as a crossing for people and trucks. The Panamanians like to see you have onward travel arrangements handy. MT
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