Blogs from Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean
Magic...
Published: May 17th 2012Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Limón » Puerto Viejo de Talamanca
May 16th 2012
“You should never hesitate to trade your cow for a handful of magic beans.” ― Tom RobbinsMagic...That's all I continue to say about Puerto Viejo. For some it breeds deep, wise, philosophical contentment where they have dreamt of, where they find their place in this life and others that feel the same magic surrounding them in clear azul from sky to water. Others stumble upon black magic here and everything seems to go wrong for them. It is a mystical place where if your mind, body, and soul meet the criteria, it will welcome you with open arms and salute you as you arrive on the bus sweaty and exhausted. You will instantly feel air that refreshes your internal being and know that you have arrived somewhere you have been looking for your whole life. If ... read more
Our first taste of Costa Rica..... Puerto Viejo......
Published: April 12th 2012Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Limón » Puerto Viejo de Talamanca
March 30th 2012
One of the most memorable moments of our first stop in Costa Rica, has to be the border crossing..... Thank god we had a fellow passenger who had done it before as I think we'd have thought they were having a laugh....So the shuttle bus rocks up in the town after about 45 mins of driving and take you to what seems like the back of town...The mini bus stops and this is as far as it takes you.... So you get out and are pointed to a set of steps say 120 which lead up to.....you have no idea!!! At the top of the steps you have 2 little huts with windows and one of these is the Panama boarder exit where you pay your exit money, $4 and the other where you get your ... read more
Just leaving Costa Rica
Published: March 18th 2012Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Limón » Puerto Viejo de Talamanca » Rockin J's
March 18th 2012
Still no decent internet connection I'm afraid. Arrive in Honduras in a couple of days so will try and get this up to date and put some photos on it too. Having a great time. Hope everyone is well. Love to all. xxxx It's 18th now and we're just sailing out of Costa Rica. Lovely place - lovely people. I’m writing again on 15 March as we are at sea today and it’s a bit cloudy so have decided to spend a little time in the cabin catching up. The crossing the line ceremony is to be a little later so will have to rush things a bit – we actually crossed the equator during the night – so are back in the Northern hemisphere. On the 11th we arrived at Callao which is the port ... read more
Panama/Costa Rica
Published: January 24th 2012Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Limón » Puerto Viejo de Talamanca » Rockin J's
January 9th 2012
Hello again my friends. I departed Bocas del Toro two days ago. Joined two girls from Buenos Aires after the 25 minute water taxi and split a 45 minute cab to the border, went through immigration, walked across the bridge border crossing, and caught a one hour bus to Puerto Viejo. Walked to Rocking Js hostel and booked a private cabina, no bigger than the size of the bed. ha. Rented a bike and had some great fish tacos at a Jamaican joint in town. Then headed south down an awesome jungle road, checking out some sweet secluded beaches. Came back in time to watch Denver beat Pitt from my hostel restaurant. Had some chicken peanut sauce stir fry that still isn't settling well, though it was good. I sat at the bar talking to a ... read more
Cahuita and Puerto Viejo
Published: October 20th 2011Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Limón » Puerto Viejo de Talamanca
October 19th 2011
I am way over due for an entry, sorry everyone, It's been a busy couple of weeks. On Thursday, October 6th, the majority of our group took off for the Caribbean coast. We left San Jose at 4:00pm and took a four hour bus to Cahuita. We stayed in a very basic, but cool hotel called Cabinas Arrecife just for our first night. Because we arrived to Cahuita fairly late, the only places open to eat were bars so we went to Coco's Bar for a snack, some drinks, and a little dancing. There was a local band that played for a while, my favorite song consisted of the lyrics "rice and beans" over and over haha! And apparently I missed one that consisted of "banana, like it hot, banana, like it cold." Awesome. Cahuita was ... read more
Puerto Viejo
Published: September 5th 2011Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Limón » Puerto Viejo de Talamanca » Rockin J's
September 5th 2011
I was very pleasantly suprised when we reached Puerto Viejo as we had been recommended a hostal called Rockin J´s by our friend and the place really lived up to our expectations. The hostal is a mix of dorm rooms, camping and hammocks and is completly covered n mosaics. The tablñes and chairs all have weird random items stuck to them such as lighters, swiss knives, old books and playing cards. The hostel is literally on the beach with a really cool bonfire area ready for the guests to use. It must be the most chilled out hostel i have stayed in and the town was even more relaxed. You could instantly tell that you were on the Caribbean side of the country as there was reggae music playing all over town, the sounds of waves ... read more
Heading back from Puerto Viejo
Published: September 7th 2011Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Limón » Puerto Viejo de Talamanca
September 4th 2011
We all woke up rather early, got ready, and packed up our things so we were ready to check out well before our 11:00 check out time. For some reason, my stuff fit way better in my bag this time. Go figure. After checking out, we decided to find breakfast. We saw some of our friends who were staying at the hostel at a little breakfast joint next to the water. They would not be leaving until the 4:00 bus since they had some things to figure out after losing four wallets (among other things) the night before. Jordan and I wanted to order food and asked at the restaurant if they would be able to make it before we had to leave on the bus. We had a little less than an hour. The food ... read more
First night in Puerto Viejo
Published: September 7th 2011Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Limón » Puerto Viejo de TalamancaSeptember 2nd 2011
I woke up around 8 or 9 to finish packing and getting ready for my weekend trip to Puerto Viejo. Since I had packed nearly everything the night before, I finished quickly and had a lot of time to spend with the host family. I was actually pretty sad to be leaving them! I was having such a nice time with my youngest host brother and the little ones they watch during the day…I almost didn’t want to leave! However, the time came and I headed to the meeting place at school. I looked like such a gringa! I obviously don’t look Costa Rican with my blue/green eyes and the palest skin you have ever seen, but if those things aren’t a dead giveaway that I’m an American, my overstuffed backpack definitely was. I was worried ... read more
Pura vida!
Published: August 22nd 2011Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Limón » Puerto Viejo de Talamanca
August 22nd 2011
Voor de allerlaatste keer hola vanuit Midden-Amerika! De afgelopen dagen hebben we doorgebracht tussen de kokosnoten, palmbomen, ananas, rasta's en natuurlijk zon, zee en strand aan de caraïbische kust van Costa Rica. We begonnen in het idyllische en heel rustige dorpje Cahuita. Ons hostel werd gerund door een Nederlandse, wat onze terugreis alweer angstvallig dichtbij bracht. Met haar prachtige Rotterdamse accent vertelde ze ons de INs en OUTs van het dorpje: 1 dirt road met 1 bar en aan het eind van de dirt road de ingang naar hét nationale park. 's Avonds, na een heerlijke caraïbische, met kokos en ananas op smaak gebrachte maaltijd, moesten we natuurlijk die ene bar (de Kokosbar - HOE origineel) gaan meemaken. Na 2 cocktails vielen we van de bruisende sfeer - NOT - bijna staand in slaap. Onze eerste ... read more
Caro Rica en de zoektocht naar de zon
Published: August 20th 2011Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Limón » Puerto Viejo de Talamanca
August 19th 2011
Ja, Caro Rica dus, oftewel duur Costa Rica. Gelukkig heeft dit land behalve zijn prijzen ook nog wat andere kwaliteiten. Een van de meest besproken daarvan is het cloud forest, een hoog in de wolken gelegen jungle die doordrenkt is van nevel en er zo een volledig eigen flora en fauna op na houdt. Dat wilden wij wel eens meemaken, dus zondagochtend vertrokken wij vanuit onze grote liefde, het heerlijke San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua naar het regenachtige, koude, schokkend Amerikaans toeristische Monteverde/Santa Elena. Het was een hele tocht de grens over, maar bij busrit no. 4 hadden we inmiddels het 'stoel achterover - kussen in je nek - benen languit (voor zover dat kon) - tukken maar' volledig onder de knie. Door de plensregen reden wij, nog licht nostalgisch terugdenkend aan betere tijden aan ... read more
