Blogs from Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 5

(Day 894 on the road)Let's start a little off-topic: Travel guides, especially the most popular publications like Lonely Planet and Rough Guide, are notorious for glorifying sights and attractions. At times it seems that everything in any chosen country is “the most beautiful this” or “the largest that”. I have over time grown quite tired of these grand claims, and have always longed for a guidebook that tells you the way it is, without raising expectations too much through overhyped claims. But of course honesty conflicts with the interests of the publishers; after all, would you buy a guide book that basically said: Nothing to see here, don't go there, skip this, probably best to stay to visit a different country all together? Probably not. So how refreshing it was to be in the possession of ... read more

Crossing Into Costa Rica To cross into Costa Rica we needed to take a boat from Bocas to Almirante on the mainland, then a short taxi to the bus-station (we were in fact taken to the wrong bus-station, but our bus passed it, fortunately), then a bus to the border town of Changuinola. It had been pouring with rain for most of the journey but was thankfully clear and sunny by the time we got to Changuinola. This border crossing was one of the more interesting we've experienced in Central America. Notwithstanding the problems at the immigration office, the actual crossing was quite fun. It involved walking across a dilapidated old bridge that crosses a big brown river, making sure to step over the big holes, and not into them and consequently into the river. The ... read more

So I have now returned to San Jose after 9 days in Paradise! I don't think I have seen anywhere as beautiful as Punta Uva in my life! So I did go surfing and it felt so good! Gabe and Ben came along, reminded me a little of my first lesson! The waves were a little small but I managed to ride a few! We also took a day trip to Cahuita to snorkel in the National Park there and then walk back through the forest. I really like that little town, its a little touristy but really its just two main streets. I also went Scuba diving this week which was AMAZING! I had to take a refresher course because I hadn't gone diving since 2006 but that only took 15 minutes in the water. ... read more

We've had a great week here in Puerto Viejo - both staying busy and doing nothing at all. Monday, we hit the beach at Playa Negra and played in the waves for a bit. We also found a nifty little book store tucked away in the jungle and were able to sell the books we'd finished and get some much needed new reading material. We even found time for some souvenir shopping. Wednesday, it was a beautiful sunny day so we decided to take advantage of the great weather and head down to the small town of Manzanillo and the refuge there for some hiking. The town is small and sleepy, and there's only a couple of restaurants, and a small store. The beach is lined with palm trees, which are painted red, yellow and green ... read more

Breakfast was a slow affair. In fact, pretty much everything is a slow affair; no one seems in a particular rush to do anything! Although we were ready to leave at 08h00 this, by Costa Rican standards, is late! Loading everything into the bus, we headed up over the range of hills separating the central plateau from the east of the country. Although not cold, it was cloudy and, what I suspect were many shades of green, were flattened into one drab colour, occasionally punctuated by the bright orange flowers sitting at the tops of distant trees. The uneven road made its way through tiny villages, banana and coconut palms breaking up the well defined rows of coffee bushes. Everywhere, lush green vegetation showing just how wet the country really is covered the landscape, from the ... read more