Blogs from Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Puntarenas February 25th 2024

Getting to Puntarenas was more or less straight forward. The difficulty was the final stretch of about 10km. Our bus was going to the capital, San Jose, so it would only drop us off at the junction of Cruce de Barranca where the road goes down towards to promontory. I spoke to some people waiting nearby for what we presumed was the same bus as us, and they ensured we got on the right one. Several taxis passed by but they wanted $30 so we waited patiently and paid about $2 each. A massive saving! It wasn't the most picturesque bus route but once we got into the centre of Puntarenas itself we were able to get off just a couple of blocks from our url=https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/54309217?guests=2&check_out=2024-02-25&check_in=2024-02-23&adults=2&viralityEntryPoint=1&s=76&source_impression_id=p3_1709309579_fLJTUO5yO3BJ6AnsAir BnB. Puntarenas gets a lot of bad press, mostly becau ... read more

Quepos, Manuel Antonio National Park and El Cocal - A wonderful few days

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Puntarenas » Quepos February 11th 2023

Quepos

rrruss

Quepos turned out to be just the backpacker haven that we expected. That's not a bad thing. There were plenty of hotels and hostels, but we stayed in an apartment (url=https://www.booking.com/hotel/cr/los-suenos-r-amp-g-2.en-gb.html?aid=1769628&sid=8475c9062bf11a9e0347838ce340ee2b&checkin=2023-03-22;checkout=2023-03-23;dest_id=9408887;dest_type=hotel;dist=0;group_adults=2;group_children=0;hapos=1;hpos=1;no_rooms=1;req_adults=2;req_children=0;room1=A%2CA;sb_price_type=total;soh=1;sr_order=popularity;srepoch=1677077645;srpvid=fe4368c589ef01a7;type=total;ucfs=1&#no_availability_msgLos Sueños - The Dreams) just out of the town centre. That should have meant peace and quiet but local dogs, birds and early morning traffic put paid to that idea! Still, it was nice to have our own facilities again and breakfast on the terrace was lovely every day. It was nice to have such a... read more

Jaco - Not what we expected!

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Puntarenas » Jaco February 8th 2023

Jaco

rrruss

Jaco was not what we expected at all. For some reason we had anticipated something akin to Benidorm in Spain. Instead we found it much more closely aligned to Patong in Phuket, Thailand, but with vastly inflated prices! We didn't really like the place, to be honest, but we made the most of a bad job as we always do. From our luxury accommodation in Montezuma we were in a true backpackers' hostel and my feedback and criticism of their attitude (the guy on reception when we had a problem didn't speak English and got very grumpy when he found out we could do it all in Spanish!) and lack of hot water (despite the electrical contraption being in the room it is, apparently, not included in the price!) did not go down well. Enough of ... read more

Getting off the speedboat transfer at Herradura Beach

Montezuma - paradise found!

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Puntarenas » Montezuma February 6th 2023

The Orange House at Casa Colores

rrruss

Some times you just have to treat yourselves. We knew that url=https://www.booking.com/hotel/cr/casacolores.en-gb.html?aid=1769628&sid=33ed6a6cedba792971fa750dfa22d234&checkin=2023-03-30;checkout=2023-03-31;dest_id=373416;dest_type=hotel;dist=0;group_adults=2;group_children=0;hapos=1;hpos=1;no_rooms=1;req_adults=2;req_children=0;room1=A%2CA;sb_price_type=total;soh=1;sr_order=popularity;srepoch=1676500869;srpvid=4db99f8247050128;type=total;ucfs=1&#no_availability_msgCasa Coloreswas a bit beyond our normal budget but it looked like a little piece of heaven and we thought we deserved it. How right we were! Despite being a very steep 20 minute walk into the town of Montezuma (and a short but $8 taxi ride back) we felt it was worth the extra expense. We were soon settling in to the Orange House where we were greeted by two very cheeky white-throated magpie jays who just wanted the cor... read more

Baby turtles and sloth

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Puntarenas » Dominical December 14th 2022

Baby Sloth

arianetngh

I am working 10 month a year on a cruise ship sailing around the world the other two month I am on vacation, usually exploring the world in a little more depth. While I usually visit the family in Germany for a few weeks, I also tend tp pick a random country every year to volunteer in. This summer I spend a month in a small village on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. Matapalo is a small village in between Quepos and Dominical, right on the ocean. Here I stayed a local house with about 20 other volunteers. The accommodation was fairly simply, but cozy. We had small rooms to share, with outdoor showers and an outdoor kitchen, were local meals were prepared by the staff. The house was surrounded by coconuts and mango trees ... read more

Valley of the frogs

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Puntarenas » Tarcoles December 14th 2022

mot-mot bird

fer de lance

From Manuel Antonio, moved up north on the coast to Tarcoles. Didn't stay in the village itself, but rather in a jungle village along the Tarcolitos river. This place is splendid: little units among big trees covered in Ferns and other plants; the Tarcolitos river with its cool river from the mountains; very nice gardens and more. During the trip I was at the end of the rainy season. Some people told me that rainy season lasted longer this year and that interfered with some of animal behavior. Started in Osa peninsula, I really thought that it would be a good time for frogs...but no!! They were very hard to find. You know, reptiles and amphibians are my favorite animals, so I was a bit disappointed But this changed in Tarcoles, especially in the jungle village. ... read more

Busy and beautiful

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Puntarenas » Manuel Antonio December 9th 2022

sunset

fer de lance

It's one of the classics of Costa Rica tourism: along with la Fortuna/Arenal and Monteverde, there's Manuel Antonio. It's the smallest national park, and it's very beautiful with forest, mangroves, beaches, islets and fauna. The road from Quepos (5km as crows fly), is filled with hotels, restaurants, and all sorts of activities, (zip lining, atv locations, horse riding, etc...). On the way, many wonderful views of little bays surrounded by greenery. Our hotel, was the last one before the park. We arrived on a Saturday, so the beach in front, (Espadilla), was full of tourist and locals. The day after, we visited the park. You need to reserve your ticket in advance online, to make sure you can enter as there's a maximum number of persons allowed per day. The park, is very well maintained. If ... read more

Selling out the land

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Puntarenas » Uvita December 6th 2022

macaw

fer de lance

We arrived in Uvita. I visited that region 16 years ago. The village is much more developed than before, especially the new richer part. Land is being sold mainly to strangers all over the place. You can see signs about it all along the main road. Talked with a local about it. People from richer countries can afford to buy a very small piece of land for 50 000-100 000$ US dollars. But with more pieces of properties being sold to strangers, and big houses being constructed, the cost of living rise accordingly in the region, and some locals can't afford to live there anymore. That's a reality that can be seen all over the world. On one side, a quiet little paradise is hard to access to, with almost no infrastructure, but real cheap prices ... read more

Corcovado

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Puntarenas » Osa Peninsula » Corcovado National Park November 30th 2022

toucan

fer de lance

The boat arrive to Drake Bay. No dock, so you need to walk barefoot in the sea to reach the coast. This adds to the experience. :-) Drake Bay village is not compact as many little hills and ravines are interspersed all over the place. Our transport brought us inland in Los Planes little village, close to one of corcovado's entrance. We rented a small hut, directly beside the forest. Gardens are splendid and full of birds!! I also saw tapir's tracks near my hut. They sometimes come in the night to graze on some of the plants garden's. One thing I noticed is the abundance of big birds like toucans and macaws which you can see and hear all day. I got good shots of toucans. For the macaws, it's a bit different: they are ... read more

Introduction and first stops.

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Puntarenas » Osa Peninsula November 29th 2022

Stone sphere

fer de lance

After 2 years, the covid pandemic was slowing down. Here in Canada, with the start of school year, and the weather getting colder, cases are on the rise. Good news is that the severity of cases is rarely severe, especially if vaccinated. We then, decided to travel abroad, but not too far at this point, avoiding connection flights. From where I live, I checked the direct flights. Decision was made to return to Costa Rica, my little paradise, and concentrate on South Pacific Coast, a section of the country I visited very briefly, 16 years ago. I especially wanted to visit Osa peninsula and Corcovado national park. In this park, many rarer animals, can be seen. I stayed 6 days on Osa peninsula and wasn't deceived, but more on that later. :-) Next stops, would be ... read more