Welcome to the last post of
Costa Rica. Remember to scroll all the way down for two sets of text and photos.
It rained all night. Lucky that this rain came on our day off with no pre-planned tours. Luckily the rain stopped in the morning allowing us to watch our last Toucans and load our bags onto our private minivan without getting soaked. The 3hr drive to the Capital San Jose was uneventful because it rained most of the way so no road clips for the film on this leg. The landscape was flat but still very green and lush – not quite rainforest but very thick forest with overloaded rivers. The road was in good condition. We had a quick banos (toilet) break halfway and arrived at our hotel around 2pm – late because of the rain and traffic.
San Jose (Pop 1,462,111, Elev around 1200m) was founded in 1736 and has historically been a city of strategic importance, having been the capital of Costa Rica three times. More than a million people pass through it daily. It is notable among Latin American cities for its high quality of life, security, level of globalization, environmental performance, public service and recognised institutions. San José is one of the safest and least violent cities in the region.
My immediate first impressions of San Jose are not good. It is overdeveloped and messy as we entered. I am curious to see what the centre will be like. It was now time for me to pick up my drone. Ben had done an excellent job placing it in a DHL store only 2.8km from the hotel so I dumped my bags and Ubered it there in minutes. I opened the thick two-layer plastic and hugged my drone. It was intact. So glad even though it cost me a total of $264AUD to fly it over Nicaragua. What small minds. I would have gladly handed this amount over to Nicaragua to let me carry it into their country !!! The drone cost me $800AUD so it was better than getting it confiscated or spending days in prison if caught without declaration. Another Uber back to the hotel and I relaxed until Antonia came back from lunch around 1630. We did pres until we met at 7pm for our farewell dinner for stage 3 and Ben. It was the most expensive dinner of the trip to date $50AUD each for chicken and rice and two beers but we were glad to do it fro Ben and this group, which has been the most fun to date. Ben asked about highlights and almost everyone chose the Sloth !!! So lucky I waited until this thing came down. I have never been so sad farewelling a guide/leader before given my solo status but Ben was an exception. Farewell Ben.
The next day (Wed 21FEB) was better. Lots of cloud but some blue sky. At 1200m, the temp was good enough for running bare chested. The 10km run was challenging since I had to use the broken footpath (sidewalk) because the roads was very narrow and full of big commute buses and trucks – no shoulders. Antonia had left me a note when I got back and after a quick shower I walked to a Chinese restaurant where she was having brekkie with the rest of the group. After another farewell to Ben, Antonia and I stated our private tour of downtown San Jose. The actual CBD is separate from the older Spanish influenced centre but nowhere near as nice as other cities and towns we visited. This is because downtown has very few older colonial Spanish buildings and most that are there are not maintained. The plazas are dirty and dominated by 1970s buildings that have never been maintained or improved or simply demolished to make way for modern architecture so are an eye sore. We visited the following sites: Mercado Central de San Jose, Museo Postal, Parque Morazin, Jardin de Paz, Parque Espana, Ministerio de Cultura, Museo de Arte, Parque Nacional, Calle Clorito Picardo Museo Naciobal de Costa Rica, Esferas de Piedra, Jose Figueres Ferrer Monument, Museo del Oro Precolombo, Plaza de Cultura, Teatro Nacional, Juan Mora Fernandez Monument, Catedral Metropolitana de San Jose, Parque Central. Ironically the highlight was the Central Bank of Costa Rice because it is a colonial building that has been properly maintained. The truth is that it took me much longer to get footage in San Jose that would “sell it” to future travellers. We got back to the hotel at 1400 and it was time for an afternoon break. We decided to finish watching the Netflix series GRISELDA and loved it. At 6pm we attended the briefing session for the last stage of our Intrepid Tour called COSTA RICA & PANAMA led by Ale. There were no new people on this leg just the same 12 of us that were on the previous leg minus 4 that had left us. Ale appears to be the youngest so far and very enthusiastic and born in San Jose. Good first impressions.
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Today was Caribbean Beach Day !!! Yippee !!! Our 5.5hr road trip to the town of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca on the Caribbean was extremely scenic. We rose to 2100m with terrific views looking back at San Jose, which was now under blue sky and gave us a great look at the mountains around the capital. As I suspected San Jose is in a huge flat-bottomed basin surrounded by mountains. We passed hundreds of coffee plantations surrounded by lush green forests. Then we entered fog shortly before our first banos stop 90min after leaving San Jose. It was cold. So strange to see fog and shiver in Central America. This banos stop was the only shop for many kilometres around and was fully stocked with café, restaurant, souvenirs and loads of sweets, fruits and snacks. It was so hard keeping Antonia from buying more sugar !!! Not much to see in the next hour drive because of the fog. Then out of nowhere we stop by a gushing tall waterfall, the site of landslide years ago after a big earthquake. We stopped to take gringo photos. By this time the fog had lifted and we made a steep descent unto flat territory hovering around 300m but still full of lush green forest. This went on for the next 90min until our lunch stop. Antonia and I had a picnic to finish off our tasty leftovers from last night and to save some money since Ben’s farewell. Two more hours of flat lush green surrounds led us to the blue-green waters of the Caribbean. What a site.
Puerto Viejo de Talamanca (Pop 29,785) is a popular tourist destination. It is known in the surfing community for the biggest and most powerful wave in Costa Rica, known as Salsa Brava. It is also home to beautiful beaches, such as Playa Cocles, Playa Chiquita and Punta Uva, which are a few of Costa Rica's most spectacular beaches which can be found between Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo. Manzanillo is a popular location for kayaking and is 14 km south along the beach. The popular Jaguar Rescue Centre is nearby but there are no Jaguars there – just baby sloths but we are all slothed out since our encounter of the 4th kind in the wild if you please !!!
We arrived at our hotel at around 5pm. Very nice. A network of simple but cosy cabins covered in tropical trees and plants and only 500m from the main beach of Puerto Viejo. This place is small but still a bit touristy but nowhere near as crowded as other beachside places we visited. At 7pm we all walked to a nice wooden two level restaurant serving a variety of Caribbean and European dishes. Antonia and I indulged in the vegetarian dish of corn, cassava, broccoli, sweet potato, rice and beans all smothered in the trademark coconut milk sauce of this region. The Caribbean influence is strong here and there are many islanders living and working here. This place is only an hour bus from the Panama border so many of the locals living here were born in Panama and came here for a cheaper lifestyle since Panama operates in USD and is by far the most expensive place in Central America. Early night tonight for me given my run, swim and cycle the next day.
Blue Blue Sky ! Sun up at 545am and off I went for my 10km run which I did in record time. Got glimpses of the ocean beaches we would visit later that day but the road mainly cut through lush rainforest. This was great as you could feel the smell and coolness of the forest. At 945am we all walked to the bike hire place, which was run by Elena, an Ozzie born woman who came here on holidays, married a local and decided to drop anchor here. The best thing to do in Puerto Viejo is to hire a bicycle and peddle 10km to 3 beaches to the south. The first is close. Cocles Beach. It is 2km long and a surf beach – no possibility of lap swimming here. I put the drone up and took photos then it was off to the second beach of Chiquita – not as nice – very rough and narrow. The last beach, Punta Uva is easily the best and the crowd proves it. We meet Duncan and Donna and it was game on. Drone, Dag Dancing and my 1.75km swim in much calmer waters but with strong currents – which is why I feel short of 2km !!! Exhausted when I got out. In the meantime Antonia saw another sloth climbing a tree very close to her. Another trip to Heaven for her. At around 230pm we decided to head back because Antonia wanted to go shopping – again. Dropped the bikes off at 330pm and headed to hotel via supermarket. Antonia raced off for shopping while I had a nap to sleep off the run, swim, cycle of that day – my first mini-triathlon in Central America. I watched the Netflix series FOOL ME ONCE recommended to me by Bundy (my best friend Nick Drinias from Sydney Australia) and got instantly hooked. Dinner that night was at a local home, 15min drive from our hotel. We set off at 6pm. Our Panamanian born host Alfredo was a career cook on a Caribbean cruise ship and he explained the local dish we would partly prepare tonight. Some of us grated coconut and some chopped various cabbages for salad. The meal was delicious and featured chicken, fish or plantains accompanied by beans, rice and a cabbage based salad dressed in none other than banana vinegar ! So weird to taste banana and white vinegar at the same time ! We got back to the hotel late at 9pm so by that stage I was already sleeping in the van back. Antonia had her sights set on reggae, drinks and karaoke. Once thing I will say about Antonia and that she always seems to store enough energy during the day to fuel her entertainment at night and then get up the next day with only 4-5hrs sleep !!!
Puerto Viejo is now our favourite place and experience given the total freedom of a bike and beaches !!!
Enjoy the Caribbean beach sites of Puerto Viejo…
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