Vida, Pura Vida
"Y solo baila, Olvida las penas y el dolor
Ven y derrama el sudor, Solo baila
La vida es una sola, Y mejor
Bailar con la luna y el sol
Vida, pura vida
La vida es una copa
Y se bebe gota a gota hasta el final
Vida, pura vida
La vida es una copa
Y se bebe gota a gota hasta el final", Don Omar
Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, a beach town on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica has an inexplicable magic and vibe, because of which several passing travelers have decided to stay. I had no plans of ending up in Costa Rica this summer, but lo and behold, two days before my travel back to Cancun, Mexico I took the plunge and instead booked tickets to Costa Rica - and wow, am I glad!
By default, the initial stop was the city of San Jose, which is best used as a transition base town. Two days at the very most, is enough for San Jose. A day can be spent at Plaza de Cultura, which is well-known for the Pre-Colombian Gold Museum. The museum houses more than 1600 artifacts in gold, dating back to 500 A.D. Gold, a defining feature of Costa Rican history symbolized power, authority and wealth. The museum highlights the role of indigenous women in Pre-Hispanic times, where documentary sources from the sixteenth century confirmed that women were warriors, healers and chieftains. In the same building, you can find Museo Numismáticol; National Coin Museum, which takes you through Central American history through the evolvement of the mint. The first Costa Rican coin was minted in 1825 and is also known as the 'palm tree' coin. With Central America proclaiming independence in 1821, the engravings on the coin changed from 'State of the Federal Republic of Central America (1824-1838), as an independent state (1838-1848) and finally, as an independent republic (from 1848)'.
At Plaza de Cultura, you'll find yourself at the Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica, one of the few architectural landmarks in San Jose, which often holds interesting theatrical performances and productions.
$750 per person
30 Days
Getting There
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Flight from Mexico City, Mexico to San Jose, Costa Rica
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Duration: 4 hours
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Cost: $250
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Airline: Copa
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Bus from San Jose to Puerto Viejo
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Bus Mepe
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Duration: 5 hours
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Cost: 5525 Colones / $10
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Stay
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Airbnb: $50 / night
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Selina Hostel: $13 / night
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Puerto Viejo Hotel: $8 / night
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(Both Selina and Puerto Viejo have possible volunteer & work trade opportunities) ​
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Food Much
Puerto Viejo
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Diwo Restaurant: Excellent Food
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Monli: Superb for Sea Food
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Mopri: Best for Sea Food Soup
For Desserts
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Bread & Chocolate
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CarriBeans
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Cahuita
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Restaurant Sobre Las Olas; On the edge of the cliff fantastic location
Yoga Classes
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Om Cashew Hill; Off-season by donation
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Tierra de Sueños; $10 / class
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Selina Hostel; $7 / class, free on Mondays
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CarriBeans; Around $8 / class
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Bike Rental
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Lion Rasta Bikes
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Cost: 15,000 Colones or $30 / month
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Name of the person: Lorena
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#+506-86-33-19-10
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Highlights
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Volcanoes
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Arenal, Irazu, Poás, Rincón de la Vieja, Turrialba Volcano
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San Jose
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Pre-Colombian Gold Museum
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Museo Numismáticol
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Nightlife
Puerto Veijo
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Cacao Tour; From CarriBeans, $30 / person
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Guided Tour at the Jaguar Rescue Center; $20 / person
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Paddling in Punta Uva
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Surfing Lessons
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Saturday Flea Market at Marcus Garvey Cultural Center
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Salsa Classes at Selina
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Fire Shows
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Beaches
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Punta Uva
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Manzanillo
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Chill Spots
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Cocles Lookout: Perfect for Sunset / Sunrise
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Salsa Brava
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Reggae Chill
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Calypso Music
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Nightlife: Lazy Mon (Food is avoidable here)
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Cahuita
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Cahuita National Park
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06/09/17-07/10/17
An interesting exhibition, where Cecilia Paredes Polack, specializing in Costa Rican intimist art, presents Dreaming Rose that "addresses the uprooting, adaptation and transformation process typical of migration from a self-referential point of view, resorting to skin as a metaphor. The artist camouflages herself with various backgrounds that evoke her sense of belonging in given moments and spaces. Her skin shows a ritual mutation originating in its encounter with the source and its fusion with nature that leads to an experience of existential discovery. Her skin is an outright expression of her "self", understood as a fluctuating energy and a steadfast transformation".
Costa Rica is home to 6 active volcanoes and 61 dormant / active ones. We drove up to Irazu 🌋, getting lost in the mountains and ending up on steep hike trails. Irazu is at an elevation of 11,260 feet, the highest active volcano in Costa Rica. The name Tzu indicating thunder also commonly referred to as El Coloso, signifies the catastrophe the volcano has caused in the past, erupting for a span of 4 years together. Walking amidst the volcano only made one realize how powerful and magnanimous Mother Earth is, with us as dots in the larger field, literally & metaphorically! The volcano has rich biodiversity, with shrubs, poor man's umbrella and trees such as oak and salvia. My top choice for a visit had been Poás volcano, which had recently erupted and was thus, closed. Some of the other volcanoes worth visiting in Costa Rica include Arenal, which is perfect for a hike-up; Rincón de la Vieja, which legend translates to 'the corner of the old lady', referring to a wise old woman who lived on the volcano until her death.
Irazu volcano is an hour and a half from San Jose towards the Caribbean coast, and on the way back, Cartago at the base of the volcano is a great city for a short pitstop. It used to be the capital of Costa Rica from 1574 to 1824. The St. James Apostle Parish Ruin, stands strong in the middle of the city and is a Costa Rican Cultural Heritage site. Since 1575, several churches were built on this site and unfortunately, often destroyed due to re-occurring earthquakes. It is now open as a public park and residents and tourists alike, enjoy spending time here.
From San Jose, one can drive down or take the bus to the Pacific coast, which is around 3.5 hours away. The Caribbean coast is slightly further off and it can take up to 5 hours to reach Limon Province and Puerto Viejo. The drive to the Caribbean side is terrific, and as you turn corners, you're suddenly driving through jungles and mountains, and once you descend you get the first glance of the coast. It's stunning as the entire drive into the beach town and thereafter, is adjacent to the road itself. In Puerto Viejo, as one eats, resides and moves around, one is always next to the coast - Absolutely Breathtaking!
Cahuita National Park, 17 kilometers away from Puerto Viejo is well-connected via buses. It can take around 4 hours to walk the entire stretch of the National Park, and be prepared to bump into all kinds of animals as you enter the thicket of the jungle. Our journey entailed crossing paths with two baby snakes (one can be seen in the above picture), several howler monkeys and the beautiful Morfo Azul, a big blue butterfly, extremely characteristic of Costa Rica. You're more than likely to see sloths as they make their snail-paced way across the trees - most adorable :*
Where the ocean and jungle meet, the beaches are just exquisite. The forests cower over you, as you take a dip in the water enjoying the sun setting into auburn colors burning red into the night. My favorite beach to hang out was Punta Uva, where specifically a spot called Playa Grande was ideal for some lone time to read, do yoga and skinny dip!
Manzanillo is another sweet spot and hiking through the jungle as you come to shore is a fantastic way to enjoy the duality of the forests and water. Cocles beach, is recommended for advanced surfers and through the jungles one can hike to reach Cocles lookout, a spot on the cliff, from where one gets the best view of the sunsets. Apart from walking and hiking the trails, the best way to get around town is cycling!
Being next to the ocean, the sea food is simply delightful! The shrimps, red snapper and sesame chicken at Diwo Restaurant are highly recommended. The flavors were so rich and each bite was scrumptious! Some of the other places worth trying include Monli and Mopri in the main town. Hot Rocks had fantastic calamari and naturally sweet watermelon juice. Lazy Mon, is right next to the coast and is great place to hang but I had a terrible experience with the food, especially the chicken casado. The casado at Selina's, on the other hand, with the plantain and frijoles (beans) was delicious.
Life wouldn't have been the same if it wasn't for all my animal adventures! If you look very carefully to the top, you can see a small part of what is a big blue hard-shelled crab. Azul (Yes, I named it) was my neighbor and resided right outside my doorstep. With its sideway movement, it would pick up speed the moment it heard me approaching. I do have to say, initially, I was more scared and would tap dance my way home because I didn't mind sleeping without a goodnight kiss!!
The baby sloth, unfortunately, fell from a high-up tree and got separated from its mom. Sloths seem to have sloth-like eyesight and it seemed the mom didn't realize the baby had fallen all the way down. There is a strong rescue community in town, specifically the Jaguar Rescue Center, and they have experimented with different approaches of returning the baby sloth back to the mom. One method that has worked in the past, is recording the baby crying and re-playing the sound so that the mom comes down. In the meanwhile, the baby was tended to and intensively taken care off, because the first few days were crucial to the baby's survival!
You can take a tour of the Jaguar Rescue Center and learn about each animal's story who has been rescued and is soon to be re-habilitated.
Yoga is omnipresent in Puerto Viejo! This is the view from the Om Cashew Hill Yoga Studio, so while you're engaging in your practice you're soaking in the sights and natural sounds around you, tuning first into the outwards and then slowly turning the attention inwards. There are a plethora of places in the different beach towns that offer yoga classes and you can find a diverse set of teachers and schools of yoga across Puerto Viejo, Cocles and Playa Chiquita. I explored the classes at Selina Hostel and Tierra de Sueños.
Costa Rica and especially Puerto Viejo are Pura Vida! You find yourself in paradise, meeting a bunch of interesting travelers, discovering their stories and making new deep connections. Living here for a month progressed from the initial struggle of everything unfamiliar, to living each day to the fullest and owning each new adventure. No day was ever the same, and I woke up continually with a feeling of uncontainable excitement and elation on what each day would bring!
Click here to read more about my solo travel experiences: https://www.vacilando.in/journal