Anja-bumblebee: 7- Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

15th to 19th Jan 2019 San Jose, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

Stayed in San Jose for one night. While waiting for the shuttle to Puerto Viejo the next day, the security guy from the building next to us came over to gave us some chocolates. How unbelievable unexpected & cute.
Puerto Viejo is very nice. It’s a small relaxed tiny town with many many tourists, shops & restaurants. There are gorgeous beaches all along the Caribbean coast, that you can walk up & down. The beach right next to the town has black sand, which is very shiny. Like diamonds - absolutely stunning!! I have never seen that before. Unfortunately it gets extremely hot in the sun, so put your shoes on, as it feels like it’s burning your feet.
In Puerto Viejo many people are cruising around on bikes. I will come back here in a few days/ weeks & rent one as well. Going out late at night (ie. to celebrate a birthday) seemed a bit difficult here. As in all the places we were in Costa Rica, Puerto Viejo is not a party location. It’s more about enjoying beaches, animals & landscape & going out usually means having a beer or a cocktail (or both- always a tricky decision for me anyways) in a restaurant or a bar. And there is definitely nothing wrong with that 😊. But we did found a location with live music by the beach. They stopped playing by 11pm.
Our days were filled with enjoying the beautiful beaches around and we also went to the Cahuita National Park. If you hire a guide, you will see lots of animals. You will definitely see not that much without a guide, but the park is still a beautiful place & beach. It closes at 4pm, which is worth to know for planing. The park is donation based at the entrance at Cahuita town (we took a public (MEPE) bus from Puerto Viejo).
In this part of the world everything starts a little earlier and doesn’t go as late. We usually start our days around 7am, to get the chance to enjoy the full day, as it’s usually pitch black outside by 6pm latest.