The irresistible lure of the caribbean cast a further spell on me, and has led to a change of plans to see in the new year. The original plan was to spend New Years Eve in Panama City, but I found myself on a bus the night before through the Panamanian countryside and on to Changuinola. I met a Dutch couple and a Costa Rican on the bus, and we shared the cost of a taxi to the border with Costa Rica. An uneventful border crossing ensued and we had to wait a couple of hours for a connecting bus. After an hour of further travel I caught a transport truck to complete the journey, and was thrilled to be back on the caribbean coast just in time for New Years Eve.
Puerto Viejo is a beautiful seaside resort town, dear reader, that was absolutely heaving for the new year, and featured fireworks on the beach. I stayed at a quality hostel in the heart of town for the first night and then moved closer to the beach the next day. This is the legendary Rocking J’s hammock hostel, and the place was jam packed with holidaying North Americans. I decided to pay for my own house for the first time on this trip, well tent anyway, and had a very relaxing stay. The last month has contained some hard travelling, so it’s been great to lie on the beach with a good book, walk the jungle trail along the foreshore, and swim for so long in the warm ocean I thought I was going to turn into a fish! It’s a wonderfully relaxing feeling to lose yourself in a beach resort and go troppo for a time. Surfers should also note that Puerto Viejo is home to the most famous break in Costa Rica, the salsa brava.
Costa Rica, and Puerto Viejo in particular is really an oasis and reminds me very much of Bali. The tourism infrastructure is superb, the prices are a little higher than other Latin American countries but still reasonable, and the people are warm and friendly. The creed of the Ticos is Pura Vida – pure life. It’s interesting to note the Costa Rican army was abolished under the constitution after a period of civil war in 1949, and Costa Rica has grown to be the most prosperous and peaceful nation in Central America as well as the most popular tourist destination. Far be it for me as a humble travel blogger to launch into a political statement, so I will leave you to arrive at your own conclusion. I met an American guy at the hostel (or should I say resort) who took me into town to another superb local pizza restaurant, where slices cost the princely sum of one dollar. If you keep your ear to the ground you can dine out on delicious pizza in Latin America for next to nothing.
Predictably I was back at the same pizza restaurant for dinner the next night. A customer asked one of the rasta brothers working there how he was in spanish and the reply came back in english “Bless-ed man, working working”. I really dig those rasta cats man, they are altogether too cool! I decided to follow the jungle trail back to the hostel and let the sounds of the sea and the infrequent lights from the villas guide me along the way. I fell in a ditch in the dark when I missed a boardwalk, and got bitten by some seriously angry ants who must only clock on for the night shift! But the walk gave me a chance to reflect on how I was feeling about my trip so far… And the verdict: Bless-ed, bless-ed and not working!
Although it was difficult to leave the reggae rhythms of the caribbean coast *again* I jumped on a bus to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. The city strikes me as quite prosperous and not too frenetic, with the ever present latino central plaza as a feature. Once again I have to comment on the beauty of the latina Ticas, and walking the plazas in San Jose is a real eye opener. As the saying goes, basically all of you should be here now!
“Music is religion for me. There’ll be music in the hereafter, too.” Jimi Hendrix
As I continue my travels, until next time its signing off for now
Tom
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Tom's music blog can be found here:
http://www.tomrooneymusic.com
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