One Man's Paradise Is ...

We are in Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast. Four hours by bus from San Jose. Deliciously hot but with a good sea breeze. At least in July. Puerto Viejo is near the border with Panama. It is not particularly cheap but all you want - good food, excellent really; clean accommodations; lots and lots of bars - is right there. It would be better if we were 40 years younger but such is life.





The music here is reggaeton, reggae and calipso. Only reggae approximates the pace of life here. The other two styles are out of tune. What struck me as missing was East African music with its "Hawaiian guitar-like" sound. We ate in a restaurant called Chili Rojo (below) whose owner had grown up in Kenya. When I asked about Swahili music he was able to oblige.




The town is full of young tourists and local workers. We didn't meet any Costa Rican people who worked here, only Nicaraguans and other foreigners. Curious!!!

Something about living on a tropical beach. As long as there is a good on-shore breeze you can ignore the heat (sit in the shade but in the breeze) and the mosquitoes (they don't like the wind). However, without the breeze it becomes unpleasant to say the least. We slept at night without a mosquito net, turned off the fan around 1AM and with the doors wide open.








However, the water was not for swimming. The rip-tide was very strong. You need to go a few miles down the beach from our hotel to swim safely. The surfers are happy though.

Puerto Viejo is going to change, become more domesticated, civilized, up-market. The real-estate people will certainly be happy but for now, if you want a tropical beach experience with great food, good transportation and internet access then keep it in mind.

Just a pretty flower but no one knew what kind it was.