24 January - 27 January 2017
Located
in the Limon province on the shores of the Caribbean Sea, Playa Negra and its
associate town, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, is very much a laid back, sleepy
type of world that attracts people of the same vibe. I often find it amusing
that observations of slow moving, sleepy towns are that the people there are of the same elk. Newsflash
sports fans, the ‘town’ is really a collective name for a group of people that
have gathered in the same spot. If the town has a vibe it's likely to be attributable to the nature of the
people that have made that corner of the world home.
A 4 hour bus ride south-east out of San Jose, and thankfully, a world away from the mundane
city that masquerades as a Central American capital, the shoreline of Playa
Negra lives up to its expectation. Black volcanic sand acquaints itself with the Caribbean sea, its colour all to do of course with run-off from close by
volcanic areas.
Near Puerto Viejo - Costa Rica
Near Puerto Viejo - Costa Rica
Near Puerto Viejo - Costa Rica
Moving further down the coastline from Puerto Viejo there are some extremely
pleasant stretches of sand and accompanying beaches that bask brilliantly in the Caribbean sunshine. Surrounded by rich, tropical, jungle
vegetation and palm trees swaying the breeze. There's a distinct sense of ownership that you encounter in that there's no crowds, meaning no designated
flag areas where 500 people swim in a space of 50mtrs2, and also meaning you can carve out a piece of paradise for the afternoon ever so freely – this is just an easy
lifestyle.There's no real infrastructure either, no big marinas, no burgeoning waterside developments and no ‘high
streets’.Here you just have beach shacks, basic accommodation and a cool
breeze that's ever supportive of whatever it is that you want to do.
Of
course, like anywhere, the more people discover a place and the more popular it
becomes then the more people find out, inhabit and commercialise. South of
Puerto Viejo there are 'secluded' spa retreats, wellness centres, yoga sanctuaries,
pottery classes for vegans & kimchi making classes for pottery experts (I would imagine). All that boho, tripitaka stuff finds its home on
shores of golden sands and the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea. For the moment the mix is nice enough to allow this place to still be away from all that is 'known', without having it overwhelmed and inundated. That's for now of course, 10 years time it will be a very different story.
Near Puerto Viejo - Costa Rica
Puerto Viejo de Talamanca - Costa Rica
Australia Day 'Sangas - Puerto Viejo de Talamanca - Costa Rica
Playa Negra - Costa Rica
Waiting for the van to take us into Panama
Formerly
a fishing village, Puerto Viejo is morphing somewhat to cater for a cashed up
clientele who are making their way down to new found surfing breaks. Bars,
restaurants and discos fill most of the streets of this small town, and in
fact, Inga and I celebrated Australia Day in place called Outback Jack’s. An
Australian owned jointed that gave away free sausage sandwiches on Oz Day but
couldn’t cobble together any form of cocktail if they tried. It was almost as
if they had taken an anti-cocktail
making course, or at the very least, spent too much time in the bars of Uyuni,
Bolivia.
Our
time in Puerto Viejo was nice, and when I say that, I mean in that calm and
relaxed way. There was nothing extravagant down here but I guess that was exactly the point. If you’re looking for a tropical hideaway that doesn’t have all
the bells and whistles of a typical beach resort town, then this is your
flavour of biscuit. You could unfurl your hammock, light yourself a beach side camp fire and live on the breeze for weeks quite easily, and what's more, there wouldn't be a soul that would hassle you.
