travel update from San Jose Costa Rica
Hi Everyone,
I am in Costa Rica. In the Capital city of San Jose. I have been in CR for 4 nights now. I spent my first 3 nights in Puerto Viejo, a small beach town on the Carribean Sea. I liked the town okay, but of course the main attraction is the sea and the waves which attract surfers from all over the world, but mainly the USA and Canada. The problem was that it rained everyday for the three days I was there and though I got to take a few long stoned walks on the coast, I was never really inspired to jump in and get wet. While in Puerto Viejo I took a bus over to Cahuita.
Cahuita, is a great little beach town about 20 km from Puerto Viejo and with about 25% the population. I stayed here in Cahuita about 5 years ago in 2001 while traveling with an old cowboy named Shannon. Cahuita has not changed very much. It still has no paved roads. It is still a garafuna Rasta town, where most of the locals speak Carribean english rather than spanish. I actually understand them better in Spanish than in englilsh. The Carribean/Rasta english is hard for me to understand. I got a strong deja vu from returning there.I had about a 4 hour window of no rain while I hung out in Cahuita but then in rolled the clouds and I got back on the bus for Puerto Viejo...but not before visititing Miss Edith.
Miss Edith is a highlight of any visit to Cahuita. It was true in 2001 and it is even more true today. This old Garafuna woman has been running this little seaside restaurant for 30 years. It is the best Carribean food around. It is much improved from the way I remembered it. They have a floor now. It used to be hard earth. and electric lights. Moving up Big Time!!! The food is still just a cut above. I had a fillet of red snapper (pargo rojo)with coconut curry and mani (peanuts) That was sheer perfection on a plate!! Just as good as it gets. Perfectly cooked side veggies, and crispy salad with just a little coconut milk and lime. You put de lime in de coconut and mix it all up.
I stayed at a famous backpacker hang out in Puerto Viejo called Rockin' J's. had a dorm room with a Swiss guy a Canadien and a Hungarian named Janush. You dont meet too many Huns on the road. Janush was cool we had a good time together. He was very pleased to know I had been to Hungary. I was the first American he has met who has been there. He went to University in Pelt, and I stayed a day there myself about a year and a half ago on my way to Croatia. We talked about Budapest and Hungarian food. Got loaded on the local rasta natty brown, and walked around Cahuita.
Before I got to Puerto Viejo I was in Boca del Torros a group of islands off the Panama coast in the Carribean. I stayed there for 15 days. It was wonderful. I went to a little island called Bastimentos which has no paved roads or cars at all. But two fabulous beaches one called Wizard and the other called Red Frog. I got to see a lot of the tiny red frogs for which this beach is named. They are really tiny about a centimeter long and a very bright red color, with either black or tan colored spots.
So now I am in San Jose. I took a hot shower right before I sat down to write this update. It is the first hot shower I have had since Medellin Colombia, about 7 weeks I think. Whoa It was nice. Costa Rica is a little different than it was 5 years ago. It is much more "gringo-ized". I am not so sure that this is an improvement...The coffee is still excellent though and the Ticos still smile all the time.
Tomorrow I will head for Rivas, a small village in southern Nicaragua near San Juan del Sur,I will stay there for a night or two and then go to San Juan for the beaches and then back to Rivas and a ferry to an island in the middle of Lake nicaragua to see Pink Dolphins and fresh water Bull Sharks. The only fresh water sharks in the world are there. I hope I dont actually meet up with one because they are man eaters. I have sure eaten a lot of fish in my time...I hope this is not where my Karma finally catches up with me!
"You don't have a Soul. You are a Soul. You have a body." - C.S. Lewis
Peace out,
Robert
I am in Costa Rica. In the Capital city of San Jose. I have been in CR for 4 nights now. I spent my first 3 nights in Puerto Viejo, a small beach town on the Carribean Sea. I liked the town okay, but of course the main attraction is the sea and the waves which attract surfers from all over the world, but mainly the USA and Canada. The problem was that it rained everyday for the three days I was there and though I got to take a few long stoned walks on the coast, I was never really inspired to jump in and get wet. While in Puerto Viejo I took a bus over to Cahuita.
Cahuita, is a great little beach town about 20 km from Puerto Viejo and with about 25% the population. I stayed here in Cahuita about 5 years ago in 2001 while traveling with an old cowboy named Shannon. Cahuita has not changed very much. It still has no paved roads. It is still a garafuna Rasta town, where most of the locals speak Carribean english rather than spanish. I actually understand them better in Spanish than in englilsh. The Carribean/Rasta english is hard for me to understand. I got a strong deja vu from returning there.I had about a 4 hour window of no rain while I hung out in Cahuita but then in rolled the clouds and I got back on the bus for Puerto Viejo...but not before visititing Miss Edith.
Miss Edith is a highlight of any visit to Cahuita. It was true in 2001 and it is even more true today. This old Garafuna woman has been running this little seaside restaurant for 30 years. It is the best Carribean food around. It is much improved from the way I remembered it. They have a floor now. It used to be hard earth. and electric lights. Moving up Big Time!!! The food is still just a cut above. I had a fillet of red snapper (pargo rojo)with coconut curry and mani (peanuts) That was sheer perfection on a plate!! Just as good as it gets. Perfectly cooked side veggies, and crispy salad with just a little coconut milk and lime. You put de lime in de coconut and mix it all up.
I stayed at a famous backpacker hang out in Puerto Viejo called Rockin' J's. had a dorm room with a Swiss guy a Canadien and a Hungarian named Janush. You dont meet too many Huns on the road. Janush was cool we had a good time together. He was very pleased to know I had been to Hungary. I was the first American he has met who has been there. He went to University in Pelt, and I stayed a day there myself about a year and a half ago on my way to Croatia. We talked about Budapest and Hungarian food. Got loaded on the local rasta natty brown, and walked around Cahuita.
Before I got to Puerto Viejo I was in Boca del Torros a group of islands off the Panama coast in the Carribean. I stayed there for 15 days. It was wonderful. I went to a little island called Bastimentos which has no paved roads or cars at all. But two fabulous beaches one called Wizard and the other called Red Frog. I got to see a lot of the tiny red frogs for which this beach is named. They are really tiny about a centimeter long and a very bright red color, with either black or tan colored spots.
So now I am in San Jose. I took a hot shower right before I sat down to write this update. It is the first hot shower I have had since Medellin Colombia, about 7 weeks I think. Whoa It was nice. Costa Rica is a little different than it was 5 years ago. It is much more "gringo-ized". I am not so sure that this is an improvement...The coffee is still excellent though and the Ticos still smile all the time.
Tomorrow I will head for Rivas, a small village in southern Nicaragua near San Juan del Sur,I will stay there for a night or two and then go to San Juan for the beaches and then back to Rivas and a ferry to an island in the middle of Lake nicaragua to see Pink Dolphins and fresh water Bull Sharks. The only fresh water sharks in the world are there. I hope I dont actually meet up with one because they are man eaters. I have sure eaten a lot of fish in my time...I hope this is not where my Karma finally catches up with me!
"You don't have a Soul. You are a Soul. You have a body." - C.S. Lewis
Peace out,
Robert
posted by Rambling Robert | 5:18 AM
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