CAHUITA & PUERTO VIEJO

Apologies for the break in posting - our days have been pretty busy over the last week.  Cahuita is a tiny town on the north eastern coast of Costa Rica, near the Panamanian border - stayed a a nice self catering chalet about 200m from the beach. The little town a a nice vibe at night and discovered a great little restaurant - large red snapper and 3 crayfish halves (plus dessert of chocolate cake) for $14!! One of the best meals we've had on our trip and excellent value. People earning Dollars (or Sterling) can really have a good time here!

The following day we drove to Puerto Viego which is 17km further along the coast and instantly fell in love with it. It's the picture in my head of what I thought a casual, little beach front town should look like. Headed for as little beach front bar, ordered 2 Mojitos and enjoyed the view and vibe.

We've only got 3days here, but we'll definitely be back! Went to a couple of really nice beaches on Thursday - though maybe not quite as nice as the Pacific side - and generally relaxed. More of the same on Friday and then back to our new favourite spot for happy hour ;) - drinks are really pricy here - R38 for a beer! Then this bunch of 4 guys appeared, set up their (very basic) gear and started playing some REALLY good music!

One of the nearby beaches

The guitarist has an outstanding voice. Singing Spanish/Calyso/Reggae

LOVE the soap box bass!!!

Everyone here owns a bicycle - all the same style and they're just left lying around outside shops, on the beach etc but always there when the owner comes back.

We're going to Bocas del Toro which is a town on Isla Colon which is one of a group of islands just off the caribbean coast on Panama really close to the border with Costa Rica. We'll be there for 3 days and then return to Puerto Viejo.

HERRADURA

A few days ago, we took a trip to Jaco and Herradura - just over an hour up the coast - both large (compared to where we're staying) towns - lots of condominiums and geared towards the American market.
Drove into an enormous gated community called Los Suenos in Herradura - there are gated communities inside the gated community! - complete with a golf course and a marina with billions of dollars with of game fishing boats. It was a cloudy day, so apologies for the "flat" pics.

Looking from the marina back to part of Los Suenos

Pick a boat......

Any takers Des or Terry?

We then drove to the Marriot Hotel and had a look around really beautiful place.

We then drove back into Jaco for some great fish tacos and cold beers. Saw this sign - seems like Jacob is extending his business interests into Costa Rica....

Today we're off inland up a serious mountain pass to a nature reserve, then a few days on the Caribbean coast and then onto Lake Arenal. Wil keep you posted.