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Articles Tagged ‘casa viva’

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puerto viejo de talamanca melting pot

Monday, December 24th, 2007

Mostly I just people watched while I was here. There was a futbol tournament going on in the late afternoon. An odd version of it tho, as it was played on a court as small as a tennis court (smaller actually, if you consider that tennis courts are bigger on account of the fact that they continue past the out-of-bounds line). They had 4 man teams and you can imagine that in an area that small the action is non-stop. I got to see the locals come out and it was really amazing to see what a melting pot it is: black, white and everything in between – with a healthy dose of the rasta spice.

Can’t say that I would have wanted to spend more time here. It’s got a big surfer-thing going on and they tend to be pretty cliquish. Did meet a couple of british guys visiting for the birding and we got to compare notes.

It starting pouring as I went to bed and continued all night. My plan was to catch the first bus for the border, which leaves PV at 6:30 am. When I awoke to hear it still pouring I had second thoughts but lept out of bed at the last minute to head for the bus. That was all for naught since I missed it. Imagine, in this land of phone outages and crappy roads the bus actually came and left 10 minutes early. D’oh! Since I’d already checked out of cabinas guarana (I recommend this place) I waited at the bus stop for 2 hours for the next bus.

Posted in central america, costa rica, Travel | No Comments »

punta uva heaven

Monday, December 24th, 2007

Puerto viejo doesn’t look too bad, but my mission there was to get a few groceries to tide me over when grub wasn’t to be found in punta uva. This isn’t a problem when one has transportation (rental car, scooter, etc) in punta uva, but as a bus-passenger I needed to be prepared. Basically for me, that means coffee and peanut butter sandwiches. Oh, and rum.

I chose casa viva as my spot for 3 nights. A few posts on the lonely planet message board convinced me that despite the minimal web-page this was the place I wanted to be. Oh, I was so right. The beach in front is stunning but the property itself makes it perfect. I tend to the geeky side when it comes to birding (ok and with a few other subjects as well) but in ALL my travels thru panama and costa rica this is the first place where WITHOUT EVEN TRYING I saw all 3 toucan varieties in an afternoon and added so many birds to my checklist that before I finished walking the smallish property I had to go back to my room where my bird-book was for fear of forgetting some!

Then I donned my swimsuit and body-surfed off the amazing beach. Then I returned to the immaculate wooden cabana (with the FIRST bathroom that had a big counter along side the sink). Then I looked thru the in-room book selection cuz I think I may finish my book here. Then I toured the rest of the property and found even more birds (and when I’m able to upload photos you’ll see toucans). Then I sat on my verandah and had a rum with pear nectar. I’m just in heaven. I’m just not sure I can extoll all the virtues of this place sufficiently (nor am I sure I want to, as it may one day lose its charm with more visitors!).

FYI – What I am doing is keeping a journal in a document and then cutting and pasting it when I get internet access. It may not be till bocas that I have a chance to properly update my blog. The carib side of costa rica and panama is notorious for bad internet. I hope our casita in bocas is better! Anyhoo – this is why you may see bursts of activity thru-out my adventure.

Posted in central america, costa rica, Travel | No Comments »