COSTA RICA’S CARIBBEAN COASTAL PARADISE, PUERTO VIEJO.
The pacific coast of Costa Rica is where most tourists go. Tamarindo leads to the Nicoya Peninsular, below lies Manuel Antonio and Corcovado, and south of that Piedras Blancas and Golfito. This vast coastline is beautiful, but cross the mountainous spine of rainforest that traverses Costa Rica’s interior and you hit this beautiful country’s Caribbean Coast. The Limon Province is home to Cahuita National Park, and a mere 20km North of the Panama border lies the laidback colourful beachfront town of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca.
The long drive down from San Jose to pretty little Puerto Viejo can be overcome by flying Sansa. Sansa’s 12-seater Cessnas fly daily to Limon airstrip, and those on-board benefit from an aerial view of the seemingly endless rainforest and jungle below. Limon airstrip is home to a small brick building manned by the army – one door in, one door out. It feels remote. It is still an hour’s drive south, past fields of pale-yellow bananas sheltered by the leaves of their trees, before you turn a corner and are affronted by the coast. The white surf of the jade green ocean crashes against a narrow black sand beach, gradually the sand turns gold and signs of a community start to appear.
The locals of Puerto Viejo wear flip flops and colourful clothes. Painted wooden fruit stalls are shaded by palm trees, piled high with stripy watermelons and a wealth of exotic fruit. Cafes and bars line the sandy main road that weaves through this enchanting coastal town. Fisherman’s boats bob on the high tide, and flocks of pelicans cause a stir over buckets of the days catch being dragged on to the shore. The headland is wild lush green rainforest for as far as they eye can see, and much of what inhabits this oceanside land, hidden within.
Amidst this rainforest lies Aguas Claras, a beautiful hotel at the far end of town. A Victorian style house sits pretty and white at the property’s centre. A balcony wraps around the upper floor of the building, overlooking an aquamarine lagoon style pool below, accented by lipstick red wooden loungers adorning its edge, the hotel’s colourful restaurant Papaya, wraps around behind. The beautiful gardens of Aguas Claras are home to vibrant toucans, troops of rather vocal mantled howler monkeys and many of the nation’s most symbolic species – the sloth. The lush foliage of the property is also home to Casa Ghandi, a beautiful polished wooden yoga deck with a mesmerising reflective lily pond in front.
This unique hotel, the highest end in the area, was designed by mother and daughter owners who are artists by trade, apparent in every element of the hotels décor and design. The individual bungalows were once beach homes on Playa Chiquita, each are stilted with a veranda and embrace indoor/outdoor living. These enchanting places to stay are now contemporary Caribbean in style. The bungalow’s plush bed linens and organic toiletries add luxury, whilst the outdoor kitchen ensures you have necessities to hand – fresh Costa Rican coffee and a press, glassware and table wear, a dining table, and a fridge stocked with a mini bar of the natural kind. A sweet lady from Nicaragua appears at the steps of each bungalow early evening, proffering a Tupperware of homemade treats, perfectly savoured with a pre-dinner aperitif, as hummingbirds hover close by. At the hotel’s beach club, Da Lime, neutral deck chairs and trunks of driftwood make for a perfect place to sip a pina colada, and feast on fresh tuna tacos – the epitome of laidback luxury.