Puerto Viejo de Talamanca

We were excited to finally cross over to the northern border into Costa Rica--different money and another stamp on my passport! We were also a little sad because we knew the end of our trip was fast approaching, and made a point to enjoy the moment.

We met a lot of interesting characters in Costa Rica, free spirited people who embodied the spirt of pura vida.  Puerto Viejo de Talamanca is a sleepy beach town on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. It's a little hippie town where people seem to come and never leave. They get stuck--something about the great climate and natural beauty makes them stay.  In all honesty, it wouldn't be that hard for me to imagine trading it all in for a hammock...


With the laid-back vibe of this town, it would have an easy decision to curl up in a hammock and catch up on some much needed rest.  Instead, Fia and I decided not to waste the rest of the day away, so we rented bikes and explored the towns. Our beach cruisers were well-equipped with baskets, but lacked brakes. We puddled around for a little while at the handcrafts market. Then we biked to little strands of hidden beaches, each one more beautiful than the last.

Biking was a great way to see the towns, and although we had abandonned our map, we let our sense of curiosity guide us, and just continued to bike and explore. We would take detours if we saw something that caught our interest. Little side trails that led to secret beaches, roadside trees full of riotous howler monkeys, and a sign diverting us to "chocolat" were all reasons enough to pause.


A sign diverting us to chocolate led us on a long road through the forest.  It was a long ride, but we persisted. We had to push our ill-equipped bikes up the mountain, and as timing would have it, we met the chocolate man on his way down. He was a friendly Swiss guy, and the owner of the organic chocolate opperation. We were dirty and covered in sweat and mud, but he must have been used to seeing tourists in this sate.  He gave us a quick, private tour, and showed us the plant that chocolate was harvested from. We sat in his hut and sampled some of his delicious organic chocolate. They were hand wrapped like little cigars. We purchased 10 bars each, thanked him, and continued on our biking odyssey.

We biked all the way to Manzanillo--another beautiful beach area in a separate town. Dusk came too quickly, and we pedaled back as quickly as possible, trying to make use of the last bit of hazy daylight. Midway through our bike trip back, it was completely dark--no street lamps, only the occasional headlights of an oncoming car. Going through potholes was inevitable because we couldn't see the road to avoid them. It was a long and bumpy ride back to town in the dark, but we eventaully got there.