PUERTO VIEJO, COSTA RICA will AMAZE you! (TRAVEL GUIDE)

Hola! Bienvenidos! Welcome to beautiful Puerto Viejo! Buenos dias! Good morning Country Collectors and welcome to Costa Rica's Caribbean coast! That's right we are in Puerto Viejo in the province of Limon. And we have just been loving these Caribbean Vibes and we cannot wait to show you why. But before we get started make sure to hit that subscribe button and ring the bell so you don't miss out on any of our future adventures! All right let's get started. To get here from Quepos we took a local bus to San Jose that cost 4,700 Colones each and took around four hours. From there we went to the North Atlantic Terminal where we got on another bus headed for Puerto Viejo. The ride took five hours and cost 7,300 Colones. Look at this beautiful flower right here. Adam was like you have to stand by it because it matches your shirt. But we are saying just down the road here at Kalunai hostel. Forty dollars per night for our private room which is basically just a bed and a fan. There's a shared bathroom, shared kitchen and this nice open area where you can hang out and the owners are great. They can help you with anything that you need. And I know know some of you have asked us, "Can you show nicer hotels and resorts?" Well the you know plain fact is Costa Rica is very pricey and as we are full-time budget travelers we can't afford to pay a hundred plus per night to stay in a nice place. So yeah it is what it is but you know what maybe one day! What do you say we hit the road and see what's going on in town today. Come along! One of the main reasons why we wanted to come to this region of Costa Rica was because of its unique culture and history. Before the 70s when the first road was built into town this area of Puerto Viejo was just a small isolated fishing village consisting of Afro-caribbean and Indigenous. And it was that inaccessibility which really helped maintain their cultures and their customs here unlike a lot of the rest of Costa Rica. Of course over the years it's become a little bit more of a tourist destination but you can still feel that culture in the streets and everywhere you go. While you're walking around town you'll probably notice the beef patties being sold on almost every corner as well as reggae music pumping out of the bars and Rasta colors all over so you might be wondering where does that influence come from? Well we read that Jamaicans came to Costa Rica in the late 1800s to work on the construction of the railroad as well as work on the banana plantations. After that instead of returning back to Jamaica they stayed here and established their roots, having families and gaining citizenship. So that's the reason you're able to experience their rich culture here. And I can't wait any longer this Jamaican beef patty is burning up my hands! It's like oh oh! It's actually cold. You can get them warm or cold. It has that beautiful yellow color to it so you know that it is a traditional Jamaican beef patty. I am super psyched to jump into this let's taste it out! Mmm look inside there. It's got that beautiful like ground up very finely meat and then some of that Jamaican spice to give it a little boom! It's a winner! And we just walked past the sign here that says Patterson Estate since 1880 and then there's this large sign behind us here that says Old Harbor since 1860 with all the names of the founding families. If you know any Spanish maybe you've already translated Puerto Viejo it means old Harbor. And we read that back in the day you know it's what people called it, old Harbor. And then in 1948 when Costa Rica institutionalized Spanish as the main language here they then changed it to Puerto Viejo. And we're really enjoying this quote by Marcus Garvey here: A people without the knowledge of their past history origin and culture is like a tree without roots. And I think that that really applies to traveling as well because if you don't know the history of a place then you can't truly appreciate it. And to learn some of that history they actually have these very cool signs all around the town in both Spanish and English including pictures so you can learn about the richness of what you're seeing. And as small and compact as Puerto Viejo is there is a lot going on here. Tons of restaurants, bars, shops, grocery stores. You name it they got it. And we actually ate here at Cocomar the other day. It's not open right now because it is quite early but their food was incredible. You know it has that Caribbean Flavor. Adam went with the shrimp and coconut sauce and I got the chicken in Caribbean sauce. Delicious! And after traveling around Costa Rica and eating a lot of typical food the rice and beans has been the same everywhere but not here! They actually added coconut milk to it which gives it this whole other flavor profile that just blows your mind. It's so good. And right in the front of the town is Playa Puerto Viejo. It's a great place to come down and swim or just relax on this beautiful beach. Today it's a big gray but you know what that's okay because the temperature is a little bit cooler and I am really digging it. Right off the beach here there's also a shipwreck. It used to be a little bit farther out on the reef but I believe that a storm actually brought it in closer. So I read that after the road was built to town a word got out about how great this surf was in area and that's when the town started seeing more people arriving. Right out here is Salsa Brava. We've heard that it's one of the best surf breaks in the country so if you're a surfer this could be a great spot for you. And I love that as we're walking through town and along the beach there's restaurants like this where reggae music is just floating on the breeze between the trees here from the water. It is the soundtrack of Puerto Viejo. It's that vibe that you just feel with every step you take. And just to the north here you're going to run into Playa Negra which translates to Black Beach. I'm sure you can see why as the sand here is made up of volcanic deposits. It's really funny too because as you're walking down, the sand is white then all of a sudden it's black and it's like what just happened here? And out here you can see this... It looks like another shipwreck but we just learned that it's actually one of the two docks that they had here when the oil companies were here. Cool. Yeah and there's a tree growing out of it so you can tell it's been there a while. And if you continue more north you will come to the town of Cahuita. We actually went there yesterday and visited the Cahuita National Park so why don't we hop back in time and check it out together! Welcome to Cahuita National Park! Oh yeah! This morning we headed to the bus station in Puerto Viejo and we got the bus at 10:20. it leaves on the :20 of every hour and it costs 1060 Colones each. It was very affordable and we got here very it took about 20 minutes. Yep it was quite easy and it dropped us off at the Cahuita bus station. From there we just walked about three blocks and it brought us here to the park. I am so excited to really experience this nature. Can you hear that wave action in the background? It's my favorite kind of environment jungle and ocean together baby. Yeah it's gonna be consisted of coastal rainforest the beaches and then there is a coral reef here where you can snorkel on. You can't do it on your own though you have to get a guide but yeah. Something that's really neat too is this park is free, free being... They ask for a generous donation. And to some people that might seem strange but the government has actually been subsidizing this park and helping to hire the guys and stuff so when you give it a donation it actually goes to community projects, upkeeping the trails here and just taking care of this beautiful place for generations to come. Yeah so give what you want but I think they expect at least five dollars per person. Yeah. So we are here at the entrance let's go in and see what we can find. Let's do this thing! You can see behind me there are these signposts that have the distances of the different trails. From where we are now at Kelly Creek to Punta Vargas I believe is about eight kilometers so we have about five miles to go today. It's oppressively hot and let me just tell you we did not sleep well last night so we are already feeling it but we know with you we can accomplish anything. The park is open from eight until four but because you kind of do like a U they close a portion of it after two so you can't pass so we would recommend coming you know probably 10, 11 o'clock or before then just so you can do the whole thing. And beat the heat. Yeah alright well let's get going. And if there's two or more of you we would recommend one looking up while one person looks down so you have a better chance of spotting animals. And we had our first animal spotting. It's three very cute little raccoons. Oh look he just put his head out. Yeah they're just like laying on the branch, relaxing. They must have been up all night pushing over people's trash cans and hatching some crazy scheme with those little thumbs that they can move. That's why they're all plum tuckered out today with that little (yawn). Today we're just doing a self-guided tour because we've done so many already throughout Costa Rica but if you want a guided tour there are guides at the entrance. I believe they start at $35 and you will definitely see more with them than just with your own two eyes. They are gifted. And look at this humongous fungus among us! That's so neat. I know they kind of go all the way up the tree. There's other ones here and here. I feel like we never see stuff like this. Yeah I like that. And along the way keep those peepers peeping people because there are all these little trails that lead down to this pristine beach here. Check out this tree behind me it might be one of the coolest like overhanging trees I've ever seen. Great shade during the peak of the day. Come down here check it out, enjoy but beware! There are flags. This red one means do not swim here because there are rip currents. So be careful we care about you. And while you're walking around try not to just focus on the big stuff. Narrow that eyesight. Pick a spot and just kind of really dive into it. We were just walking by this plant right here. There's a flower being born. You can see all the little air roots they're growing out of the vine and they're about to grip onto the tree. And while I was watching the air roots guess what, a little dragonfly popped up. These are the special moments and they're the ones that are in abundance. Monkeys you'll see here or there. It's this little stuff that can be so intimate and you should definitely keep those eyes open for. Uh and make sure to keep those eyes open so you don't walk into something like this! It was a close one. Wow! Super beautiful though. I love spiders. Like you can actually see its individual hairs on his leg. Oh incredible! Hi! This must be bug alley just been like one after another after another of just like cool little insects. I love it. Me too. And oh my gosh just in front of us here on the beach there's like this troop of the white face monkeys. They're just jumping around, swinging around everywhere eating whatever they can find. They are adorable. And they could care less that we're here. They are so cool. They're just like hanging out. This one was just eating some flowers. They're in the trees. They're scavenging through things. Yeah one is walking right behind you. They're doing like little poses for you. Monkey pose! And look at behind us. Right here is like a whole family of raccoons just walking on through so cute. And normally when you see raccoons during the day especially at home you're like beware that might have rabies right. But here they're just like trotting along they're so adorable. But what I wanted to say was we learned that the monkeys were actually the number one predator of the forest. Like they're the ones who are going in and stealing the eggs from the bird nest so they are they're cute but they're the little bullies. Better watch out. Yeah I'll pop you one! And check out this sign. It looks like there are crocodiles here. So unless you're prepared to be fed to them don't feed them. Or swim. Or swim with them it's probably a great bit of advice. But yeah this area here seems seems a little swampy. Oh what's that? Oh it's one of those blue morphos. I love that butterfly. They are one of the most beautiful butterflies I've ever seen. Mmhmm this is what happens if you feed the crocodiles. Nothing but board shorts left. Wow what an incredible little hike right here. You're going to the jungle it's dense you can barely see out through the canopy and then it just kind of dumps you out here right on this beautiful beach with that blue sky. By the way the only place that's okay to dump me is right here on the beach. I'm just saying. And then after you enjoy the beautiful view, watch your shoes getting wet over here, you just back into the jungle right there. I love that. You might even see a little raccoon running down the trail coming up putting his feet on your legs and looking at you lovingly. That just happened! It did just happen to me. Hi buddy. How's it going? Cool! And this is cool right here. We're walking on a little boardwalk right through the center yeah this beautiful jungle. Oh my gosh when we walked in the park I told Adam I wanted to see the yellow pit viper. Our friend Nathan was here and he showed us a picture of one. And we see one right down here. Luckily this guide pointed it out to us. It's also known as the eyelash viper which is a species of the pit viper. It's a little far away so you can't see it that well but wow it's beautiful! How's that for a manifestation? I am all about that. Oh she's good and she's so cute they were like just give her the pit viper. One time we were on the beach and I was like I want to find a message in a bottle and I found one and then the next week I found another one! Unbelievable! And we may have messed up as it is already two o'clock. We've been spending so much time just enjoying it that we haven't even made it to Punta Cahuita which is like the point at two o'clock if you're not there I believe they tell you gotta go back the same way you came. But we wanted to go you know towards the other entrance at Punta Varga so we're gonna have to see if we can make it. Let's go. Is this the gatekeeper? Can we go? Can we pass? Thank you! Oh my gosh we literally just made it in the nick of time. We walked up and the guards were like hey are you returning back this way or gonna go this way. They're looking at their watches they're like it's two o'clock so you gotta go now. Then he walked down to the beach and told everyone on the beach time to go. So it's like yeah they're very strict about that. So I would recommend coming early, earlier than us. I know we were going really slow because we were you know just enjoying our time and seeing so much stuff. We got so lucky today. I'm so grateful that you got to be here to see that because it was just fun. And we were talking about it this is definitely my favorite National Park we have been to in Costa Rica. For sure. I mean I really like Manuel Antonio too but I felt like it was very crowded at some point. Whereas here you're just kind of walking along at your own pace having a good time and it's just been gorgeous. Yeah we have five kilometers more to go about three miles and two hours to get out before the park closes. So if we see anything we will let you know tomorrow. We will report it then. Yes so what do you say we jump back into town. I love that idea. Welcome back we hope you enjoyed your time over there with us I know we sure did. After we left you we actually got to experience some more Cute Critters. Very very cute, a baby armadillo! He was like this big. Oh my gosh I didn't even you know I kind of they were like unicorns, some mystical - didn't exist - yeah creatures, or only in Texas. I've never seen one before but it was definitely the cutest one in the world. Yeah we also saw Coatic as well as the Jesus Christ basilisk. Yeah some snails, hermit crabs it was incredible. Walking along the water with the jungle on one side it was just gorgeous. And then we got to this walkway that actually cut directly through the jungle for like two kilometers. Yeah! And it was so cool. Yeah we had such such a good time but we are back now in town and we heard about some beaches to the south as well as this place called the Jaguar Rescue Center. Yeah I don't know if they have Jaguars but they have other animals. So we are just gonna get a scooter, hop on it and head out so come along. Boom! Wow you guys check this out the sun just came out as I put my feet on this beautiful beach here our first stop is Playa Cocles and it's absolutely stunning. As you can see this golden yellow sand. There's people out here just sunbathing. There doesn't seem to be much shade so that's kind of a tough one for us but absolutely beautiful. Out front here the waves are coming in. There's some surfers. I do see they do have the red flags up so it's probably a bit rough for swimming at the moment. But just super nice. And if you want to learn how to surf it looks like they have a bunch of surf schools here as well. And there are lifeguards behind me so you know there's that safety aspect. Oh someone's catching a wave right now. But yeah this is just I love it down here. We're definitely gonna have to come back here tomorrow and spend some time. And you know what it's so close to town you can walk here you can bike here you can rent like a scooter and get over here which is really nice. Man this beach is gorgeous! We could spend the entire day here but we have a day with some animals and we can't be late so let's head over. Our next stop is here at the Jaguar Rescue Center. It's a home for injured sick and orphaned animals and their goal is to rehabilitate them and then reintroduce them into the wild. They're open from nine to one every day and they offer Public tours at 9:30 and 11:30 I believe for twenty four dollars. Adam's over buying the tickets now because we just made it for the 11:30. So we're gonna do the tour and then we will let you know how it is. What a great little tour! We had an awesome funny guide and we got to see some fun stuff too. Yeah that was great taking that little walk through the sanctuary. I actually had to make a list because we saw so much stuff and I knew we were gonna forget so we started with the snakes. We saw some of those eyelash pit vipers. Yeah the one that we saw in Cahuita National Park. And then she also talked to us about the bushmaster. I guess it's one of the most venomous snakes in the world. If it bites you you have five minutes before (death). Yeah she said call your family because you'll have no time. The hospital is 20 minutes away and you won't make it. We're like okay! Yeah so they can be a little bit dangerous. And then we went and saw some birds. We saw Blackbeard. And he wasn't born with eyes. So he uses memory to know like where to go and where he is. After that we saw the scarlet macaws. Man they are just such beautiful colorful animals. Like I think if Picasso made a bird it would be a scarlet macaw. Yeah and we learned that they're monogamous. So they have one pair (mate) for life. And they also have the intelligence of a four year old so kind of like Adam. So we are basically the same. No! And they can live up till 70 years old! I know that is so crazy. And then we got to go see the sloths. Oh man. What do they call like a group of sloths? A snuggle! A snuggle! A Snuggle of sloths. And then we met a couple and we learned that they were unfortunately actually electrocuted. It's actually a really big problem here. All these power lines that are running through the jungle or along the road are places where animals will go to try and move about because it's clear. There's not all those plants and stuff in the way so they go on them and they get electrocuted and it burns them, they can lose their limbs or be seriously injured or die. So a lot of the money from the you know our entrance fees there is going towards insulating the Transformers and the power lines from here to Manzanillo to protect the species of monkeys and sloths. Everything. It's actually really expensive it's about six thousand dollars per kilometer to insulate the things they need to have done so go and visit a few times. And then we also saw a couple of sloths that have genetic mutations like Mufasa. It's very very small. I know he's never going to grow up to be a full-size sloth but at least he found a home there where people love him. Yeah he has a little dwarfism he's super cute. And then after that we saw the what is it Peccary. Oh a Peccary. It's sort of like a wild boar instead of getting the giant teeth that come out they only get little ones. But they travel in packs of 100. She said do not run from them. If you see them in the wild stay on your ground go to a tree and then climb the tree. Yeah they're the ones that are stinky. The ones that kind of smell like Adam. Yeah the ones that kind of smell like me. I felt akin to them. Yeah Caimans, turtles, deer. Like so many things. They even had some really fun rescued spider monkeys. They were just hanging out in their cages swinging around having a good time. And even got a little up close and personal. And when we were at the end we saw a toucan just sitting on a branch not so far away! It was so beautiful. Yeah it's a lovely area that so we definitely recommend it. We said it was really good for kids because you get to get not too close but pretty up close with a lot of these animals. So we definitely recommend popping in there if you'd like when you are here in town. But what do you say we go head to another beach. Oh man I love that idea. Come with us! We made it! Welcome to Punta Uva. This is one of the most beautiful beaches that is in proximity to Puerto Viejo. And it is quite quiet compared to the main beach in town in Salsa Brava so you can come down here just relax, get some shade, swim in the crystal blue waters, enjoy the golden sand and these blue skies. It's amazing. It really is! And we noticed that there are some kayaks for rent on the beach here. On the way here we actually drove over a bridge and saw people on a kayak tour so that's something you can do too. And while we're on this gorgeous beach we would love to give a shout out to our newest patrons: Tom, Niki, Dennis and Rocio. Thank you so so much for everything! Today has been such a special day and a big part of that is because of you. Yes as always thank you so much for your support and your generosity. We love having you a part of this community. And if you would like to join our patreon community we will put the link in the description below. Well we have one more stop for today we're gonna head south to Manzanillo so come along. And before we get to the beach in Manzanillo I had to stop here. I already broke down in tears because this is where my sister and her husband honeymooned. And she, I mean they just had the best time. She talked about it all the time and so I brought some of her ashes here just to spread them at the entrance. I'm not gonna go in but I know that she would want some of her you know just to live on here forever. You know it was just such a really special place for them and so here you are Heather. Oh. I'm gonna save some for the beach though. We have made it down to the beach here in Manzanillo and as we were coming in I just couldn't help but smile because this is like the exact place I could see my sister enjoying. Oh absolutely. It's like taking a step back 10 years or 20 years kind of reminds me of what Puerto Viejo was like when I was here back in the early 2000s. Yeah and coming through there's just like you know those Rasta colors and I remember like her growing up she went through that Reggae phase where she had the Bob Marley tapestry. And yeah it's just it's so nice I feel so good here my heart feels full. So this has just been great. And then over here we went by there were kids playing soccer in the field and that's what you know her and I used to play together so it's just another cute little thing. This is so beautiful. Yeah but yeah we definitely recommend coming down here checking this place out while you're in the area. I mean if you're looking for a quiet place to come where there's nobody around. A few boats are bobbing in the water there's actually a shipwreck just a little bit down the beach here that looks really cool. Just take a stroll and take it in. It's full of locals and I think at the end there there's another park like the Manzanillo Park so you can go in and maybe go and see so oh no gracias. You can even buy a hammock on the beach if you'd like. See some wildlife. But yeah unfortunately this is our last video here in Costa Rica. I know the time just flew by. It really did but I'm excited because we are heading to Panama next. I know it's again I went there for a couple of weeks 20 years ago and it was so . much fun I can't wait to take you there and Heidi there so we can experience it together. Yay well thank you so so much for joining us here. It would have been nowhere near as much fun if you hadn't been here to share it with so thank you for that. If you enjoyed this video please give us a big thumbs up, comment subscribe and don't forget to... DLING, DLING, DLING, DLING the bell! We'll see you, next time and PURA VIDA! Adios!