We stayed at a pretty nice
place south of Puerto Viejo called
Cocles. We had dinner at the hotel, and it was just OK. Next
day we decided to drive around the area and see what
was there. At the beach bar the previous night, we saw
an expedition camper head south on the road
toward Manzanillo so we set out to find
it. I actually pulled over a police car to
ask if they had seen the truck, but no
luck. The police directed us to an area
around Punta Uvas.
The photos below are what we saw.
The road from Cocles to
Manzanillo was narrow, but in good shape. There were tons of folks on
foot and bicycle
so 30 kph was maximum speed on the road. The shot above is just outside of
Manzanillo.
We stopped on the roadside and I walked to the beach to see
what was up. The beach was quite deserted, but
very beautiful.
I am sure that this is the
scene most days of the year -- right out of a postcard.
Unlike what we saw on the Pacific side, the
jungle came right down to the beach.
Several folks told us that
this was the best beach in all of Costa Rica. It would be hard to
argue with that
claim.
Kathleen read
that bare breasts were illegal in CR. These gals
did not get that memo. Oddly, the police were
through this area just a few minutes before us (we saw
them stop and look) and they said nothing. So, in Costa Rica like the rest of the
world, it goes like this: MEN: "No
shirt, no service". WOMEN: "No shirt,
free drinks".
The beach here was as nice
as anything we have seen anywhere.
After asking the police about the
expedition camper, we investigated every possible camping
area. At one
point, I scouted
the horizon of the beach with our binoculars and saw
something that looked promising, so we headed to that
point and found this. While this was not the truck
that we saw, it was interesting. This is a
Mercedes 1114 bus that has been converted into a
camper. The sign on the back says: "We are from
Patagonia (Argentina) and want to go to
Alaska. Can you help us with 5 liters of diesel or a plate
of food".
I nosed around for the owners but did not
see them.
The beach where they camped was off the
chart.
Yet
another lovely
beach.
While we were shooting
photos, these tourists on horseback came by.
The guide is the 3rd horse
closest to the water.
I went back to the bus to
have a closer look.
I saw a couple on the
beach so I approached them to ask if this was their
vehicle. I asked in Spanish and he responded in heavily accented
English "no". As we were talking I asked him where he was
from and he responded Moscow. He and his wife were in CR for a month and then they head back to
Russia.
We headed north into
Puerto Viejo and had lunch at a roadside cafe.
Across the street folks
were in the surf. Bikes are the preferred method of travel
here as the roads
are narrow.
There were plenty of
younger folks on the beach. Note the sailboat; it was not there when we came
through this area the previous day.
We saw all kinds of odd folks
come past but this fellow got the prize.
We were sitting at the
roadside cafe and another expedition camper passed us. Not the same as what we saw the
previous
day. I was not fast enough to get a photo.
But, as we
were returning to the hotel, we passed it on the side of the road,
so we stopped. I got out and searched for the
owner, but never found them.
This truck is about the same size as a
416 Unimog.
We gave up looking for the owner and headed back to our hotel.
The beaches around Puerto
Viejo are insanely beautiful. Most folks stay on the
Pacific side of the country, and because of some
information we got about "personal safety" we almost
did not make the trip. But so far we
were glad that we did.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2014, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.