Day 18. Puerto Viejo, Punta Uva, Chiquita beach and Cocles

Submitted by maria on Mon, 26/09/2022 - 12:46

Our destination today is Puerto Viejo and its beaches.

Punta Uva

We have an early breakfast at the hotel. We meet a lovely Basque couple with whom we exchange impressions about the trip. They had visited Jaguar Rescue and liked it. We have not considered it because the taxi driver who brought us from Moín told us that it was no longer run by the same people who founded it and he did not like it so much.

Our bike

We take the bus to Puerto Viejo, it costs 1,050 colones/pax one way and you pay the driver. You can pay in dollars but the exchange rate is very bad.

These are the approximate timetables 7.15 a.m. 7.45 a.m., 7.45 a.m., 9.15 a.m. and more that you can see on Mepe's website. It takes about 20 minutes to get to Puerto Viejo.

Fruit stand

What to see in Puerto Viejo

Puerto Viejo de Talamanca is a dusty, noisy seaside town with a decadent charm that is just as captivating.

Puerto Viejo

We rented bikes from Life&Culture for 8.000 colones each for the whole day. You have to return them before 5 p.m. and if you want to rent them for more days you get a discount.

Here these bicycles are known as bananas. They don't have manual brakes, you have to pedal backwards to brake. It's a bit crazy at first but you soon get the hang of it. They don't have gears either. The terrain is quite flat and they are not necessary.

Our idea is to ride along the coast to Punta Uva, stopping at Playa Chiquita and Cocles.

Cocoa

Before we start we stop at a fruit stall and buy cocoa and bananas for 400 colones.

We follow the road towards Manzanillo to Punta Uva where there is a large coral reef for snorkelling. Before arriving we stop at Namú Orgánico Biosoda, we have a coffee, a chocolate and a banana cake for 5.445 colones. All organic and brutal. A woman from Seville and her daughter work there and we chat for a while and they recommend us another beach to visit.

There is also a shop at the soda and we buy a 500g packet of organic coffee. They have another shop in Puerto Viejo.

Coffee and chocolate

We continue to Punta Uva. It is beautiful, a huge white sandy beach that joins the beach of Manzanillo. The reef, the blue water, the coconut trees... how wonderful. We snorkel. We see some fishermen with a good catch.

We take the bikes and visit the Punta Uva cave. The access is not very good to go in flip-flops but the place has good views.

Punta Uva beach

Trail

On the way back we stop at Chiquita beach. The sevillana recommended that we take the path opposite Gypsea café, she says it's the best place for snorkelling but the sea in that area is a bit rough so we settled for a few photos.

Punta Uva beach

Punta Uva

Chiquita beach

At Taylor's Spoon we had two amazing chicken rice & beans. We tried a Jamaican drink with very sweet ginger and we didn't like it very much.

Rice and beans

We continue to Escondida beach and finally to Cocles beach where you can do good snorkelling and/or surfing.

Escondida beach

Recommendations. In total we cycled 22 km with almost no gradient. Remember to lock your bike and keep it in sight to avoid problems.

Cocles beach

On the way back to Puerto Viejo we return the bikes and visit the old harbour known as Old Harbour. The old oil wharf known as the lanchon still preserves the remains of the vessel that the Loffland Oil Company brought to Puerto Viejo in 1953, resuming the old oil extraction that the Synclair Oil Company started in 1921. Loffland removed the old wooden jetty and replaced it with the iron launch that is still preserved at Playa Negra.