Before the blog posts move from Panama on to Colombia, I’m going to take another short break to write about a few different things. First up, I am almost nine months into living in Costa Rica (and there might be something coming soon to celebrate that!) which I can barely believe. Obviously one of the things I love about living abroad is the opportunity to get to know new places and make the most of where I am by travelling around. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, it hasn’t been as easy to travel while I’ve been here, although I have managed to fit in a few weekends away and also been able to travel with work a little bit. Today, I’m telling you a tale of two beach trips, one to Dominical on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and one to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast.

Before Christmas, I didn’t really travel much because I was saving my pennies to be able to visit my sister in her new home in the British Virgin Islands. However, I knew that I wanted to go away for the weekend around my birthday as a treat to myself. Initially, the main requirement was just that it was by the beach because I needed some time by the ocean. I decided on Dominical, a tiny town on the Pacific coast, in between Manuel Antonio and Uvita. It is basically two roads, one down from the main highway that has all of the shops and restaurants on it and then another that runs along the beach. Dominical is a popular surfing spot so the town has some of that laid back, no shoes kind of energy to it. However, this area is home to a lot of Americans who have bought property so it has developed to accommodate that as well, with more upmarket options. I really liked Dominical, it was perfect for the weekend break I wanted but I will say that it is overwhelmingly filled with tourists, mostly Americans. It feels like that takes away some of the authenticity and maybe some of the charm of it. That’s not to say it’s not worth visiting! I just think it’s important to bear in mind.

The main reason I chose Dominical, other than wanting to be by the beach, was because it’s the best jumping off point for visiting the Nauyaca waterfall which had been recommended to me by a friend. From Dominical, I got the 6.20am bus towards San Isidro and asked the driver to let me know when we got to the waterfall. It was about 500 colones (70p) and only about 20 minutes. It sounds really early but it meant that I got there right when the ticket office opened at 7am and otherwise it can be tricky to get there and back by public transport. If you arrive by public transport, there is a bus back to Dominical that passes at 12,20, stopping at the bus stop just opposite the ticket office. It also meant that after I had hiked through, I was one of the first people there and by the time I was leaving it was only just starting to get busy. There are a few options when it comes to tickets. I went for the cheapest, $10 just for access which means hiking 5 km either way. You can also pay $32 to take a pick up truck both ways or pay an extra 6000 colones on top of the access fee to get the truck just on the way back. There are also horseback riding tours for $80-90.

The first stretch is 2 km of paved road down to the car park that is very steep! It took me twenty minutes going down but I reckon it would have been double that walking up. From there, the road is more of a track, clear enough but a bit bumpy and I imagine it would be muddy if it had rained a lot. Most of it was flat or with a slight incline with some steeper stretches for about 3.5 km. The second section took me an hour on the way there and only 35 minutes on the way back because it was mostly downhill. Only a couple of people passed me on foot and 300m from the end, the first pick-up truck that you can take went past and I got a big cheer from everyone on board which was lovely. Even though I started early, it was already very hot and humid! I recommend bringing lots of water, electrolytes and some snacks because there’s nothing after the ticket office, though there are taps with drinking water at the entrance to the falls themselves. It was pretty much my perfect hike, not too long, not too hard and beautiful. I really enjoyed the walk, it’s a lovely area with beautiful surroundings and has the best reward when you get to the end of it.

Nauyaca is technically made up of two falls, the upper and the lower ones. You can swim at both but I think it’s nicer in the lower falls. I went along to the upper falls first and they really are quite impressive. They have such height to them. I’ve seen a lot of waterfalls over the years, they’re a dime a dozen across Central America, and sometimes they can feel the same or a bit disappointing but I thought this one was really special. There was something about the way the sun, which hadn’t risen over the top of the falls yet, reflected off the water falling over the top that made it seem like a scene out of an anime film. I lounged around reading my book for a while, enjoying the peace before many other people arrived before going for a swim. A top tip for getting photos of yourself when you’re on your own: ask the group of Gen Z girls that have just been having a photoshoot!

I made sure to leave in plenty of time for the bus I wanted to get back down to Dominical. I passed a lot of people on my way out and there were already a lot more at the falls when I left so I think going early, particularly on a Saturday, was a smart thing to do. It only took me 40 minutes to walk back to the car park where I took a break. As I started walking back up to the road (which, as I had imagined, was much worse uphill), I managed to hitch a ride with a couple I had spoken to earlier. It was definitely a more bearable journey that way! 

The bus back down to Dominical was supposed to pass by at 12.20 but it was a little late. Once I made it back to my hostel, I made some lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon reading my book in a hammock. That’s pretty much my happy place so I was very content. This feels like a good moment to give a massive recommendation to the hostel I stayed in, Cool Vibes. From what I can tell it’s one of only two hostels in Dominical. I loved it, everyone was really friendly, the staff were helpful, there’s a big kitchen, lots of chill common spaces and a small pool for relaxing. I was in a dorm with a mosquito net and a personal fan which was helpful for the heat. It’s actually right next door to the other hostel in town which I read some bad reviews about and looked a bit dingy, although it also looked like it was under renovation.

Cool Vibes is also less than 100m from the beach! Caribbean beaches in Costa Rica are generally deemed to be a bit nicer but the Pacific coast has one big advantage – the sunsets are beautiful! I took advantage of this and went down to the beach both evenings I was there (I arrived just after dark on my first night so missed the sunset). Then, after getting up at 5.30am, I was in need of an early night! 

On my second full day, I wanted to walk to the neighbouring beach, Dominicalito. It’s supposed to be nicer than Playa Dominical with smaller waves better for beginner surfers (not that I was surfing) and for swimming. You can walk all the way along the main beach, cut up onto the road briefly and then back down onto Dominicalito. It was beautiful! It took just under an hour to walk there, I’m not quite sure exactly how long because I stopped a couple of times to talk to a friend or to read and enjoy the view. Once I had arrived on Domincalito and spent a bit of time there, I walked out of the main entrance to the beach and stopped for a smoothie at Kunjani Cafe, between the beach and my next destination. I had an orange and passion fruit smoothie while trying to finish my book which was my mission for the weekend. Along the road from Kunjani, across the river and up the hill a little there is a track off the road that leads to another waterfall! Very different from Nauyaca, Poza Azul is a lovely wee spot, entrance is free which is a bit of a rarity in Costa Rica and it’s usually pretty quiet. The water was quite low because it hasn’t been raining a lot but the pool is still quite deep at the centre. Deep enough anyway to use the rope swing at the edge of the pool but not enough to jump of the top off the falls, although apparently you can at times!

From here I headed home, spent more time in the hammock during the afternoon, finished my book and headed down to the beach for sunset. I had decided to take myself out for a nice dinner on my last night (otherwise I was making food in the hostel to save money) because this was, after all, my birthday trip! I went to a place called Phat Noodle where I had a delicious pad thai with pulled pork which was an unexpectedly good combination. The staff were also super friendly and very surprised when I actually spoke Spanish!

The next day I headed back to Cartago, down a different route than I had taken to arrive that basically went through two national parks, Tapanti and Los Quetzales. It reminded me a lot of driving through the mountains on the way to Candelaria in Honduras. This was my first weekend away to explore Costa Rica since I arrived in October and it reminded me how much I love to travel. Almost as soon as I got home, I booked another trip for not long after!

This second trip was also to the beach but on the opposite side of the country. Around Easter we had a few extra days off school and the volunteers were all planning on travelling that weekend as well. That gave me a long weekend to play with, making a trip to the Caribbean side a lot more worthwhile as it’s a little further than the Pacific. I ended up being in the area for the week prior, helping on a GVI school group programme (more on that soon) which worked out to give me an extra day so I was actually there for four full days. The main town that people visit on the Caribbean coast is Puerto Viejo, a very laid back place. It’s popular with surfers, hippies and Costa Ricans alike. The area is also known for having more of a mix of cultures, blending Costa Rican culture with afro-caribbean influences and aspects of the indigenous Bribri culture.

I actually opted to stay in Playa Cocles, 1.5 km down the road from the centre of Puerto Viejo. I was staying at the fabulous Playa 506 Beachfront Hostel and it really is right on the beach. I stayed in a 6 bed female dorm and paid a bit extra to have air con which I really appreciated. There’s a restaurant and bar on site but they’re quite expensive in my opinion. Saying that, I did treat myself to a cocktail the size of my head on the first night! There’s also a big kitchen where you can cook and a supermarket a five minute walk away. From the restaurant you can walk 20 metres to get onto the beach. It was the perfect place to relax and in the perfect location with the beach just out the back of the hostel. I think this beach is much nicer than any in town and the water is cleaner for swimming in as well. It’s also a good place to base yourself with Puerto Viejo and Cahuita on one side and Punta Uva and Manzanillo on the other.

After what had been a busy week with work, I went to bed early and slept for 12 hours! The plan for the first day was that there was no plan. I spent a bit of time on the beach but there was a shaded hammock area between the hostel and the beach where I spent most of the weekend. I did rouse myself a little more the next day and headed into Puerto Viejo. I was meeting a friend who was passing through on her way to the GVI conservation base in nearby Kéköldi. We went for breakfast at a place called Bread and Chocolate which was great. There are a lot of good food choices in Puerto Viejo, nice coffee shops, brunch spots and bakeries. There are also lots of bars and a good nightlife but I was having a more chill time so didn’t experience these for myself. Another spot worth a visit is Gelateria Deelite where I had incredible pistachio and tiramisu ice cream.

Through the work I had been doing in the area I had met a local tour guide and took the chance to join him on a tour one day. I joined a tour with a British and a French woman to a cacao farm and medicinal plant garden in the indigenous town called Bribri. It was so interesting, there were so many plants growing around the place that I never would have noticed by myself. So many of them can and still are used to treat many different conditions and illnesses. There was also a frog nursery where we saw poison dart frogs. We got to take some cacao beans through the whole process of roasting, crushing, grinding and then making the paste into a drink. It’s very bitter, a bit too much for me, but I loved it when we put some of the chocolate paste into a roasted banana.

It was really interesting to learn more about the Bribri culture as well. The language of Bribri is still spoken but much less than it previously was. We learnt some phrases in Bribri during the tour like ‘miska‘ which means let’s go, ‘weske‘ means come in and ‘mia mia‘ means thank you. The language has been taught in schools since 1985 but by then, some of the damage was already done and the language was on the decline. Nowadays there is more of an effort being made, you can study Bribri at the University of Costa Rica, but in general there is a worry that outside influences and especially new technology and the digital space are threatening the preservation of the Bribri language and culture. The name Bribri comes from the word for ‘strong’ in their language and families are organised into matrilineal clans. This means that the lineage is passed down through the mother. Women also have very important roles within the society, they are the only people who can own land and the only ones allowed to prepare the cacao drink that is very important to many of their rituals. In the early 20th century, the Bribri faced some land struggles because of the presence of the United Fruit Company who forced the Bribri off their territory in order to plant bananas. After much opposition and issues with disease on the plantations, the United Fruit Company completely withdrew from the region of Talamanca, taking everything including the railways they had built. In 1977, the Costa Rican government created indigenous reserves including for the Bribri. This granted them control land ownership although some legal settlers from before 1977 have refused to leave, causing tensions.

The second part of the tour was a visit to the Bribri waterfall for a swim. The water was lovely and cold and you could swim all the way up to the waterfall. When we climbed back up from the waterfall, the guy who owns and charges for the parking (actual access to the waterfall is free) has coffee, pejibaye (a weird fruit that tastes a little like a sweet potato and is eaten with mayo, called a peach palm in English) and pineapple on offer for guests. You can also buy a cold coconut and pay a little more to make it a coco loco, a rum based cocktail. He is also a musician and if you’re lucky you might get a tune, not that he needs much persuading!

For my last full day I wanted to make the most of the many beautiful beaches up and down this part of the coast. I rented a bike from my hostel ($10 for 24 hours or $7 for a half day) and wanted to cycle to Punta Uva. I actually went to Playa Grande first, around the far side of Punta Uva. A lot of the beaches blend into one another so Playa Grande actually merges into the beach in the town of Manzanillo but it can be a bit busier at that end because there’s the entrance to the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge. Playa Grande was super quiet, just one small surf class happening and otherwise I had it to myself. Next I stopped at the actual Punta Uva beach which is supposed to be great for snorkelling but it was absolutely packed! Because I was there the weekend before Easter, there were a lot of Costa Rican holidaymakers and this beach is actually quite small so I didn’t stay. On the way back to the hostel, I stopped off at what I think is part of Playa Chiquita. It was quiet and there was a spot in the shade where I lay for a while to enjoy the peace and quiet.

Another early night and then a 5.30am bus took me back to Cartago and back to real life. There’s still much of Costa Rica that I want to explore, I haven’t been to the very popular La Fortuna with the Arenal volcano, I’m desperate to get to Tortuguero National Park, preferably during turtle season, and I also have Uvita during whale season on my list. I’ve also never been to the region of Guanacaste which is known for having gorgeous beaches! It gives me a few things to plan and look forward to over the next few months. Finding a balance between work and pleasure is something that I’m still trying to figure out as well as balancing the budget sheet but I hope there’s a happy medium to be found. Wherever I get to next, you’ll be sure to hear about it!