A visit to reggaeland Puerto Viejo

Rastas everywhere, reggae music in every shop and an omnipresent smell of marijuana!


This weekend, I went to Puerto Viejo, a small village on the Caribbean coast, with two other interns. We took the bus very early, around 6 am from the Gran Terminal del Caribe, and we paid around 4 000 colones. The trip took 5 hours, it was fucking hot and wet inside the bus, and some people didn’t even have a seat and travelled standing.

Beach at Punta Uva

There, it was Reggaeland: Rastas everywhere, reggae music in every shop and an omnipresent smell of marijuana!

It was raining cats and dogs so all we did on Saturday was eating (the specialty is called « rice and beans », a mix of rice and red beans with a coconut sauce, it’s delicious) and sleeping in our cabin (Cabinas Tropical, 30$ for 3). During the evening, we went out and we tried all the bars in the village, since it’s tiny (only 3 streets) but our favorite one was definitely the Lazy Moon! It was crowded and we met nice people.

We also discovered a typical dance, the “swing criollo”. So funny but so exhausting! On Sunday, luckily the sun was up so we went to Punta Uva, a beautiful beach a bit further but so peaceful. We were alone and the water was amazingly warm!

Around 4 pm, it was time to go (we had to be careful because it was the last bus) so we hurried to come back. So I feel better after this little trip, I hope I will be able to keep visiting the country step by step every weekend.