PUERTO VIEJO

About 13 km south of Cahuita, the road forks just after Home Creek (also spelled Hone Creek). The main road turns east toward Bribrí; a spur leads three km to Playa Negra, a black-sand beach that curls east to Puerto Viejo, enclosing a small bay with a capsized barge in its center. The tiny headland of Punta Pirikiki at its eastern end separates Puerto Viejo from the sweep of beaches—Playa Pirikiki, Playa Chiquita, and others—that run all the way to Manzanillo and Panamá. You can walk along the beach from Cahuita at low tide.

Puerto Viejo is one of the most happenin’ spots in Costa Rica. The discos are hopping, and, on peak weekends, you can’t find a room to save your soul. Nonetheless, it is low-key and funky (vultures hop around lethargically on the streets, taking reluctant flight only when you approach within a meter or two).

The surfer, backpacker, and counterculture crowds (mostly Europeans and young North Americans) have firmly rooted here. Indeed, they dominate the scene, having settled and established bistros and restaurants alongside the locals. Telegraph poles and high wires today import the power of the 21st century (the supply is still not reliable; bring a flashlight), telephones arrived in 1997, and the sudden influx of tourists—including Ticos, who have recently wised up to the Caribbean’s attractions—threatens to sweep away the last of the old ways. Not least, the scourge of crack and cocaine have come to town.