PUERTO VIEJO IS A COASTAL VILLAGE IN THE CANTON OF TALAMANCA, LOCATED IN THE PROVINCE OF LIMÓN, SOUTHEAST OF COSTA RICA. ORIGINALLY KNOWN AS OLD HARBOR, UNTIL THE GOVERNMENT OF COSTA RICA INSTITUTED SPANISH AS THE NEW LOCAL LANGUAGE AND CHANGED THE NAMES OF THE PEOPLES AND PLACES OF THE AREA FROM ENGLISH TO SPANISH. FIELDS BECAME BRIBRI, THE BLUFF BECAME CAHUITA AND THE AFROCARIBBEAN ANGLOPARLANTE CULTURE WAS ACTIVELY DISMANTLED. THERE IS ANOTHER CITY DENOMINATED PUERTO VIEJO IN THE NORTHEAST OF COSTA RICA, WHICH CAN CONFUSE VISITORS.

Puerto Viejo de Talamanca is a popular tourist destination. It is known in the surfing community for having the largest and most powerful wave in Costa Rica, called “Salsa Brava”. It is also a site of beautiful beaches, such as Playa Chiquita, Playa Negra and Punta Uva, which are some of the most spectacular beaches in Costa Rica, which can be found between Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo.

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TOURS IN PUERTO VIEJO

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Many tourists stop in Puerto Viejo on their route to the border with Panama, in Sixaola. This border is popular with people who come or go from Bocas del Toro, Puerto Viejo offers the accommodations, restaurants and services closest to the border. The small border towns of Sixaola and Guabito are located 49 km south of Puerto Viejo, and offer very few accommodation options or restaurants. Tourists must stay at the Costa Rican and Panamanian customs. Changuinola, in Panama, offers lodging, restaurants and services across the border.

 

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The inhabitants of the town are mostly of Costa Rican origin, with a substantial population of Jamaican descent, as well as a good number of Europeans who have migrated to the region. Puerto Viejo is characterized as the epicenter of the tourist trade of the South Caribbean, a wide and varied gastronomy, nightclubs, tourist information offices as well as souvenir shops, supermarkets and state and municipal banks.