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Mar
31
Current Puerto Viejo Weather and Forecast now Available! Surfing too
March 31, 2008 | Tags: Environment, Site news | Comments Off
We’ve just found a weather service which is providing current weather conditions and forecasts for Puerto Viejo, Cahuita and Manzanillo! See the Weather Page.
Used to be the closest information we could get was for Limon which as we all know despite just being 75 minutes driving north, could have very different conditions.
No idea where AccuWeather is getting their information. The weather forecasts from Costa Rica’s Instituto Meteorólogical Nacional still show their closest forecasts are for Limon and Sixaola.
They even offer 15 day forecasts on their site although we know that the potential accuracy of a 15 day forecast for this area has to be rather limited with the quickly changing weather we have.
We’ve also updated the weather page to add more information about surfing conditions in the area. Check out surfing conditions.
Mar
30
Update on Wastewater and Blue Flag Certification
March 30, 2008 | Tags: Environment | Comments Off
 Untreated grey water runs down a street in Mexico. |
We received a letter (below, translated from Spanish) from Rolando Soto, of the Caribe Sur Chamber of Commerce & Tourism, giving us an update on the ongoing efforts of his group and the community with regards to two important related issues facing our community that have been reported recently in the Talamanca News: Playa Negra losing its blue flag certification and the lack of municipal wastewater treatment facilities in Puerto Viejo.
The chamber has continued for more than 2 years to insist with the municipality and the Minister of Health that the 3 creeks which drain grey water (*editor: see note below) from the town of Puerto Viejo into the sea, must be treated. The treatment of grey water is neither very complicated nor expensive. In our case it would require only political will and action on the part of our authorities. It is for this reason that our beautiful Playa Negra beach in front of Puerto Viejo lost its blue flag. The chamber has again offered its collaboration with the Development Association and other persons interested in this problem to try to resolve this problem soon. The chamber can be contacted at turismocaribesur@yahoo.com.
*In much of Costa Rica and in much of the world (but not so familiar to North Americans), ”black water” (from the toilet) and “grey water” (from sinks and showers) are separately drained with the black water flowing to a septic system and the grey waters being sent in a separate direction. A properly constructed grey water field will treat these waters properly without contaminating creeks, the sea or ground water. But unfortunately many grey water systems are just drains which flow where they will. In this case, it is clear that this is the cause of the problem in Puerto Viejo.
Mar
30
Swami Dayamrita to Visit and Offer Meditation Courses
March 30, 2008 | Tags: Community Calendar, Spirituality | Comments Off
| May 1, 2008 | ||
| 5:30 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
Swami Dayamrita of India, disciple of Saint Mata Amritanandamayi, “the Saint of Hugs”, returns to Costa Rica to direct spirtual programs and offer a Course in Integrated Amrita Meditation.
Most of the programs are being offered in San Jose but on May 1st he will be coming to Puerto Viejo to offer an evening of Satsang (sprititual meeting with chanting, meditation and song), Music and Meditation at Casa Amma from 5:30 – 8:00 PM.
All the programs are free and will be presented in both English and Spanish.
For more information and the details of the San Jose events visit ammacostarica.blogspot.com or contact casa9amma@hotmail.com.
Mar
29
Drowning in Cocles among 41 Nationwide Semana Santa Deaths
March 29, 2008 | Tags: Accidents and Natural Disasters | 4 Comments
La Nación is reporting 41 violent deaths nationwide during Semana Santa including 15 deaths due to traffic accidents, 11 homicides, 9 drownings, 5 from flooding and 1 in a fire. Suicides were not included in the statistics.
Among the victims was Fernando Gómez, 22, who drowned Saturday at 1 p.m. at Playa Cocles.
More: La Nación: Semana Santa dejó 41 muertos en forma violenta
Mar
29
Puerto Viejo’s Playa Negra loses Costa Rica Blue Flag Certification
March 29, 2008 | Tags: Environment | 1 Comment
 Map of Costa Rica Beaches with the Blue Flag designation and those that recently lost it. Map courtesy of La Nación. Click the image for a larger copy. |
Eight beaches this week were defrocked of their Bandera Azul Ecológica (Ecological Blue Flag) designation.
Recognizing that three-quarters of visitors to Costa Rica make a beach excursion, the national water utility, Aqueductos y Alcantarillados, in conjunction with the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo, began evaluating and ranking water and environmental quality in coastal communities in 1996. Beaches that achieved a 90 percent score were awarded a Bandera Azul Ecológica (ecological blue flag) to fly as a symbol of excellence.
In Puerto Viejo, Playa Negra the beach on the North side of downtown Puerto Viejo has lost its certification. Local business owners have speculated whether the source could be the 2 creeks that run out of town into the beach area and have welcomed efforts by health officials to more closely monitor wastewater outflows from local businesses.
But Playa Negra also stretches all the way North to Cahuita National Park and presumably the area which was tested was the area close to town. Unfortunately the part close to town is also the most popular beach for both swimmers, due to its proximity to town, and for surfers, due to its wave break, which is excellent for beginning surfers.
 The Blue Flag continues to fly at Punta Uva as well as other area beaches. |
The other area beaches with the blue flag certification: Playa Cocles, Playa Chiquita, Punta Uva, Mile Creek and Gandoca/Manzanillo all retained their blue flag status. The 3 Cahuita beaches with the certification: Playa Blanca, Playa Negra de Cahuita and Puerto Vargas also all retained their blue flag status.
All the other beaches which lost their certifications were on the Pacific in the Guanacaste and Puntarenas provinces. They were: Arenilla, Ocotal, Tamarindo, Manzanillo, Agujas, Pelada de Nosara and Dominical.
Tamarindo’s beach did not regain certification, even though Mayor Jorge Chavarría said that the test he ordered in February showed the beach was much better than August 2007 tests conducted by the National Water and Sewer Institute. The August test results led to that beach losing its designation and a wave of inspections by the Health Ministry that resulted in 65 sewage citations and 11 business closures. The daily La Nación reported that Tamarindo received the worst rating from the Blue Flag program, which is run out of the National Water Laboratory, because of fecal contamination.
More on this story:
La Nación: Ocho playas pierden Bandera Azul por contaminación
Tico Times: 8 Costa Rican beaches lose Blue Flag
Mar
21
Special Concert Saturday at Loco Natural
March 21, 2008 | Tags: Community Calendar, Entertainment | Comments Off
| March 22, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 10:00 pm |
| March 23, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 10:00 pm |
Loco Natural presents a special concert on Saturday at 7pm with Santos on sitar and Carter on percussion. Guitarist & singer Jim Vick will join them and they’ll be playing as a trio for an Easter Sunday concert at 7:00 pm as well.
There seems to be a sitar theme for Easter week in the Caribbean!
Make your dinner reservations at 2750-0530.
Mar
20
Concert for Peace Mar 21 in Cahuita
March 20, 2008 | Tags: Community Calendar, Entertainment | Comments Off
| March 21, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 10:00 pm |
The Goddess Garden in Cahuita presents “Concierto por la Paz” featuring Swami Satyendra from Mumbai, India.
The event starts at 7pm and dinner is optional.
For reservations, call 2755-0055 or for more info email info@thegoddessgarden.com or hotelladiosa@yahoo.com
Mar
9
Puerto Viejo Open Surf Tournament to be held March 19 at Cocles
March 9, 2008 | Tags: Community Calendar, Sports | Comments Off
| March 19, 2008 |
The Puerto Viejo Open Surf Tournament for men, women, boys and girls will be held March 19, starting at 8 a.m., at the Cocles beach break. This will be a special Semana Santa tournament. For more information, call Beto at 885-9688.
And check out the great new Puerto Viejo Surf Video on the Videos page.
Mar
7
MEPE Considering Hourly Bus Service Between Hone Creek and Manzanillo
March 7, 2008 | Tags: Local Business News, Tourism | 2 Comments
Our sources tell us that MEPE, the bus company servicing the Puerto Viejo area, is considering greatly expanding bus service between Hone Creek and Manzanillo and implementing hourly local service. Right now service between Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo is limited to 4 buses daily which travel between Limon and Manzanillo (see the schedule on the transport page).
This would be a huge boon for everyone in the Caribe Sur. No only would it make it much easier for visitors to get around, it would provide a vital link for locals to and from get to jobs in Puerto Viejo, Cocles and Punta Uva. Right now hotel and restaurant owners have trouble getting staff because of the lack of affordable housing in Puerto Viejo and the limited transport options to get people to and from Hone Creek and beyond where most locals can afford to live.
Make your opinions known with MEPE that you’d appreciate and support this service. You can find their Puerto Viejo office here.
Mar
7
Reminder: Telephone Numbers Scheduled to Change to 8 Digits March 20
March 7, 2008 | Tags: Community Calendar, Local Business News | Comments Off
| March 20, 2008 |
As we warned you about back in July, all telephone numbers in Costa Rica are due to switch to 8 digits on March 20. All fixed-line numbers will now have a 2 added in front and all mobile numbers have a 8 added to the front. So our local 750-and 759- numbers will become 2750- and 2759- numbers.
The change is to make more numbers available. The Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) will then start offering numbers with the “5″ prefix.
It is not clear whether a grace period will be in effect or whether the old numbers will suddenly stop working and the new ones working on March 20 but one can hope it will go smoothly.
Of course, if you’re looking for the number for a local business, you can find the number of any business listed on the Puerto Viejo site at their map listing. Just look for the little telephone symbol 
under their name when you click the business’ name to open their ”bubble” on the map. These numbers will be changed once the change takes effect.
Mar
7
Taxi Rates Now Available on the Transport Page
March 7, 2008 | Tags: Local Business News, Site news | Comments Off
Check out the taxi section on the Puerto Viejo Satellite Transport page — there’s a new feature there which is a list of point to point taxi rates from Puerto Viejo to just about anywhere! For example, Puerto Viejo to Rocking J’s 1,000 colones, Puerto Viejo to Cariblue in Cocles, 2000 colones or Puerto Viejo to Sixaola 20,000 colones.
Now these are the rates that the drivers belonging to the taxi collective are supposed to charge. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t confirm the price in advance (especially now that you’re armed with what the price should be). Nor is every driver in town a member of this collective. But there it is, put it to good use!
Mar
4
Health Officials to Monitor Wasterwate on Caribbean Coast
March 4, 2008 | Tags: Environment, Health, Tourism | 6 Comments
 The public restroom at the beach in Puerto Viejo |
The Ministerio de Salud has announced that every establishment catering to tourists and travelers will be asked to open its doors to inspectors who will assess the businesses sewage systems and whether they are contaminating the environment.
The announcement of the inspections comes in the aftermath of the closures of a number of businesses on the Pacific Coast after dangeoursly elevated fecal levels were discovered in the waters of the popular beach resort Tamarindo. Eleven businesses were closed as a result of the ministry of health investigation that followed.
Instances of hotels contaminating everything from rivers to the ocean have been popping up with alarming frequency along the Pacific Coast since this discovery. February saw the closure of Hotel Allegro Papagayo, located on Playa Manzanillo in Guanacaste (not to be confused with our local village Manzanillo just southeast of Puerto Viejo). This hotel was accused of lacking adequate facilities to treat the wastewater produced by the four-star, 600-capacity operation. Instead it was depositing it in nearby streams and in under-equipped treatment plants.
The most recent offense discovered was in Jacó, in a pool known as “Charco Anita.” Blame has fallen on Condominiums Tropical and Paradise, which had not been turning in operational reports to the ministry of health for a year. Owner Randall Van Patten was ordered to block the pipes that carry the wastewater to the site, and has been given 20 days to correct the problems.
The health ministry has promised a national review and the study in the Caribbean is part of that process.
The study in Limón Province only has 30 days for completion, and Inez Muñoz, the departmental environment officer, said that it lacks adequate personnel and transport facilities.
“Each region within the province is helping by making an inventory of hotels and tourist facilities within their area,” said Ms. Muñoz. “We do not yet have these so we do not have an exact idea of how many establishments we will be investigating. Our aim is to make sure everything is in order, and at this point I am quite sure that we will find some things that are not.”
Limón province has not seen a study like this before. In the past, the department of health for Limón dealt with each case of contamination as it occurred.
Since the government had already recognized that the growth in Puerto Viejo had outstripped the capacity of the systems and pledged money to deal with it (see Government Announces Money to Improve Puerto Viejo Water and Sewer, Talamanca News, Sept 21, 2007), it is not clear what action the government will take and whether that could include closures.
Read more: A.M. Costa Rica: Health officials to survey businesses on Caribbean
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