Vegan in Costa Rica #1: Puerto Viejo

Just as promised, here is the first episode of Vegan in Costa Rica!

The first place I visited in Costa Rica (after my first night in San José) was Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, in the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.We stayed at Azania Bungalows.

We arrived at around lunch time, and we were starving!

Our agency had previously warned the hotels we'd be staying at that I was vegan, but I don't think we'd have a problem even if they hadn't - they were happy to accommodate my choices. We asked for the guacamole with tortilla chips and black beans with coconut rice. We also asked for a side of fries!

Then we went on to explore the place. While walking to our room, we saw a cat with the shiniest brown fur. When we called it to pet it, it turned to face us... and it wasn't a cat. It was a guatusa! I had never seen this animal nor I knew it even existed, so I was incredibly surprised. I saw a lot more of them, including babies, throughout my trip.

We went to the beach right across out hotel and it was incredible. There was almost no one there, and the water was warm and clear. We swam a lot and took a lot of pictures!

 For dinner at Azania I had a wonderful platter with gallo pinto (a traditional dish of Costa Rica, made of rice and beans - they usually have it for breakfast, but I had it for most of my meals!), a salad and sautéed veggies. We also had the most amazing fresh juices!

The following day, we had breakfast at the hotel. We got gallo pinto, fruit and warm bread! I still had vegan butter from the plane, and a coffee creamer that I tried in the wonderful Costa Rica coffee. I'm not really a coffee person, but in Costa Rica the coffee isn't as bitter and so I had it a couple of times. Coffee has some ethical issues concerning worker's conditions though, so go for Fair Trade coffee when possible!

Unfortunately they did bring in (non vegan) butter. In my case my family ate it, but I would have warned the staff not to bring it beforehand if I knew!

After our wonderful breakfast, we went to Jaguar Rescue Center for a guided tour. 

As a vegan, I would never visit or support a zoo or any place that steals animals from the wild to use them as exhibition pieces for profit. Jaguar Rescue Center is NOT a zoo! They take injured and orphaned animals, treat them and take care of them while they recover, and when they're ready, the animals are returned to the wild. 

I'm happy to support a place that is actually helping the animals and the environment, and whose first priority is making sure the animals are healthy and comfortable. Their tour is not only really fun, but also a way to support their work.

By the way, my t-shirt is thrifted and my shorts are hand-me-down (my bracelet is a bug repellent lol)

This lovely horse was outside of the rescue center, and it was the sweetest horse I ever had the pleasure to pet (by that I mean he wasn't trying to eat my hair)

Afterwards we had lunch at a vegan place we found called "Mandala Café". We asked for a bean burger with an added hash brown. We also got a tiny cute chocolate star.

Afterwards we decided to take a walk through the town.

This picture isn't focused so it's hard to see, but there is an "eco tienda" which means "eco store". We went inside and it had a couple of vegan goodies plus some low impact alternatives to disposables, like menstrual cups and reusable pads!

We went to an ice cream place called Deelite which had a couple of vegan sorbets, and unfortunately the cones weren't vegan, but at least the cups came with wooden spoons instead of plastic! I asked for the smallest size, and it was pretty tiny, but I was satisfied.

Then we had dinner at the hotel, and I had gallo pinto again, and the same for breakfast. I love beans, but even I was wondering if I wasn't going to get sick of it I kept having gallo pinto every day. Luckily, the next places I stayed at had more vegan options. So although I kept having beans at least once a day, I didn't get sick of it. In fact, now I miss having gallo pinto for breakfast everyday!

We were planning on going to Parque Cahuita that day, but unfortunately the roads were cut by a strike. So instead we spent the day at the beach.

We had lunch at this place that we found by the road (I believe it's Shiva Inn!). I saw from the car that they had "Especialidades Veganas" ("vegan specialties") written on a black board.

Unfortunately, I lost all the footage I had from this restaurant! I can't even find pictures of the food... I had a pretty good spaghetti dish with soy meat that resembled a bolognese. It's a shame I couldn't add it to my video...

Oh, yeah, that's right! I made a video! Check it out!!!

After the strike was over and we could finally drive again, we headed on to Arenal Volcano - another breath taking place. Next week I'll tell you all about it.


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