RAL,
I wonder what you mean by describing PV as "interesting." What did you like or not like? We have been to Costa Rica 6 times and have not made it to the Caribbean side but want to go mainly to see the beaches and the sloth rescue center.

KarenLF
I was traveling with RAL. PV itself is not interesting. Watching and talking with the locals, the other tourists and the local "ex-pats" made it interesting. Quiet a mix of people.

We prefered the days to the nights and stayed south of the town in Playa Cocles. I would recommend Cariblue and then Azania. There are others to the south such as Shawanda Lodge and a couple of more that were nice.

The Sloth Rescue is a must visit. We went in the pouring rain so only got to see about 10 sloths ranging from 1 week old babies to Buttercup who I think is somewhere around 16 years old.
Did not get to explore the property due to the rain.

The beaches were really nice. Playa Cocles was nice. Down the road in Manzanillo we took a great hike to some great secluded beaches. You pass Maxis Restaurant drive down the road a little bit and park your car somewhere in the sand. You walk across a little river and there's the trail.

After PV we were in the OSA (Cabo Matapalo) and found that the sand on the beaches on the Carribean side were not as hot as the Pacific side.

As indicated in earlier post, the dogs were the biggest turn-off.

Did not like the drive as we got closer to Limon but after Limon it was fine. The continuous line of tractor trailers coming at you on the two lane "highway" were frightening.

All and all, its worth checking out if you've never been

Missed the first few postings because we were in Guatemala and are glad it came up again.

Enjoyed your views of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. We moved to our current home after living several years in a town that is still lost in the 60's. A lot of tolerance there. Sounds a lot like Guanacaste's description of PV with hippies, rastas, weed and reggae. Not much surfing in Ohio. Will feel right at home.

Every time we have made reservations for that southern area something happens and we don't get to go. Will just have to show up someday. Maybe it is the planning. Earthtravelers idea of the cabin rentals sounds really good but might need some reservations though.

If there is another flood you will know I tried to make reservations again

We stayed in PV for 5 nights and we can't wait to go back. As Colin said, PV is certainly not for the Disney crowd. We had an amazing time visiting Cahuita, Manzanillo, and just chilling on Playa Negra.

I highly recommend Cafe Viejo for beautiful ambience and great Italian food, El Loco Natural for delicious local (or Indian/Thai) dishes, and Cafe Viejo for more Indian or Thai food. El Loco Natural is a bit slow, but go on Thursday night when they have live music.

We loved the people of Puerto Viejo...except for the magician guy.

We saw more dogs in La Fortuna than we did in Puerto Viejo.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions!