Golf notes are coming to you from the sala, porch, of our jungle house on Carbon Uno, Talamanca, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. We arrived in Puerto Viejo the evening of February 10th and checked into the Jacaranda Hotel in Puerto Viejo. We were too late, 8:30 PM, to check in with the front desk, and the entry gate was locked. Because we knew we would be late, arrangements were made to leave the gate key and room key in the lock box outside the gate. We entered the lock-box combo, and there they were, our keys, lying there just as your golf ball is lying in the bottom of a hole waiting to be picked up. The next morning, we’re out for breakfast at Bread and Chocolate, a fun little open to the air restaurant, as all restaurants are in Puerto Viejo. After breakfast, we took a short walk to the car-rental place, only to learn we couldn’t get a car until Monday. Ok, six days without a car. We decided to stay a couple more nights at the Jacarand, and then on Friday, we hired a Tuk-Tuk to run us out to the house.
A Tuk-Tuk is like a large golf cart, with a front seat for the driver and a back seat for two passengers and luggage. The driver was very kind, as most people in Costa Rica are, especially to older folks. We oldsters, get looked after; doors get opened; luggage is carried; “Can I help you?” Before we boarded the Tuk-Tuk, we got SIM cards installed in our iPhones so we could stay in touch and have internet access. They didn’t work out in the jungle. We are on day three without internet, email, or phone calls. The internet withdrawal symptoms are beginning to fade, being replaced with the sound of howler monkeys in the trees, birds, the lovely, lush jungle surroundings, and life. Remember what that’s like? Life without devices? Tomorrow that will end. We’ll get a ride to town with Texas Ruth, who lives across the road, rent our car, then drive to Bri Bri, a small community up in the jungle mountains, where there is a business that specializes in installing the right sim or eSim chip that will work out in the jungle.
As has been written before in Costa Rica Golf Notes, there are no golf courses on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. There is a very artistically laid out mini course just north of Puerto Viejo, which I’m not sure is still open, and a private nine-hole course in the jungle also north of Puerto Viejo. As has been written before, to play the private course, you need to be connected to someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone. I don’t know anyone, so I have never played the course. Does anyone out there know someone? Looking at the weather forecast for the Mendocino coast this week, it looks like rain and more rain, just like down here.