Living in 'el pueblito' de Coronado was always going to be an 'off the beaten track' experience. A small dusty village located just off the recently finished CostaNera 'Highway' which don't worry, sounds far uglier & noisier than it actually is. In reality it is the 'main road' which winds from the Panamanian border going all the way up to Jaco and beyond, generally lined on its right side by dense green jungle & the sound of waterfalls and rivers flowing down from the hills and on it's left a wild Pacific ocean, the home of the local fishermen and the occadional surfer.
Chatting to one of Don Justo's (our ever so smiley 'landlord') old amigos at daybreak he proudly shows me his last construction 'project' the oldest 'casita habitable' in the village (essentially a colourfully painted, albeit faded from many decades of sunshine, rickety but very charming wooden house). Don Juan, a well weathered but friendly looking Tico, born in the first quarter of last century told me tales of how our village came to be. Just a stones throw from where 'se desembocan Rio Sierrpe, Rio Terraba y Rio Ojachal' (where the three main rivers meander and eventually spill out into a wild Pacific Ocean), the village started as a fishing hamlet with just three families living near one of the many tributaries of the village. For centuries the men and boys of the village would wait for high tide to be able to drift down stream in dug out canoes, through 'las manglas' (mangroves) known for their extreme bio-diversity and rich fish populations. Their working days would often take them as far as Rio Terraba and beyond the peninsula of land that protects the bay where miles and miles of deserted beach (still to this day) are lined with coconut palms, mystical sounds of the jungle and playful monkeys howling in the distance, who many generations ago were stranded on this Isthmus as it ceased to connect with the mainland.
As the settlement got bigger, self-sufficient villagers started to trade 'tinta y carbon' (dye and coal) the two main products from the saltwater mangroves which embraced the seaward side of the village.
Nowadays, Coronado retains its charm with what is essentially three lines of single story wooden or sometimes concrete block houses scattered along a red clay bumpy track or 'camino'. The village lights normally go off by 8pm with the dogs of the village running wild (depending on how heavy the rains are) until well after midnight. The first (overly eager in my opinion) rooster recognizes daybreak sometimes as early as 3.30am and by 4.30/5am I would say most of the village has awoken and is drinking strong black coffee with their gallo pinto breakfast. I think we are the only bleary eyed bad sleepers in the village - lets see how quickly we adapt!
Depending on the day and what's the PuraVidaEcolodge 'game plan' (in terms of finalizing our construction team, site meetings with architects & engineers, getting quotes and requotes for materials and starting to make logistical plans however much the elements don't seem to be helping). I often find myself on our front 'terraza' (actually Gersan's & Lliana's front porch as they are in Tres Rios 'house-sitting' a Gringos house called Bill). My day stars here, sitting on a larfe pieve of driftwood recently lugged home from Playa Tortuga, sipping hot home-brewed cafe con canela and plenty of sugar, munching on whatever fruit was bought from the passing fruit cart yesterday or picked from one of the many fruit trees behind our house. Todays favourites include papaya and the best pineapple I have ever tasted! Don Juan says, I will have to wait until the dry season is well under way until he brings the 'guanabanas'!!!
That famous word 'Verano' (SUMMER) When will the rains cease and the hot sunshine blast though those heavy looming clouds?!? 'ya casi viene' the young kids walking to school assure me. Heads always turn as the shy locals walk past out house - We are definitely the only Europeans in the village...standing out at first, but this villages 'open door culture' it wont be long until we are Ingles-Tico....
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