Puntarenas revisited...
I was looking for a long report I filed on Puntarenas from April 2005 when Twarag and I spent a fun long weekend in that town. Apparently it was one of those lost when the site hosting was transferred that they lost some of our historic posts from certain dates or sections of the dbase. I also feel bad I didnt have a backup copy on my computer as I now dont remember actual names of some of the places.
What I DO remember is...there were a number of offbeat, basic chica bars and MPs that while not having the selection and variety of San Jose or the Delrey...there were some real gems...a number of less hardcore girls available...some of them right off of the farm and cute as a bug. not much english spoken though.
Key places I remember...
"Puerto Verde" (The Green Door) is right down town with a green door entrance back off the sidewalk. Any taxi driver will know where to point you. Large dark bar with chicas waiting inside. Cheap beer and national liquors. Chat up your favorita...and if I remember right, 8000 colone full service.
Beach hangouts...on the nice palm lined beach drive are many bars and restaurants. Lots of fresh, inexpensive seafood, 400 colone beers, and inexpensive quality tequilas kept us happy. In addition, especially on teh weekend...lots of pretty ticas biking and walking alont the beach drive looking for action. Not real obvious, but it is not hard to find action. No CIEN...usually $50 starting bid price. There was a salsa hut bar right on the beach that was PACKED on weekend nights. "Kumbaya" or something like that, was our favorite seafood bar on the beach that was packed for Karaoke at night and I pulled a nice girl out of there.
We just liked Puntarenas because there were very few gringos, you really got to see Tico culture and people...and the beach is really quite nice. I enjoyed it more than I do Jaco. YMMV.
You can get there by bus in even less time than to Jaco for around $2-3 if i remember right. It is truly the closest beach to San Jose. From there you can easily catch the ferry across to Guanacaste and many sparsely populated beaches like Montezuma, etc. May want to take your own chica there though unless you get along well with gringa surfer girls.
Happy hunting...