Stories & Plants of Puerto Viejo

Puerto Viejo is full of stories hiding in plain sight.

Walk with us through the old streets and along the Caribbean shore, discovering the plants, people and journeys that shaped this town. We’ll meet medicinal and useful plants growing along the way, explore traces of old gardens, and hear stories of the families and communities that made Puerto Viejo home.

Some of the plants we encounter are native to the Americas. Others have travelled astonishing distances — from Africa, Asia, Madagascar and the Pacific — carried by migration, trade and centuries of exchange. Together they tell another history of the Caribbean.

This isn’t a botanical lecture or a conventional history tour. It’s a walk through the Puerto Viejo we know: stories gathered from local people, plants growing where people planted them, and the small details that are easy to walk past.

Along the way

Discover plants such as life everlasting, noni, dormilona, guanábana, beach almond and cacao. Learn about traditional uses, taste or smell what’s appropriate, and explore how plants and people travelled through the Caribbean.

No two walks are quite the same. What we find flowering, fruiting or growing along the way changes with the season.

We’ll also talk about Old Harbour, life when boats connected the coastal communities, the Jamaican families who settled here, and how the sea shaped the town.

What we find changes with the season — which is part of the experience.

The details

Every Wednesday · 2:00 pm
1½ hours · ₡13,000 per person
Starts & finishes at Cacao Huasi

Light rain or shine. Puerto Viejo is a tropical place, and a little rain is part of life here. Bring comfortable walking shoes, sun protection and something light for the rain.

We begin with a welcome water and orientation at Cacao Huasi, then set out on foot through town and along the Caribbean shore. We finish back at the Huasi with a taste of our locally made chocolate.