Pavones, Costa Rica – August 2nd, 2012

August 2nd, 2012 – Pavones, Costa Rica

Pavones – For those of you who are planning on making a trip down to Pavones in the next month or two we want to give you a heads up regarding the Cocal bridge located 10 minutes before Pavones.  Back in August of 2011, the concrete bridge had cracked and was a main conversation here in the areas regarding on getting this fixed or replaced.  The bridge was cracked/broke for just under a year before the municipality of Golfito decided that it was time to fix it before it completely failed.  

Finally in June 2012, they tore the bridge down and erected a temporary bridge in the mean time.  Now not to get our hopes up, we all know that this could take some time before the new bridge is completed.   We are all taking bets here in town to see how long it will take before the new bridge is completed.  

The temporary bridge might pose an inconvenience to travelers or locals who are driving 4×4’s as there are height and width restrictions to drive accross the bridge.  This is due to the fact that this is a temporary bridge and they do not want bigger/heavier trucks to cross.  But they made the restrictions too little as the height clearance is only 7 feet 1 inch (See photos below) and width clearance of 9 feet 11 inches .  This poses a problem for those who travel with surfboards on top of the vehicle or those who have a taller vehicle.   So make sure you are ready to take down your boards or at least measure the height of your vehicle before you try to cross the bridge!!

The clearance not only effects tourists but it also effects the locals who live here.  Take for instance buses, trash trucks, and food vendors.  Buses have to let out the pedestrians one one side of the bridge walk across and get on another bus waiting on the other side.  The trash trucks who pick up trash here in Pavones every Monday morning (before 6:00 am ) can no longer make it into town so locals have to take their own trash from here to the bridge drop it off on the other side so the trash trucks can pick it up there.  Lastly most food vendors who supply the supermarkets and restaurants in town have to come up with alternative transportation methods (smaller vehicles) in order continue providing their supplies as necessary.

As you can see, living in paradise does create certain challenges that most tourists and foreigners don’t think about.  We are constantly faced with different challenges and obstacles that we must adapt to in order to continue living in such an amazing and remote place in the world.  

We will be monitoring the bridge and giving you updates on the progress of the bridge.  We are hoping that it gets completed soon.  Stay tuned.