PUERTO VIEJO, Costa Rica

This city is located on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica in the province of Limon. We met Friday morning at 8 am to take a bus from San Ramon to San Jose, and then we took a cheap taxi to another bus station where we basically got on the bus to Puerto Viejo immediately, with a 4 1/2 hour bus ride to look forward to. KL, AK, and I were the only ones at this point. DB and TC left on the 4:30 am bus, and ES had arrived there on Thursday. The bus ride was surprisingly pleasant and short. I listened to music, read a book, and enjoyed the scenery. We arrived there between 2 and 3 pm and ran into ES who was waiting for us on a corner because "he knew we would be getting there soon." It's so funny to me how much we all run into each other sometimes, even though we have no cell phones or way of communicating! He led us to the hostel where he had left his stuff, and we talked to the resident entertainer, Juan, who was actually just a man who lived next door to the hostel but was allowed to bring guests to and from there because he just has a way with people, I guess. The hostel would be $8/night if 4 of us shared a room, so KL and I took the big bed, and the boys took the bunk beds and we all got to spend a weekend together! KL and I called our bed the "princess bed," or, the-big-bed-that-had-a-mosquito-net-over-it-that-kind-of-made-it-look-like-a-princess-bed bed:

It didn't take long for us to find out why these were necessary. Anyway, we settled in, then ventured off to another popular hostel to meet up with our other gringo friends. We said hello, then KL, AK and I took off to find some almuerzo (lunch). We came across a little place nestled between the trees practically on the beach. I had the most DELICIOUS pineapple fresca, along with a small pizza. This is one of the first views of the beach that I saw:

Beautiful, right? (Click on it to see it larger!!!!) After we ate, we all got back together to hang out and figure out what to do with our afternoon and evening. We decided to go swimming, and the water was a bit chilly because it was cloudy and later in the day. We swam a while and just hung out together most of the afternoon and evening, and then showered and decided to hang out at our place for a while and to then head to Rockin J's for the live reggae music. There were a lot of foreigners there, and we met some different people and listened to the music, which was okay but not stellar. We headed home around 12:30 and went to bed so that we could get up early on Saturday and have all day to do whatever we wanted!

Saturday morning we woke up pretty early and decided to go to the beach. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, which was the bluest I think I've ever seen. We rented bikes and rode down the road for a while so that those who wanted to surf could check out the waves and decide if they wanted to get boards. We all just swam for a while in the beautiful clear Caribbean water. The current was INCREDIBLY strong, and at some point I started to get pretty scared. I couldn't get back to the beach at all, and the water just kept pulling me out and the waves just kept pounding and pounding over me. I prayed and really thought I may never make it back to shore. Somehow eventually I did, and I wanted to kiss the sand when I got back! TC and KL stayed in the water, and I just sat in the sand and tried to take in all the beauty around me! TC, KL, and AK decided to check out the surf board rentals, so I watched our stuff while they did. TC and KL shared a board, and AK and I sat on a log in the shade on the beach and talked for a while. It was VERY hot outside, but not humid, which was really nice! After they came in, we got back on our bikes and headed back toward town to check on our other amigos. We all hung out until lunch time. KL and I asked our hostel owner for a lunch recommendation, and he recommended Soda Miss Sam a couple of blocks away to get some typical Caribbean Costa Rican food. We took advantage of the casado, a typical Costa Rican dish, which had rice and beans which were supposedly different on the Caribbean side. They were different, and they were DELICIOUS. I don't know how to describe the difference...maybe a bit sweeter? Regardless, the food was scrumptious and we ate it up! We then headed back to our hostels. Some wanted to nap, DB and AK wanted to snorkle, but KL and I wanted to explore on our bikes. We rode down the road both ways for a long while - we spent most of the afternoon, several hours, riding and exploring and taking pictures. I will do a whole separate post with just pictures and short captions, in addition to an incredible experience at the end of the afternoon! While we were riding, we experienced a lot of cool things:

• We met a writer from Massachusetts who has been here for 11 years. Our entire conversation was shared while we were riding bikes down the road.
• We stopped to see why a big crowd had stopped in the middle of the road, only to find out that a man had stopped to help a SLOTH that was crossing the road. Yes, a SLOTH. In Costa Rica, they don't have squirrels and opossums crossing the road....they have sloths cross the road. Picture will be in the next post.
• We found a small used book store nestled in the woods. We didn't buy anything, but it was nice and secluded, and air conditioned.

The ride in general was just incredible. I am going to go into more detail about this in a separate post, but I breathed slower, rode faster, and just soaked up every moment of the ride. It was awesome.

After our journey was over, we returned our bikes and hunted for the others. We found them eventually and all just hung out and then went looking for food later that evening. We ate at a nice restaurant and had casados again, which were scrumptious again. We headed back to our hostel to make a game plan after helping TC pick out some earrings for his girlfriend. Right as we got back, the rain started to POUR, and the electricity went out! It was awesome though, and it made us very sleepy. We all went to bed pretty early because the electricity was on and off, and we didn't really want to walk anywhere in the pouring rain.

On Sunday we got up early. KL went to run muy temprano, and AK disappeared, so ES and I went to the store to get something for breakfast. Right after we got back, everyone showed back up, and we all decided that since the weather was still kind of dreary that we were ready to leave earlier in the day than we had originally planned. We chose to take the 11 am bus. For 2 nights and 4 people, the hostel cost $16/person, and the accomodations were just fine. Can you believe that?! If you ever want to travel on a budget but still find good accomodations (you can certainly find more luxurious places than what we have been staying in), Costa Rica is the place to come! While we were waiting for the bus we went to a coffee place nearby, and met some girls from the US who are teachers in San Jose. While talking we discovered that one of them is the teacher for one of the children in a missionary family I know who is here in San Jose! Isn't that crazy?! What a small world! We exchanged information and told them that if they ever needed to get out of the city that they could come visit San Ramon, and they told us that we were welcome at their place as well! We boarded the bus and had a pleasant 4 hour ride back to San Jose. It passed rather quickly. We were giggly and happy, for some reason, and I think that KL and I were the 2 people on the bus that no one ever wants to sit near because we thought everything was funny! We had a good time, and finally made it back to San Jose and took a taxi back to the other bus station. We luckily were able to immediately get on a bus back to San Ramon, and we made it back in less than an hour, which was REALLY fast. It was COLD when we got back! KL came back to my house with me because her host family was gone for the day, so I made us some coffee and we had some snacks. We looked at pictures and watched a movie for a bit, and then she headed back to her house. My grandmother and one of my aunts came over for a while, so we all ate and talked together. We laughed a lot and had a great time. We later went to my uncle's house (the uncle who is married to my Spanish teacher) to take some medicine to one of them, and ended up staying there for an hour or so. I think they were ready for us to go because they normally go to sleep very early. My host dad just kept talking and talking to my uncle, and it was kind of funny because we all were trying to pull the two apart. I went to bed soon after we got back home, and got a good night of rest!

I think that sums up the weekend. Be sure to check out the pictures that I will post on here this afternoon! If you are my friend on Facebook, you can see ALL of them there!