This weekend five friends and I travelled to Puerto Viejo on the East coast of Costa Rica. A four hour bus ride (which I almost missed because I over slept!) and we were on the sandy beaches that boarder the Caribbean sea. I'll be honest and say there's really nothing else like this in the world.
Our bus left at 6am so I was prepared by packing the night before, thank goodness. However, the night before (Friday) was filled with festivities of it's own because our good friend Katie was not only turning 21 but also saying her goodbyes before leaving to travel with her family for the remainder of her trip. It was a very emotional night. Makes me scared for when everyone else leaves me! So anyway, none of us really got to bed before 1, and we were planning to meet to get a taxi at 5:15 just to be safe. I woke up at 5:25. I can't remember the last time I moved that fast! I had already thought I missed them but I threw some pants on, grabbed my backpack and ran down the street. I almost ran right into Justin, and could have cried I was so happy they were there. Ironically he had just been calling up to my window, maybe it woke me up, who knows, but what a guy! Most of us slept on the bus, and most of us also skipped breakfast so food was our main priority when we hit the beach. Alex kept saying he had a surprise when we got there. He sure as hell did. We got there and he says we're having a picnic, and pulls out bread, jelly, and peanut butter, the thing we had all been craving for weeks! Peanut butter is expensive and hard to find here but he found it and oh my goodness! Best PBandJ I think I've ever had!
Our next priority was finding a hostel. We simply walked around town till we ran into some so we could ask about prices. We ended up finding this awesome place called "the lazy loft", $10 per person, three people to each room, overlooking the beach, immediate access, right on top of "the lazy mon" bar and grill.. it was perfect, a real lucky find! We spent a lot of the day walking around town, at at a little authentic soda for lunch. Jamaican people everywhere, I've never seen so many dreads in my life! Loved the atmosphere and the people. At lunch we were watching the Olympics and this one woman was just so stoked that a black man beat the American (the ONLY white guy in the race, ok) in the 400m I think. She was so jazzed, "go baby go!" as she pounded on the table. It was awesome.
The rest of the day we walked the beach looking at tide pools and laying in the sun. So freaking cool.
We were all pretty tired at night so we ate at the Lazy Mon (a real grilled burger!) and had a few drinks on the beach. Paradise. The next day we walked the opposite direction up the beach and found where the white sand turns to black, it's amazing! the black sand is ten times hotter as you can imagine, and a lot heavier. so so cool. We swam there for a few hours before we had to check out of the hostel. But! and this is just how cool everyone is; We asked if we could come back and still use the kitchen for lunch and they were fine with it, after we checked out we all ended up leaving out backpacks in the storage unit, taking showers, cooking some really good pasta, hanging out on the balcony, free of charge! So awesome. Gathered some snacks for the bus ride and said goodbye to Paradise.
I really want to go back! And hey, since I have four more weeks maybe I will! Phonetics final this week and a new Spanish class. Busy busy.
Todas bien. Hasta luego!
Our bus left at 6am so I was prepared by packing the night before, thank goodness. However, the night before (Friday) was filled with festivities of it's own because our good friend Katie was not only turning 21 but also saying her goodbyes before leaving to travel with her family for the remainder of her trip. It was a very emotional night. Makes me scared for when everyone else leaves me! So anyway, none of us really got to bed before 1, and we were planning to meet to get a taxi at 5:15 just to be safe. I woke up at 5:25. I can't remember the last time I moved that fast! I had already thought I missed them but I threw some pants on, grabbed my backpack and ran down the street. I almost ran right into Justin, and could have cried I was so happy they were there. Ironically he had just been calling up to my window, maybe it woke me up, who knows, but what a guy! Most of us slept on the bus, and most of us also skipped breakfast so food was our main priority when we hit the beach. Alex kept saying he had a surprise when we got there. He sure as hell did. We got there and he says we're having a picnic, and pulls out bread, jelly, and peanut butter, the thing we had all been craving for weeks! Peanut butter is expensive and hard to find here but he found it and oh my goodness! Best PBandJ I think I've ever had!
Our next priority was finding a hostel. We simply walked around town till we ran into some so we could ask about prices. We ended up finding this awesome place called "the lazy loft", $10 per person, three people to each room, overlooking the beach, immediate access, right on top of "the lazy mon" bar and grill.. it was perfect, a real lucky find! We spent a lot of the day walking around town, at at a little authentic soda for lunch. Jamaican people everywhere, I've never seen so many dreads in my life! Loved the atmosphere and the people. At lunch we were watching the Olympics and this one woman was just so stoked that a black man beat the American (the ONLY white guy in the race, ok) in the 400m I think. She was so jazzed, "go baby go!" as she pounded on the table. It was awesome.
The rest of the day we walked the beach looking at tide pools and laying in the sun. So freaking cool.
We were all pretty tired at night so we ate at the Lazy Mon (a real grilled burger!) and had a few drinks on the beach. Paradise. The next day we walked the opposite direction up the beach and found where the white sand turns to black, it's amazing! the black sand is ten times hotter as you can imagine, and a lot heavier. so so cool. We swam there for a few hours before we had to check out of the hostel. But! and this is just how cool everyone is; We asked if we could come back and still use the kitchen for lunch and they were fine with it, after we checked out we all ended up leaving out backpacks in the storage unit, taking showers, cooking some really good pasta, hanging out on the balcony, free of charge! So awesome. Gathered some snacks for the bus ride and said goodbye to Paradise.
I really want to go back! And hey, since I have four more weeks maybe I will! Phonetics final this week and a new Spanish class. Busy busy.
Todas bien. Hasta luego!
