Puerto Viejo

Puerto Viejo

Not gonna lie, nothing about this weekend went right and I kind of wish I chose somewhere else to go for thanksgiving break.

The trip started on Thanksgiving, bright and early at 6 am. Much like Monteverde and Manuel Antonio, we hired a private bus to drive us there. It was the same bus we took to Manuel Antonio, but was not driven by Milo and every single seat was filled, including the ones that fold down in the middle of the isle. There were some students from Puntarenas joining us, so a couple of them took a bus up at 3 am and some stayed the night in an Air BnB. We all met in the central park for the bus. All of us were tired, a little bit cranky, but overall kind of excited. One blip in the trip, that ended up causing a massive headache and delay, was that we had to pick up one of our group members from San Jose with her friends that flew in the previous night. This didn't seem like a big deal since we were supposedly passing right by San Jose. However, we ended up getting stuck in traffic for an hour then spent another 2 hours driving far into the city, getting lost, and waiting for them to come find us in an Uber. While we were waiting we parked at a gas station and all 26 of us ran to the nearby McDonald's that was a few blocks away. Eventually we got back on the road and headed out. Unfortunately, by the time we had left a tree fell down across the highway blocking the short route to Puerto Viejo. It had been raining pretty hard for most of the morning. Because of all the delays, we ended up driving far north then over to the east coast and down. Overall, the entire bus ride took 11 hours, 7 hours longer than it should have.

A local surfer

When we got there it was dark, still raining. We all went to the Selina hostel, where most of the people were staying, but my group (Billy, Brooke, Valerie, Juana, and Zoey) had to have the Selina staff call us a taxi. For some reason, this town didn't have ubers or official taxi companies so anytime we wanted to go somewhere by taxi, we had to have hostel staff give us a call. My group ended up staying at the Pagalu Hostel, which was a nice choice since it was a block off the main road but still in the center of town. It was really quiet for the most part and the crowd of people who stayed there were mostly older Europeans in their late 20s and 30s. It felt safe and friendly. Five of us shared a six person room but Billy had to be in a different room since he joined last minute. This meant that we had a stranger in our room for the two of the nights we were there.

Some signs at a local beach. Pura Vida!!

We didn't do anything else for the rest of the night except go out to dinner. The place we went was like a brewery style restaurant with live music, swinging chairs, and American style food called Hot Rocks. He hung out there for a while with our drinks just listening to their music. Eventually we all went home and went to bed.

The next morning, it was still raining pretty hard, so we didn't bother waking up early to explore the beaches. Instead we hung out all morning making pancakes and playing chess. Valerie and I, along with Katie who was staying at the Selina, made plans to later go on a chocolate tour nearby. This ended up being a really cool experience. We went to Caribeans Chocolate and Coffee where we joined a tour to see how cacao is grown and made into chocolate. We got to taste test everything from the fruit to the beans to a variety of local chocolates. I didn't like any of the flavors, but it was still fun to do with my friends. We spent the rest of the day hanging around the town and the hostel.

Chocolate tasting samples

On the last full day there, a bunch of people from our group made plans to take a bus to Cahuita, the national park that was close to the town. Most of the people in my hostel had plans to hang out at a local beach, so I joined some people staying at the Selina to go to Cahuita. When we got there, most of the actual park was closed because the crocodiles were out of control, but a small part of the beach was open. This is the national park that is known for its snorkeling and amazing reefs, but unfortunately the conditions weren't right to do so. Instead, my friends and I just found a spot on the beach and hung out for a while. While on one of the trails, we did end up seeing monkeys and racoons! When we got back to Puerto Viejo later that afternoon, we all stopped to get gelato. While here, I ran into my friends I was staying with at my hostel and we decided to walk around the town a bit before going back to the hostel. Later that night, we all went out to dinner. One of the girls that was staying with my group was, unfortunately, attacked by a local earlier that evening when she was alone at a beach. Even though we were already skeptical of safety in the town, it was still upsetting that something like that could happen to one of our friends. Even though the whole trip had a bad vibe, this event really solidified the negativity of the trip.

Cahuita National Park

On the last day, the bus wasn't scheduled to leave until the afternoon so we were able to try and have fun in the morning. My friend Val really wanted to rent a bike and explore and since I hadn't had a chance to see some of the local beaches, I decided to go with her. It actually ended up being a lot of fun. We went pretty early and got breakfast at a local restaurant while we were out. I had really amazing french toast with strawberries and homemade whipped cream. We ended up biking more than 5 miles out of town, stopping at all the beaches along the way. It was actually sunny that morning and made for a really nice bike ride. After that, we headed to the Selina to wait for the bus to leave. It wasn't quite as long of a drive on the way back, but we didn't get home until really late and we couldn't stop for McDonalds either.

Val and I bike riding

While the weekend overall was kind of terrible and not at all what I expected, there were a couple of really good parts. I liked being able to spend quality time with my friends, especially because it was one of the last times I was going to get to. The chocolate tour I went on was also one of the coolest experiences I had while in Costa Rica, between the friendly guide, fun crowd, and nature scene, I had a really great time. And despite the many flaws of that town, there was some really amazing shopping. And with unlimited money and luggage space, I would have bought so much. All the boutiques were super cute and unique. Everything there made for great souvenirs.

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