Puerto Viejo y el Mar Caribe

This past weekend, we went to Puerto Viejo, which is on the carribbean side of Costa Rica, and seems to borrow a bit of culture from its Jamaican neighbors. I went with two other girls from my class this month, Julie and Melissa, to the right.




Based on advice from people at our school, we headed out of Puerto Viejo on the first morning (Saturday) that we were there. We went to a beach about 3 miles out of town, and took some bikes to get there. It was a really nice, if not slightly unpaved ride, see left.



The beach - so beautiful!! The next few shots are of this. It was all a beach should be - quiet enough, wide enough, perfectly temperate water, palm trees, and hammocks and a bar/restaurant nearby. We we might spend a few hours, but ended up staying all day.





The excitement came on the ride back to Puerto Viejo... the chain on Julie's bike came off, and wouldn't stay on. I went ahead back to Puerto Viejo to have our bike renter come back to get the bike, and Julie and Melissa walked their bikes.





On the way back, I heard what sounded like a dying pig. It was actually just a howler monkey, which are little monkeys with (apparently) a big sound.

I came in a truck with the bike renter (a London guy who owns a restaurant in Puerto Viejo - the town was overrun with tourists and non-CR working everywhere). We came upon Julie with a local guy helping her by pushing her (while she was on the bike) while she steared. Through potholes and the like, he pedaled for both of them.

The hostpitality was much appreciated by them as the previous people for about 30 minutes before that passed didn't offer to help or ask if they were ok, but did take the time to whistle and make comments, "hello ladies" in slow english was a popular one in this town. It was good to have them back as it was getting dark, and the drivers are terrible. A walking person was killed on the same road very near to the time of our little incident.


Ah, but the weekend ended well, as we had just a few hours on the beach in Puerto Viejo on Sunday, see left, and then returned to San Jose. This weekend is a long weekend for Semana Santa, or holy week, the week before easter. We are in Montezcuma, a beach town on the pacific, so I will next put some pictures up from that... Stay tuned, and Happy Easter!