john’s cab to the airport dropped us off at the san jose bus terminal. we said our goodbyes to john. it was the end of the group trip for us, and we were on our own. we planned to take a bus to the caribbean side to a place the good book says is the most happening place on the caribbean side with good music, laid back atmosphere and good food. it also had a diving outfit. the place was called puerto viejo.

we grabbed a quick breakfast of rice and beans and got on the bus. it was a nice bus with comfy seats that reclined and a/c. we toke a seat and as soon as the bus left the terminal, dee and i fell asleep.

i briefly woke up to find the bus traveling through the mountains with green walls on either side of the road and then passing through a tunnel. after i woke up completely, the bus was moving fast through country side. sometimes, out of curiosity, i watched the driver drive to see how crazy he was. he was somewhat crazy cause he passed a 18-wheeler with a car heading towards us in the distance. as soon as he passed the truck, ZOOM goes the car beside us. it happened several times. course, if i was the car, i would slow down to let the bus make the pass. who’s gonna play chicken with a big bus?

after traveling for four and a half hours, we arrived in puerto viejo. puerto viejo is a surfer’s beach town due to something called the salsa brava. it is a spot on the coast where the waves reach huge proportions due to the underlying reef. the town looked rustic and quaint with dirt roads everywhere except for the main road. people lazily hung out in the shade and not very many people walked around. it was hot and humid when we got there.

i spotted a church that was being built and quipped, god was under construction.

the caribbean side was different for us than the other parts of costa rica for several reasons: you can’t drink the water, it has skeeters (mosquitos), it was freaking hot and humid, and it was dangerous. as we were walking down the road to find a place to stay, we asked two backpackers, who were heading to the bus, where they recommended to stay in town. they recommended a place called rocking j’s, which was far from the center of town but known for being the place to be for backpackers. they also told us about a group of roaming teenagers that would rob people with a gun at night. they recommended walking in groups of five or six people since they wouldn’t attack big groups of people. great.

we stopped off at a hotel to inquire about rooms. after telling the manager the story about the teenagers, he said that he heard it was a fake gun. well, we wouldn’t be the ones to find who was right. we decided to head back toward the center of town, where the bars and restaurants were, and looked around there. we stopped at a cool little restaurant to have something to eat while we investigated the area. it had a little surfboard with a little saying that read,

“The sun is shining, the weather is great, good things come to this who wait.” surf’s up dude! the benefits of being in a tour such as GAP are starting to become obvious.

the dive shop was next door, so i went to check out prices and availability. turns out the conditions were great for diving. the ocean was so flat that it was hard to believe this was a surfer’s beach town. the water looked like a lake rather than an ocean. the rule of thumb for the conditions is that if the conditions suck for surfing, they are great for diving. the price was 100 a person, which was what i expected. they penciled us in and told us to return with a deposit later. the woman helping me, jessica, provided a map of the area and marked down some places to stay.

when i returned, dee pointed out that the restaurant owner had recommended one of the hotels jessica had pointed out. it was cabinas guarana and the good book had a nice description of the place, so we set out to find this hotel.

the place was one block from the main road across the street from an arts and crafts store. it appeared to be the only thing on the street

besides the store.
we looked at a room. no a/c but the ceiling fan was powerful. private bath and a hammock on the outside patio. the place looked solid enough that mosquitos wouldn’t be able to fly into the room. sold for 25 a night.

it was a relief to finally have a place to stay. we unloaded the backpacks and checked out the shower; it was luke warm water at best. the cold water was refreshing cause we were sweaty and dirty from the humidity and dirt dust kicked up by the passing cars, atvs, and motorbikes. while we were getting ready, i killed two mosquitos. dammit! i hate mosquitos!
we walked around town and checked out the other bars and restaurants that we read about in the good book. it was a quaint beach town where the bars and restaurants don’t open until night so not much was going on. all the restaurants were open air dining with the kitchen behind either a counter or out in the open. there was a small collection of boats next to a really short dock that led out into the ocean.

the main mode of transportation in this village was by bicycle. it was a cool place but the threat we received earlier shaded the place with a sense of danger and suspicion. the police station was located on a prime piece of real estate. it was right on the coast that took a corner of a small pennisula. the station looked more like a shack than anything official and some guy in uniform was lounging in a chair smoking a cigarette.

we stopped off at a restaurant to have a drink and something to eat. across the street was a placed called hot rocks cafe. the good book said it played three movies on a huge screen every night. we figured that would be our nightly activity since we didn’t want to walk around too much at night.
surprisingly, the heat had gotten to dee. she usually is the one that loves the heat and sweat, but this time she couldn’t take it. she put a napkin on her forehead to try and soak up some of the sweat. * WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 6433 * i was fine, which is usually the opposite. she wanted to go take a nap, which meant i could go to the internet and write some more.

the internet place was air conditioned and felt great. the connection was surprisingly decent, but i didn’t want to waste my time with the pictures. so i wrote for an hour and a half and went back to wake up dee. the sun was setting when i woke her up.

we ventured into town to check out what movie was playing at hot rocks cafe and to pay the deposit for diving. the only movie that was playing that i wanted to see was ghost rider at 7:45. after paying the deposit, we went to the bar next door. it had setup dozens of tables and chairs on the beach. we found a table and chairs that overlooked the very calm water. the sun had already set and the distant skies were filled with dark clouds and long lightening strikes would appear in the clouds every so often. the skies above us were clear. it was a cool place to hang out underneath the stars. we ordered a couple of cokes (seriously, cause we were scuba diving the next day and you don’t want a hangover the next day) and enjoyed the stunning view of lightening and calm ocean water.

we talked about our experiences with our first group tour trip and decided that group tours were worth the money. you have access to local knowledge and you don’t have to worry about where to stay and what is going on in town. they take care of that for you. as john says, it takes the edge off traveling. what you would do in a few weeks by yourself, you can do in a week with a group tour. we didn’t realize how much we had done until the tour was over. the last thing we had on our list was scuba diving and that was about to be checked off.
we left for the movie and found a table in front. when we arrived it was still happy hour so we ordered two mojitos for the price of one (can’t pass that up!). the screen was huge with a projector underneath a black tarp. the noise of engines and people were a bit distracting and the picture wasn’t very sharp, but it was fun to sit there and watch a movie out in the open while having drinks and eating. ghost rider was an ok movie.
the next movie was the letter or something like that with keanu reeves and sandra bullock. we weren’t interested, and i was exhausted so we left to go back to the room. we didn’t want to stay out too late cause of the crime in the area and we had to wake up early to scuba dive. just off the main road toward our hotel, it was kind of creepy with dark corners and bums/hippies sitting on the side of the road watching us. i didn’t have anything on me, but they didn’t know that. one thing that irritated me was that i couldn’t bring my camera with me after we leave for the night. i love taking photos while i travel, but i love my camera more than some pics of a dusty surfer village.

an interesting phenomenon happens in this place at night. tons of large crabs come out and walk around at night. i almost kicked one while we were walking. i had a flashlight so dee could get up close and personal with them. she was fascinated with the creatures. i was more fascinated in getting back to the room. but we followed them around and watched them.
we made it back to our room, and i started hunting for mosquitos. i hate them so much. the ceiling fan was so powerful that they can’t fly straight so it made them very unpredictable when they were flying. once they landed on the wall, it was pretty easy to kill them. for some reason their reaction time was pretty slow when they were stationary. despite their slow reaction speed, one of the little blood suckers was difficult to kill. i hunted for what felt like 30 minutes looking for the blasted thing. i finally gave up and sprayed some insect repellent on me and went to sleep.

dee was unable to fall asleep with me since she had taken a nap. so, she stayed up and read. it sucked the room didn’t have a tv.

anyways, we were excited about tomorrow’s scuba diving adventure.