The hostel we were staying at in Puerto Viejo was wonderful. A Canadian couple moved here and opened it up a month ago. There are only 4 rooms open currently so there was another American couple there too. It was nice to be able to communicate accurately for a change. We stayed there three nights in a private room as a bonus! Puerto Viejo is like a different country than San Jose. It's more like a tropical island. Bob Marley would have been right at home. In fact every block you see ten pictures of him in various stores and restaurants. The history of this place has been explained to me that when the Spaniards came over, they brought slaves with them from Jamaica and Africa to build trains and homes. So when the slaves were freed, they inhabited the area. The town is super laid back and people commute on bikes or quads on the streets, there are not too many cars. Everyone seems to know everyone, in the few days we have been here, we can already walk down the street and recognize many people. There are dozens of hostels and restaurants on the one main street they have but the hostel we stayed at was the best. They even had a dog named Friday who came from Canada. Our first day here we went to a jam night at a local bar. Everyone went up and sang or played an instrument. Even our very own, Tyson McLellan made an appearance and ironically sang a song called "Costa Rica". The audience was very supportive and full of compliments for him. There were even some fire dancers who used burning instruments to entertain the crowd. I have posted photos of this on my Facebook page. This was a fun bar that we frequented during our time here for their ping pong, pool tables, fooseball, friendly crowds and overpriced pop. Actually the crowd was so friendly that they did not even laugh or ridicule me when I fell on my but in the middle of the room! We stayed out until 2am which is a rare occurance these days!
The next day we cooked breakfast and ate at the bar in the hostel under palm trees. Then we head out for a walk to the next town. We walked along the warm yet refreshing beach all day stopping to enjoy a splash every few mintutes. There are the cutest stray dogs and puppies everywhere. We befriended many of them but one in particular (Jasper) who followed us (mainly Tyson) all day. He obeyed every command Tyson verbalized including sit, stay, dig, heel, speak and be cute. Tyson began to believe that this dog was his and was quite disappointed when the dog took off at the end of the day. Just before he left though, he started to dig into the sand in response to Tyson's command. He continued to do so until he found a large crab which he attempted to eat. He admitted defeat on this mission after the crab snapped at his nose a few times. There were small crabs all over the beach that would crawl at alarming speeds into already prepared holes in the sand. At one point in the day Tyson picked up a coconut type shell laying in the sand in an attempt to prove that he could hit it against a tree that was a distance away. While we discussed which tree was far enough away to be proof of talent, what appeared to be tens of thousands of ants began pouring onto his hand. Each of them bearing a surprisingly sharp bite that caused Tyson to shreak and throw the fruit.
The beaches here are a tropical heaven on earth. It is warm and beautiful, the people are friendly and the culture is vibrant. We met several people who guided us in their own way and shared some knowledge. There was large stretch of beach where we did not see a single person. Tyson took one of these times as an opportunity to relieve himself of a number two, unfortunately, Jasper was so attatched to him that he ran up to him and started barking. By the time we got back it was dark, we cooked at the hostel and passed out quicker than we had intended to.
The next day we decided against leaving, but rather slept on the beach all day. We stayed in Puerto Viejo and saw what I believe to be the nicest beach we have seen yet this trip. It was picture perfect and the water was warm. We swam around the natural pool in the ocean and layed on the beach from morning until night. I woke up to a lobster red husband swimming in the water. He looked up to me and asked "did I get any sun today?"
That night we tried to save some money (which is hard to do in the tourist traps we keep ending up in). We tried out the couchsurfing thing but one miscommunication lead to another and it did not work out. So we rented a tent in a campsite, however within about 15 minutes Tyson had me lying to the owner to get out of there. I had to pretend I was afraid of bugs and spiders to get our money back and run back to our Canadian hostel. The truth may or may not have been Tyson's discomfort with spiders that could possibly have brushed up against our tent. So we spent our last night at the same hostel and left to catch the bus to Panama after breakfast the next morning. Of course we missed the 10:30 bus for no reason that I can clarify into words. So we hopped on the 12:30 and got to the border two hours later.
The border was not really a border at all but rather a very old, small, rickety bridge. Once you cross the bridge, you are in Panama. "Immigration" was a small room where we paid a guy $3 each and had our passports stamped. He asked to see our return bus ticket but we did not have one which was not a big deal. At this point we got scammed out of $20 USD. The ridiculous part was that we were fully prepared with detailed instruction on how to get where we were going including what NOT to do. Somehow and I cannot explain it, we ended up paying $20 for a ride that everyone else paid $1 for. We were quite upset that we got tricked even with our prep work but we got over it...kind of.
We took a taxi boat over to an Island in Bocas Del Toro that is also very popular with tourists in Panama. The boat ride was awesome because as soon as we got on, we were handed life jackets that they mentioned became mandatory after the "incident" last year. So we hung on tight for a fast and wet ride to the island. Once we got there, it was similar to Puerto Viejo with the caribean influences. In fact, everywhere we went Bob was playing on repeat. In Panama the currency is US dollars so it instantly became significantly more expensive for us to survive. The prices here are extraordinary from $4 for a small bag of chips to $12 for a small thing of instant coffee. We explored the town and some of the hostels until we picked one that was clean and descent but covered in cute geckos. It was a four bed room but we had it to ourselves which was nice. We cooked dinner and sprung for pringles which I polished off by myself without meaning to. We are trying to be a bit careful with our budget here because there are no banks around for a few days but we are failing miserably. Transportation is our main unavoidable expense followed by shelter and coke a cola.
This morning we caught up with a couchsurfing friend who offered us some advice on places to go in the area. We followed his advice and took a $12 crammed bus ride to the other side of the island to star beach where star fish line the bottom of the ocean. In fact it is a lovely place to see fish and sea urchins because they do not seem intimidated by the swimmers. They swim right up to people and say hello (in fish). This beach puts up a fair fight for top beach of our world trip. Water stretches out as far as the eye can see and the shore is dotted with palm trees and covered in powder white sand. It's hard to complain when we're here. We alternated between sitting in the water and in the sand all day until dark. I have to admit that I spent a while typing this blog while sitting on the beach since Tyson got proof of it on camera anyway.
We checked out of the cheaper hostel and into one that cost a bit more for the all you can eat pancake breakfast. This is by far the busiest hostel I have ever witnessed in my existense! There are people everywhere, Tyson and I are not even in the same room! As soon as we got here they closed the kitchen and locked us in the hostel because all the staff were going to thanksgiving dinner (American). We managed to get out using a discreet backdoor but the wierdness and unprofessionalism sucked.
Tomorrow we will take a $20 water taxi five minutes away to red frog beach and then take a bus into David where we will hopefully find a bank. Then the night bus for 10 hours to Panama city!
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
The next day we cooked breakfast and ate at the bar in the hostel under palm trees. Then we head out for a walk to the next town. We walked along the warm yet refreshing beach all day stopping to enjoy a splash every few mintutes. There are the cutest stray dogs and puppies everywhere. We befriended many of them but one in particular (Jasper) who followed us (mainly Tyson) all day. He obeyed every command Tyson verbalized including sit, stay, dig, heel, speak and be cute. Tyson began to believe that this dog was his and was quite disappointed when the dog took off at the end of the day. Just before he left though, he started to dig into the sand in response to Tyson's command. He continued to do so until he found a large crab which he attempted to eat. He admitted defeat on this mission after the crab snapped at his nose a few times. There were small crabs all over the beach that would crawl at alarming speeds into already prepared holes in the sand. At one point in the day Tyson picked up a coconut type shell laying in the sand in an attempt to prove that he could hit it against a tree that was a distance away. While we discussed which tree was far enough away to be proof of talent, what appeared to be tens of thousands of ants began pouring onto his hand. Each of them bearing a surprisingly sharp bite that caused Tyson to shreak and throw the fruit.
The beaches here are a tropical heaven on earth. It is warm and beautiful, the people are friendly and the culture is vibrant. We met several people who guided us in their own way and shared some knowledge. There was large stretch of beach where we did not see a single person. Tyson took one of these times as an opportunity to relieve himself of a number two, unfortunately, Jasper was so attatched to him that he ran up to him and started barking. By the time we got back it was dark, we cooked at the hostel and passed out quicker than we had intended to.
The next day we decided against leaving, but rather slept on the beach all day. We stayed in Puerto Viejo and saw what I believe to be the nicest beach we have seen yet this trip. It was picture perfect and the water was warm. We swam around the natural pool in the ocean and layed on the beach from morning until night. I woke up to a lobster red husband swimming in the water. He looked up to me and asked "did I get any sun today?"
That night we tried to save some money (which is hard to do in the tourist traps we keep ending up in). We tried out the couchsurfing thing but one miscommunication lead to another and it did not work out. So we rented a tent in a campsite, however within about 15 minutes Tyson had me lying to the owner to get out of there. I had to pretend I was afraid of bugs and spiders to get our money back and run back to our Canadian hostel. The truth may or may not have been Tyson's discomfort with spiders that could possibly have brushed up against our tent. So we spent our last night at the same hostel and left to catch the bus to Panama after breakfast the next morning. Of course we missed the 10:30 bus for no reason that I can clarify into words. So we hopped on the 12:30 and got to the border two hours later.
The border was not really a border at all but rather a very old, small, rickety bridge. Once you cross the bridge, you are in Panama. "Immigration" was a small room where we paid a guy $3 each and had our passports stamped. He asked to see our return bus ticket but we did not have one which was not a big deal. At this point we got scammed out of $20 USD. The ridiculous part was that we were fully prepared with detailed instruction on how to get where we were going including what NOT to do. Somehow and I cannot explain it, we ended up paying $20 for a ride that everyone else paid $1 for. We were quite upset that we got tricked even with our prep work but we got over it...kind of.
We took a taxi boat over to an Island in Bocas Del Toro that is also very popular with tourists in Panama. The boat ride was awesome because as soon as we got on, we were handed life jackets that they mentioned became mandatory after the "incident" last year. So we hung on tight for a fast and wet ride to the island. Once we got there, it was similar to Puerto Viejo with the caribean influences. In fact, everywhere we went Bob was playing on repeat. In Panama the currency is US dollars so it instantly became significantly more expensive for us to survive. The prices here are extraordinary from $4 for a small bag of chips to $12 for a small thing of instant coffee. We explored the town and some of the hostels until we picked one that was clean and descent but covered in cute geckos. It was a four bed room but we had it to ourselves which was nice. We cooked dinner and sprung for pringles which I polished off by myself without meaning to. We are trying to be a bit careful with our budget here because there are no banks around for a few days but we are failing miserably. Transportation is our main unavoidable expense followed by shelter and coke a cola.
This morning we caught up with a couchsurfing friend who offered us some advice on places to go in the area. We followed his advice and took a $12 crammed bus ride to the other side of the island to star beach where star fish line the bottom of the ocean. In fact it is a lovely place to see fish and sea urchins because they do not seem intimidated by the swimmers. They swim right up to people and say hello (in fish). This beach puts up a fair fight for top beach of our world trip. Water stretches out as far as the eye can see and the shore is dotted with palm trees and covered in powder white sand. It's hard to complain when we're here. We alternated between sitting in the water and in the sand all day until dark. I have to admit that I spent a while typing this blog while sitting on the beach since Tyson got proof of it on camera anyway.
We checked out of the cheaper hostel and into one that cost a bit more for the all you can eat pancake breakfast. This is by far the busiest hostel I have ever witnessed in my existense! There are people everywhere, Tyson and I are not even in the same room! As soon as we got here they closed the kitchen and locked us in the hostel because all the staff were going to thanksgiving dinner (American). We managed to get out using a discreet backdoor but the wierdness and unprofessionalism sucked.
Tomorrow we will take a $20 water taxi five minutes away to red frog beach and then take a bus into David where we will hopefully find a bank. Then the night bus for 10 hours to Panama city!
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
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