This past weekend, I traveled to the beautiful Caribbean town of Puerto Viejo. The town was amazing! It had a very laid back authentic feel to it, and the people were so genuinely nice. In order to get there, we had to take a bus to San Jose and from there take another bus to Puerto Viejo. All together, we were on buses from around 7:30am- 2pm. I didn't really mind the long bus ride, though, because the views were incredible. I just couldn't stop looking out the window long enough to get bored.
 |
| Entrance to Rocking J's |
We got to Puerto Viejo around 2pm on Friday afternoon, and took a taxi to our hostel, "Rocking J's." We knew about Rocking J's because some other girls from the program had gone there just last weekend. It is run by Americans, and people from all over the world stay there. I heard people speaking all kinds of different languages. This place is like nothing I've ever seen before and probably will never see again. At Rocking J's, everything is covered in either mosaic tiles or paintings. They actually provide their guests with art supplies if they want to leave their mark on the place. The sleeping arrangements are the funniest part, though. The cheapest option (which we decided not to do) is to sleep in hammocks for $4 a night. We decided to splurge and pay $7 for a tent. Haha. Anyway, this place has so much character, and the people that stay there have even more.
 |
| Our lodging for the weekend |
The first thing we did when we got there was change into our bathing suits and check out the beach behind the hostel. The views were amazing, but the water was full of coral which was only fun to swim in for about 30 minutes...until we kept getting injured. There was one place where there was a crater in the coral that was really fun to swim in. After that, we went down the road about 15 minutes where we found a gorgeous sandy beach. (This beach is where we spent most of the day Saturday.)
I was definitely not prepared for the craziness that is Rocking J's on a Friday night. They turned on the music at 7:30pm, and didn't turn it off until after 1am. Here are just a couple of the ridiculous things I witnessed on Friday night... 1. There was a guy walking around on stilts dressed as Jack Sparrow with a bottle of rum in his hand. We actually had a conversation with this guy toward the beginning of the night in Spanish, because Jack doesn't speak English. haha. 2. There were crabs everywhere...just crawling around. I'm sure there are more things I could mention, but I'll save those stories for later. Most of my group only stayed up until around 10:30, because we were all so tired from traveling all day long. I still don't know how I was able to fall asleep with the music as loud as it was, but I didn't have too much trouble.
 |
| Stacy and I |
 |
| Beautiful Beach in Puerto Viejo on Saturday night |
Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:30 because other people were getting up, and it was getting pretty loud. As soon as I went downstairs, I smelled marijuana, which we hadn't really stopped smelling since we got to Puerto Viejo. It's just part of the Caribbean lifestyle there. So anyway, we spent most of Saturday laying on the beach and playing in the HUGE waves in the ocean. But really, I've never seen waves this big in my life. Every single wave almost knocked me down, and a few actually did. Nobody from my group went out further than waist deep because we would have been sucked out to sea in a matter of minutes. Crazy, right! We all got a little sunburned, but nothing too bad. After we were done going to the beach, we went into town to try and find some food, because the food at Rocking J's was ridiculously slow, and kind of expensive. We found this cute little restaurant where I had some wonderful Nachos Caribeños (made with plantain chips). Then, we saw a place where they were doing hair wraps, and Stacy, Sarah, and I are now currently sporting them. :)
 |
| Olivia and I |
Overall, It was an incredible weekend. I have to admit, though I was pretty excited to get back to my Heredia home where I could take a clean shower and sleep on a bed. The only down side was that when I got back home on Sunday afternoon, I had to write a paper I had been putting off for a few days. I had to stay up until 1am to finish, (which is actually late for me here, folks) but it's over...at least until I have to write another paper for next week. If only this could be "Study Abroad" without the "Study" part.
 |
| A few of the girls in the group. There were 12 of us in all that went. |
This past weekend, I traveled to the beautiful Caribbean town of Puerto Viejo. The town was amazing! It had a very laid back authentic feel to it, and the people were so genuinely nice. In order to get there, we had to take a bus to San Jose and from there take another bus to Puerto Viejo. All together, we were on buses from around 7:30am- 2pm. I didn't really mind the long bus ride, though, because the views were incredible. I just couldn't stop looking out the window long enough to get bored. 
We got to Puerto Viejo around 2pm on Friday afternoon, and took a taxi to our hostel, "Rocking J's." We knew about Rocking J's because some other girls from the program had gone there just last weekend. It is run by Americans, and people from all over the world stay there. I heard people speaking all kinds of different languages. This place is like nothing I've ever seen before and probably will never see again. At Rocking J's, everything is covered in either mosaic tiles or paintings. They actually provide their guests with art supplies if they want to leave their mark on the place. The sleeping arrangements are the funniest part, though. The cheapest option (which we decided not to do) is to sleep in hammocks for $4 a night. We decided to splurge and pay $7 for a tent. Haha. Anyway, this place has so much character, and the people that stay there have even more. 
The first thing we did when we got there was change into our bathing suits and check out the beach behind the hostel. The views were amazing, but the water was full of coral which was only fun to swim in for about 30 minutes...until we kept getting injured. There was one place where there was a crater in the coral that was really fun to swim in. After that, we went down the road about 15 minutes where we found a gorgeous sandy beach. (This beach is where we spent most of the day Saturday.) 
I was definitely not prepared for the craziness that is Rocking J's on a Friday night. They turned on the music at 7:30pm, and didn't turn it off until after 1am. Here are just a couple of the ridiculous things I witnessed on Friday night... 1. There was a guy walking around on stilts dressed as Jack Sparrow with a bottle of rum in his hand. We actually had a conversation with this guy toward the beginning of the night in Spanish, because Jack doesn't speak English. haha. 2. There were crabs everywhere...just crawling around. I'm sure there are more things I could mention, but I'll save those stories for later. Most of my group only stayed up until around 10:30, because we were all so tired from traveling all day long. I still don't know how I was able to fall asleep with the music as loud as it was, but I didn't have too much trouble. 
No comments:
Post a Comment