Observations

We went to Puerto Viejo this weekend, and I have a few observations. To start:

Around noon on Thursday, we made our way downtown to wait for the bus. When it finally arrived, we got on (yay assigned seats!) and sat for 4 1/2 hours until we got to Puerto Viejo. The bus driver didn't turn on the AC until 1/2 hour before we got there. Thankfully we stopped at a rest stop, and the rest stop had ice cream.

Observation: Ice cream is delicious and refreshing.

The bus dropped us off at the bus station in Puerto Viejo, and we had no idea how to get to our hostel. They had a sign saying that we could call a number and get a ride, but we decided to walk. That was probably a bad idea, because we didn't know where we were going, it was dark, and it was a lot further than we'd thought. There were 8 of us (6 grupo people and two other gringos from the bus) so it wasn't so much a safety issue as a convenience thing.

Observation: It's dumb to turn down a free taxi ride to your hostel.

We made it to the hostel safe and sound, and we checked in. We got hammocks for three nights at $5/night per person. The hammocks were huge and soft and really comfortable. Unfortunately, they were hung in a building that was basically a roof over our heads and rows of lockers for our stuff and nothing more. The mosquitoes feasted, and apparently I taste good.

Observation: Bug spray is best when used religiously.

Once we'd gotten our stuff all settled in, we decided it would be a good idea to go into town for dinner. We trekked back into town only to find that the cheap prices of our hostel did not apply to anything else in the town -- particularly food. We checked out menu prices for at least half the restaurants in town, and they were all running at least $10 a plate. After 1/2 an hour, we just picked this one little restaurant that had nobody in it -- it was kind of a hole-in-the-wall local place. Some of the options were cheaper, but 5/6 of us got the fish, which ran about $10 a plate. When it came out, it was literally FISH. Like, a whole fish, right there on the plate, staring back at you. One of the girls in the grupo is from Dominica (small Carribean island), and she showed us the proper way to eat the fish... eyes, head, skin, everything. None of us quite followed her lead, but it was delicious.

Observation: There were a lot of places selling fish and seafood and all that kind of stuff, but going to a quiet little place run by a local (or someone who faked it really well) with a bunch of friends really made it fun.

All of you have three guesses for what everyone else wanted to do after dinner ... 1, 2, 3 GUESS!

DING DING DING! Yes, you guessed correctly. We went to the liquor store and stocked up for a fun fun fun night of drinking games!

Observation: Fresca is actually quite delicious. Fresca and guaro mixed the Linda way (much Fresca, little guaro) is acceptably drinkable as well. Fresca and guaro mixed the normal way is not so tasty.

After we finished the bottle of guaro (well, basically after EVERYONE ELSE finished the bottle of guaro) we went to bed. Somehow, we all managed to get up at 7, although we all thought it was at least 9 considering how much light there was outside. We walked a ways down this one trail to the nicer beaches, and we stayed there for a while. It was absolutely beautiful. White sand, crystal clear water, good body-surfing waves, etc -- we enjoyed ourselves immensely. We came back at noon and ate lunch (avocados, tomatoes, bread, apples, peanut butter, nutella, crackers, and bagels). After that, everyone else went and took a nap in the hammocks, but I got some reading done. I eked out a whole 5 pages in like, an hour, and that was my "interesting" reading. When everyone woke back up, we went to the beach again, but the waves were a lot rougher and it was getting cloudy, so we gave up. Since we'd gone to the grocery store earlier, we made pasta and tomato sauce for dinner. This was a significantly cheaper meal at about 750 colones/person ($1.50/person). I added 1000 colones' ($2) worth to my meal though, because I wanted fried chicken too.

Observation: Fried chicken is delicious.

I don't remember what everyone else did after that, but I went to bed. This time I used the bug spray religiously.

Observation: Sometimes using bug spray religiously isn't good enough.

On Saturday, four of us wanted to go snorkeling. The best snorkeling was a bus ride and at least $25 away, and we didn't want to deal with planning all that out. The next best snorkeling was at Punta Uva, which was supposedly a 40-minute bike ride up the road. Since I had been wanting to rent a scooter this whole time anyway, I figured I would do that and just ride slow with the bikes. Now, before anyone becomes overly concerned with my safety *coughdadcough* I will say that I wore a helmet and appropriate footwear (which 90% of the other people on the road did not do), I rode slowly (like seriously just barely faster than the bikes), I was with the bikes (group for safety) and I ended up being right behind this other guy on a rental scooter for 3/4 of the way there, so I could watch the potholes he avoided and avoid them too. The road we were on was kind of lousy. A few parts of it were relatively nice and paved, but the rest was best described as "paved-ish." Perhaps those parts had once been paved, but dirt and potholes kind of choked out the majority of the paved parts. Anyway, we all got there completely unscathed. The other three girls walked around for a bit, and I just sat and chilled. The other guy on a scooter came over and talked with me for a while -- he was from Spain and spoke Spain-ish Spanish. I barely understood him, but one thing he said that I did understand was that a cold front was coming in. My understanding was helped by the natural cues of a stormy-looking horizon, wind, and somewhat colder air. When the other girls came back, we ate lunch. Since it was all stormy-like, we just decided to head home. I returned the scooter just in time, because the storm hit just as I was walking back. I got completely drenched -- I had exactly one dry spot on me, and that was the spot on my back covered by my purse (thank you waterproof purse!) On an up-note, though, I finally saw a real live working moped when I walked by the grocery store! The only one I'd seen up to that point is a poor old Solo which has been junkified into a piece of artwork adorning the top of the "You are here" map pedestal thingy in the Multiplaza del Este (a mall). This one wasn't a brand name or style I recognized, but I was glad to see it nonetheless.

Observation: Whoever decided that the scooter was a better design than a motorcycle or moped was mistaken. I might even go so far as to say that they were both mistaken AND stupid. The scooter I was riding was heavy, bulky, clunky, not well-suited for "paved-ish" roads, too quiet, completely devoid of character, and actually crankier about starting than my moped. And really ... sitting on top of the thing like you're in a chair does not make for good control. It lacks stability and maneuverability. If you want to ride a chair, buy a car. If you want to personal two-wheeled transportation, a moped is really the way to go (or perhaps a motorcycle for the braver of heart).

This is getting kind of long, so I'll try to sum up what I can. We got back. We hung out because it was raining. Eventually we went out to get dinner. We ate at a jerk chicken restaurant, and it was fantastic. Again, it was about $10/person, but it was absolutely worth it. After dinner, we decided to ... can you guess? Yes, very good. We hit up the liquor store for beer so we could play more fun drinking games.

Observation: Beer is just nasty. Strawberry concentrate blended with ice is very tasty. Adding alcohol to the strawberry concentrate mixed with ice makes the concoction significantly less tasty. (That is to say, I got a strawberry daiquiri, and everyone else drank more of it than I did.)

During the whole time we were staying at the hostel, we were meeting a lot of people from all over. We met the girls from England and Australia on the bus. We met a group of students from Oregon who just finished a special biology class. We met a group of people from Canada. We met some people from Maryland and New York and probably other places I'm forgetting. It was a really neat experience, and it was fun to hang out with all of them. Honestly, meeting all those people was one of the highlights of the trip, and it'd be worth the 50+ bug bites to stay in that same hostel again just to meet even more people.

Lastly ... no, I'm really not kidding about the 50+ bug bites. I pretty much look like I have chicken pox right now. When I got home, I said hello to my family (so they wouldn't freak out when they heard someone moving around in what they thought was an empty house), went upstairs, dropped my bags, and proceeded to use about half a tube of anti-itch cream.

Observation: Anti-itch cream doesn't work particularly well.