Spice of life in the Caribbean

Well, my mum and I made it to Puerto Viejo! Our neighbours, Roberto and Adriana, drove us to San Jose on Friday and we caught the bus to the coast. The ride was comfortable and quite enjoyable. It took four and a half hours. The weather was rainy in the mountains, then it cleared up... right up until we arrived to Puerto Viejo. When we stepped off the bus, it was pouring! We had to wait under cover for about 20 minutes before heading out to find our hotel. It was getting dark and we had no real idea where we were going. We knew we had to ask for the soccer field, but that was about it. After walking about 15 minutes, we turned the corner, saw the soccer field and within a few feet, we reached our destination: Hotel Pura Vida. We took our showers and changed into dry clothes. Then, as planned, we met up with Rocio (a friend Kevin and I met at Catalina's birthday party a couple of months ago). She met us at our hotel and told us she had some news... more friends that we met at Catalina's were also in Puerto Viejo and we were all going to meet for dinner. We all ended up at this small Caribbean-style diner where we all had spicy rice and beans with chicken with special sauce... muy delicioso!!! Wow, was it ever good! It was great to see Viv and Steve again and to meet their friends, as well.

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Saturday morning, we headed out for some breakfast. We found a nice little open-air restaurant and ordered a fruit salad and coffee each. And after breakfast, we decided to go for a walk on the beach. There was a surfing contest going on, so there was a lot of people! There was a buzz in the air. Puerto Viejo is a young, hip kind of place. The beaches are really nice. I was expecting it to feel really hot and humid, but it wasn't. It was hot, but there was always a breeze. The walk was so nice that we just kept on going... we ended up walking 16 kms on the beach, and then some more in town. It was a beautiful day... it was nice to share it with my mum.

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Only in the Caribbean can you advertise 'slow food'... and get away with it!

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Monlí, the upstairs bar, was where we stopped and had our Mojitos. Yum!

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The colours of the Caribbean.

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My mum, sitting in the open-air 'living room' at the hotel. It was a lovely place to relax away from the hot sun, while still enjoying that outdoor feeling.

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