Costa Rica 🇨🇷

Puerto Viejo

So as mentioned in the Lost and Found blog we had met a pretty awesome Irish guy Barry who was volunteering at a hostel in Puerto Viejo. As this was are next stop we thought we should check out his hostel and meet his girlfriend Lisa who he couldn't stop talking about! 

We chose a shuttle from Bocas to cross the boarder and go to Puerto viejo as we found a super cheap one that would save us a few hours and only cost a few dollars more than public transport. Most shuttles are $30-35 but we got ours for $20 woop. We got dropped off right at the door of our new hostel La Ruka which has 3 friendly dogs. We had initially thought maybe 2/3 nights here however ended up staying for 6! Super easy to get sucked into the Puerto Viejo lifestyle of exploring the numerous national parks in the day, heading out for ladies night in the evening and the next day being a recovery day at the beach. Then of course you start again. It's ladies night every night in a different bar in town free drinks until 12(or something like that). You would think the drinks wouldn't be very strong, but that is a mistake! They will most definitely get you more than merry very quickly. 

There is a lot to see around Puerto Viejo and with a large group of people both staying and volunteering at the hostel there was always a great group to do things with. There is a pretty waterfall a short bus ride away from the town and with Rad and I of course we will always go to the waterfalls! We caught the bus with Barry, Lisa and Mattika our bunk buddy to go check it out. After the bus you have the option of a taxi or a 45minute walk. It was boiling so we tried our luck with negotiating the taxis down but they wouldn't budge. A random guy with a truck was happy with our price though so we hoped in the back for a bumpy ride. 

After this we had a short walk through the forest to freezing cold but refreshing little pool and pretty waterfall. 

We had been told that there were pools on top of the waterfall that you could also swim in and jump in. We came across some locals jumping in at one section but soon discovered that it was shallow enough to stand in even though they were jumping head 1st!  

On the way back we opted to walk (even though truck guy came back for us oops). But it was a pleasant walk that really wasn't to long. We were also able to buy some ice lollies from a persons house, well they were fresh juices that had been frozen in a bag but I don't know what else to call them. They are super good though and I am still looking out for more of the same!

One of the main things to do on the the Caribbean side of Costa Rica is the huge national park Cahuita. It's really well maintained with a little path though the forest and along the beach, took us a few hours to walk the length of it and we saw a few animals, not too many as it's super hot so they sleep in the day.  

Other than that our days were spent on beaches. There is the main beach of Puerto Viejo however there's about 5 more that you can cycle to. First time on a bike in a few years... I will admit I was worried but the saying is right and I remembered how to cycle within seconds. 

We had our Scottish friend Nick (also from lost and found) catch up with us and join the La Ruka group. As there were so many of us we did a few family dinners. The first one being a BBQ for 9 people. After this night the numbers went down a bit but still dinners for 6 are much cheaper than eating out with Costa Rica prices.  

We had all decided to wake up and watch sunrise from the beach, however most people didn't get up! Rad, Matika and I headed down to watch what was quite a beautiful sunrise. Lisa and Barry did make it down about half way through after their alarm finally went off. 

Barry and Lisa were finishing there volunteering at the same time that we would finally be leaving. They were also heading to La Fortuna our next destination and as lisa and I didn't want to break up the Bromance we booked the same hostel. Barry, lisa and Cassidy (another volunteer who was leaving) all did a shuttle that included whitewater rafting to get between the towns. Rad and I decided it was too expensive and chose to try public transport via the capital San Jose, unfortunately the route is meant to be difficult and we couldn't find to much info on it. We did make it just not without getting ripped of by a taxi driver, he seemed genuine as the chap who sold the bus tickets backed up what he was saying. In a nutshell don't trust anyone in San Jose.. La Fortuna After our not so great travel day we made it to La Fortuna before the others and just relaxed as we had woken up super early for the bus. The landing in front of our room had a great view of volcan Arenal however shortly after we arrived in typical rainy season fashion a storm rolled in from no where. 

By the time the others arrived the rain had stopped so we headed out. Matika had arrived in La Fortuna a few days before us so we met her for dinner and she told us the best things to do. Not sure how but we ended up with a few beers in the town park like a bunch of teenagers. 

Unfortunately La Fortuna is a town where there aren't many free things to do. We contemplated hiking one of the two volcanoes however the weather was being super temperamental and none of us wanted to get drenched half way. We settled on paying to see the big waterfall. While it was beautiful they are definitely ripping people off with the price a bit. To save money we chose to walk to it, which took a good hour and a half along the road in the heat. 

The expensive waterfall turns into a stream and close to the town there is a section that you can swim and the locals have attached a rope swing. I jumped in once (after lots of convincing) unfortunately even the short jump I did effected my ear and popped it painfully so after this I sat out. The others all had lots of fun with the rope swing.  

The hostel we had chosen had a free shuttle to the 'free hot springs'. Which essentially is a stream but the water was lovely and warm.  

Next up will be our journey into Nicaragua!