Michael, his cousin Cheto, and I left at 7:45 this morning from San Jose. Four hours later, we hopped out of our chartered minibus in Puerto Viejo!Five minutes after arrival at our hotel, La Camarona, we were suited up and in the Atlantic Ocean. I love the beach. Puerto Viejo is on the Eastern Caribbean side of Costa Rica and very near Panama. (More on Panama in a couple of days )

We went to Tamarindo (on the western Pacific coast) two years ago and it was hotter, busier and dirtier. There were so many people around. Puerto Viejo is so much calmer and more temperate. The sky is overcast, but the weather is so comfortable. Everything is near body temperature – the water, the air, everything.

Cheto found a manzana del agua on the jungle floor so I had a bite. It sucked. I don’t know what a “water apple” is supposed to taste like, but it tasted rotten. And sour.

We trekked what ended up being 4 kilometres to a late lunch. Michael said it was only 2 km, but we kept walking and walking on the twisty street with walls of jungle on either side and I knew it was much further. Lunch was so worth it though.

Michael and I both got marlin fish – he got breaded, I got a la plancha, which I think means on the grill? Honestly best fish I’ve had in a really long time. So fresh.

A little taste of the next couple of days – I think we’re bicycling up the coast tomorrow to La Playa Blanca. Despite the fact that I can’t actually bike. Yes, I know everyone says that once you learn, you never forget, but I forgot. We’ll see how that goes.

There may also be river rafting, a really ill-advised trip to Panama in the works, and horseback riding at some point.
Time to have a little whisky and water, get bug sprayed like crazy, and venture out onto the sands.

xoxo,

Jenn