This weekend, I had the opportunity to explore the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. Puerto Viejo located on the eastern coast of Costa Rica, as they kicked off the Afro- cultural festival, celebrating African art and culture. Friday Afternoon, I took a 5 hour bus, drive to explore the sandy beaches and tropics of the coast. Along with my friends, we left San Jose from 4pm and arrived at 9 pm. Upon arrival, scenery and vibes were different, everything was slower, and the people were more sociable. The scenery was eye popping, as the beaches were vast, full of coconut trees, banana tress, bamboo trees and etc. Upon arrival, we took a taxi to a popular hostel, called Rocking J's. The hostel was huge, filled with party goers, from all walks of life. They had two levels, upstairs they had tenths and hammocks for relaxation, but downstairs was a different,as they had bar/restaurant where people ate and drank. The downstairs was huge, bigger than any hostel I have ever stayed in. Everyone drank and got acquainted drinking beer. Facing the direction of the beach, there couldn't have been a better setting. Later that night, My friends and I had the opportunity go out on the town and check the night-life. Everywhere we went we heard places playing roots or dance hall. People were out in the street dancing and hanging out on the corner vibing, and talking in Patois, which closely resembles the Jamaican dialect. They greeted us, as they gave us ideas about how to kick off the first night in Puerto Viejo. Everyone in the group felt like it was going to be a good night, especially considering we've been drinking the entire day, so everyone was in place. After walking twenty minutes, we found a place that played really good reggae music. The room was filled across the board, with locals and foreigners. We stayed a few hours before headed back to the hostel, because we had big plans the next day. The next morning, my friends and I rented bikes and took a ride towards the southern region exploring the country side, awww man, the many things we saw up the coast. Monkeys, iguanas, lizards, birds and etc. The bike ride was 15 km, which took us an hour. Along the way, we at remote areas were we saw great areas for swimming and picnicking. We stopped at the end of the trial and stopped and talked to some locals. They gave us in the inside scoop about the festivities that was going to transpire that weekend, They told us stories about the the history of Puerto Viejo and why foreigners liked to come their. There was one particular person who wanted to be known as anonymous, when he referred to himself as nobody. He has the ability to go off in tangents, about stories nobody could understand, especially a man as himself having a low pitch and stuttering voice. My friends and I got a big kick out it, we thought that was diffidently the highlight of the afternoon. We went back to the hostel, and prepared for the crazy night we had in store. We went back to rocking J´s and changed into our night wear. We were were hungry and exhausted from our long day, and we wanted to continue explore the lifestyle of Caribbean , so we decided to get some Caribbean food. Along the way we asked some locals where would be a good for that, and they weren´t shy letting us know where the popular places were. By chance, we stumbled upon some locals that were preparing a tasty dish consist of rice and beans with coconut milk, boiled green bananas, coleslaw with shredded cabbage, with a nice passion fruit drink to wash it down with. It was their first day of business, and my friend and I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, even though it wasn´t one of the places the locals recommended. They were extremely nice and inviting into their new establishment. We sat and talked with them and made jokes. All in all it was pretty good, considering it was their first day opening their business. Later on,we decided to take a walk around town and check out the events that was going on later on that night. We heard reggae music blasting along the streets, as we were checking out the local spots. We went back to the hostel and decided to pre-game and see where the night took us from that point on. We relaxed in the hammocks upstairs for a little, and made ourselves feel extremely relaxed. We had heard earl during that day, there was going to be a place a long one of the beaches that was keeping a party playing dance hall and reggae music. My friend Flo and I were excited, because we loved to dance to bashment, which is really hard cure music coming from Jamaica. We went, it was slow at first, but as the night went on, the excitement build up. By midnight, most of the people that were on the beach, made their way into the hunt. Everyone was having a good night, living in the moment, and having a all out dancing moment. Everyone was pairing up with each other and grinding on the dance hall floor. By the end of the night, My friends and I were exhausted and hungry, lucky we saw venders along streets selling more Caribbean food. I had the opportunity to try some beef patty, before heading back to the hostel. The night was awesome, and we made the best of it. As I went back to the hostel we were so tired, everyone fell asleep. The next very next day, we went to the beach and relaxed and soaked up some rays and mediated on the experience of being there, because we had to head back to the city later on that day. We had a chance to find a coral reef along the beaches as we swam and talked to some local kids who were having fun with us. The rest of the day went by fairly quickly, as we had to take the 4 o'clock bus to return to San Jose. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the town seeing the different souvenirs stores and merchandise they were selling. One moment that stuck in my mind is when I was hurrying to go to the bus station to catch the bus, and a local dreadlocks man from his hut store asked me, were was I going in such a hurry, and I told him back to the jungle, and he replied, yah mon, no place like paradise. We both smirked and laughed as I told him cool, and see you later. Puerto Viejo is diffidently a place that people should explore, if you want to see the tranquility of Costa Rica, especially if you can get up early enough to see the sunrise on the beach.
