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Rude!
I didnt realised til i had zoomed in what I was taking a picture of!! I arrived in Puerto Viejo after staying just one night in San Jose. To be honest I didn't see much of the capital as I was tired from our last night of partying in Havana and so just wanted to catch up on sleep. My hostel was quite strange and they put me in a dorm room with 3 men over 40. One of which would laugh out loud in his sleep and scare the s**t out of me and the others were quite amusing conversation... I'm pretty sure they were alcoholics and not really the sharpest tools in the toolbox. During one conversation they assured me that Uruguay was in fact an island off Brazil and when I protested otherwise they got rather annoyed and assured me that, as Americans, they knew about that kind of thing and they were right. With that kind of company, sleep is an excellent option.
I took the bus from San Jose to Puerto Viejo with a lot of other tourists. The bus journey was fine apart from my handbag being stolen when we went into a really dark tunnel. Luckily though, I caused a bit of an uproar making everyone look for
Playa Blanca
These all look rather cloudy and miserable but it was a welcome break from the sun for the hike! it and searching seats until one guy 'found' it (in a place I had already looked) so I spent the rest of the journey giving him evils and other passengers agreed that he was a dodgy geezer. The driver, by the way, was pretty helpful saying that he'd show me the Police station once we got there even though I pointed out to him that the bag must still be on the bus as we hadn't stopped and no-one had yet got off!
Anyway, I got off at Cahuita, thinking that the place I was volunteering at was located at nearby Playa Negra. But who'd have thought that there are actually two places called Playa Negra 30 minutes away from each other and that I was actually due to be at the other. So after checking in and out of a nice room in Cahuita, I got the local bus and arrived at the more lively beach town of Puerto Viejo. I booked into a hostel called Rocking Js, a huge backpacker paradise with a choice of hammocks, tents (indoor and outdoor), stuffy dorms and cabins. I originally chose a dorm but decided to move to a tent when
the dorm was so stinky and hot that i couldn't bear it. When the next morning I couldn't find a single toilet which wasn't blocked or overflowing, I checked out and went to another place in town. Given that I am here for 2 weeks, I thought it was worth splashing out an extra dollar a night for a single room with fan in the centre of town. I have been going up there quite regularly though as it seems to be the most popular place with other travellers and given that I am now on my own, its quite nice to have some company. Nicki's not really that interesting 24 hours a day.
Three times a week I have been working at a place called the Bridge (www.elpuente-thebridge.org). Run by a retired American couple who moved to Costa Rica for a quiet life (like so many other Americans). They ended up starting a non-profit organisation helping the indigenous community, the BriBri who live far up a track by their house in a Reserve in the jungle. The organisation started when they saw emaciated BriBri walking past their house and they used to give them bowls of vegetable soup
before they started the long trek back to their huts in the jungle. Now they hold 3 weekly soup kitchens, pay for the children to go to school (the first in their families to get an education) and provide locals with loans so that they can start businesses or work more easily to get themselves out of poverty. I have been trying to help out with the soup kitchens and teaching some English (the kids have to learn Spanish and English simultaneously!). One lady I met, who is 102 years old and recently moved nearer to town to be nearer her sons (80-somethings themselves) has lived her whole life in the jungle and only learnt 2 months ago that the Earth is round. She also asked where I was from and when I said "England" she asked how many days I had had to walk to get there!". Such a sweety! I also met a jungle doctor who uses all kinds of plants to treat his BriBri patients in a hut in the middle of the jungle.
Anyway the Stevens are really amazing people so if any of you want to donate some money then please see their website
😉
Ok I'll stop advertising the Bridge now. Apart from volunteering, I have spent most time on the beach. Puerto Viejo has a really Caribbean feel to it. There is reggae playing everywhere and the bars spill out onto the beach. Unfortunately it is quite a crime and drugs-ridden place so not the safest at night but I have been making sure I walk around with people all the time. We have been on bike rides out to Manzanillo and Cahuita to visit other beaches and to trek in the National park to see monkeys and racoons. From what I have seen, Costa Rica is absolutely beautiful. There are palm trees and banana trees everywhere and beautiful beaches. It is also quite a surf spot although the waves are far too big for me to attempt it again, but its pretty impressive to watch. Its now the beginning of rainy season so the weather has been slightly temperamental. I'll be heading to the Pacific side later in the trip and should get some more sun there 😉
I'll be staying here in Puerto Viejo until this coming weekend when I will head North to other parts of Costa
Rica and then on into Nicaragua and Honduras for my last 3 weeks away.
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