Veritas Party & Puerto Viejo

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I'm sorry it has been awhile since my last post. Last week I didn't do anything to spectacular, mainly just classes and studying for my midterm. This week should have some interesting events, so stay tuned!

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Welcome party to Veritas

On the 15th, Veritas, CEA, and the other international programs had a welcome party for all the students at the university. It was kind of odd that we had it the second week of school, but I guess the reason was the Tico students didn’t start till that week. We were all hoping for a decent barbeque, but it ended up being a small sausage wrap. So that was pretty disappointing.

Everything in general was relatively boring until they brought in a small drum core and dancers. They were amazing. Some of the drummers even were able to spin their drums while playing. I was impressed with how long the dancers were able to go as well. I think the entire performance lasted around a half an hour and they danced the entire time. I wish I was able to move like they did!

Puerto Viejo

There is one word to describe Puerto Viejo. Crazy. Ok, so two words, crazy and touristy. It was amazing how different the Caribbean coast is. It is almost like a different country. I guess that is what people think when they come to the US. The entire region had a different vibe compared to San Jose. This is mainly because of the Jamaican and African influence of the area.

We went out on the town on Friday. It was fun to listen to live reggae and reggae-tone. The bad part about the bars was the ridiculous amount of marijuana that was smoked. It just hung in the air. Many of the bars were right on the beach. One that was call Jhonny's actually had tables and chairs right on the beach so you could sit out there while still listening to the music. The local guys were also much more pushy there. In San Jose, they will whistle at you on the streets or say a few words. In Puerto Viejo, especially near the dance floors, the guys actually tried to grab some of my friends. That was a little unnerving. Thankfully it didn't happen to me at all but I had to help block some for my friends. As long as we stayed in groups we were fine.

On Saturday we were able to go to a great beach. There we could just hang out for the morning or go snorkeling or kayaking. I decided to give kayaking a try. However, I was a little later than everyone else that decided to go kayaking so I tried to get the kayak out on my own as one of my friends waited for me farther out. Well lets just say the kayak kicked my butt. I was able to get into it twice, only to be tipped out. The one time I actually ended up underneath it. Having seeing my problems, a guy in my group came out and helped me by pushing over the set of waves that I couldn't get past. Once I got past the initial waves, I was fine. It was a lot of fun going out in the kayak. While I didn't get too crazy trying to catch waves or go too far, I was still proud of myself going out on the kayak. After I decided I had enough kayaking, I just chilled on the beach or out in the shallow parts of the ocean.

As we headed back to our hotel around 12:30, I was pretty excited because I didn't seem to be too burnt. Boy was I wrong. The burn slowly crept over my body the rest of the afternoon. My shoulders and upper back were pretty burnt along with a few other spots on my back. And then there was the back of my legs. From the bottom of my swimming suit to my calves were bright red. It is really difficult to sit down when your butt is burnt. All I know is thank goodness for aloe vera.

The rest of the time at Puerto Viejo was free time. A group of us went and looked at all the souvenir shops (there was a ridiculous amount) and chilling at the beaches near our hotel. I was really surprised at how little Spanish was spoken there. But, it is a very touristy area so nearly all the shop and restaurant owners spoke at least some English. And since I am very white, everywhere I went I was spoken to in English. That was kind of unfortunate, since I would like to at least try and practice my Spanish outside the classroom. Speaking of touristy, the food prices were way higher compared to San Jose. On Friday night we went to a soda where our tour guide said the prices were good. We were given the choice of beef, chicken, or fish casado. Since I have been eating chicken nearly every day, I was excited to get fish. Little did I know the fish casado was nearly double the price of the chicken. My plate of food ended up costing 7,000 colones. That ends up being around $13. That is a big jump from what I was used to paying in San Jose, where a similar meal costs less than 3,000.

I was also really surprised at the amount of stray dogs in the area. It was sad to see all of them running around looking for scraps. While there are some in San Jose, there were many more in Puerto Viejo. Most were very skinny. I couldn't even recognize the breeds some were because they had so many different kinds in them. It was really sad.

My overall impression of Puerto Viejo is that it wasn't really worth it. While it was a really fun weekend, the prices, overwhelming amount of tourists, and marijuana took away from the beauty of the area. If I ever come back to Costa Rica (which I hope I do) I would avoid it and try and find a less touristy area of the Caribbean coast.

Here is the link to the rest of my pictures. Hope you enjoy! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2269216&l=0e791&id=16919173

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