Bocas del Torro

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SO! Much to tell...and its going to be hard to put it into a big blog....so bare with me.

From Santa Teresa, we headed to the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica to Puerto Viejo. Biggest tourist town ever!
We had to transfer buses in San Jose and we had our first experience with being ripped off. Nothing huge, but we had to transfer to another bus terminal so we took a cab. We were chatting with this guy that was on our first bus, asking where he was going, and he said the same terminal as us. So we decided to share a cab. Once we found a cabbie, they started conversing in spanish and we didn´t have a clue what was being said. All of sudden, we were in the cab, and the cabbie was driving away without the dude we were going to share a cab with and he told us that it was because he was sure this guy was going to steal our bags. So we were like, oh. Nice.
So mistake number one, we didn´t negotiate a price because he said it was by km. So we assumed there was a meter. Anyways, no meter. So we got taken for a ride and ended up paying twice the price we should have because when we put up a fuss, he threatened to take us to the cops. Psssh.

Anyways, once in Puerto Viejo, we checked in to a nice enough little place and went to have a nice Valentine´s day dinner together. Our day had been pretty long (6am-7pm) so we treated ourselves to a nice little spot.
The next day we ran into friend´s of katia´s who rented a house down in that area and chilled with them for the day. The next day, we stayed at their place further down the coast in Playa Chiquita, a tiny little beach bum town that is essentially deserted. We went to the beach and enjoyed the seclusion...up until a 40 year old naked dude came up to us asking if we had the time. He stayed for a just a little too long and then continued his walk down the beach, but of course he had to stop on the way back to ask if we´d take his picture. Again, still naked. EVERYTHING hanging out. I had to have Katia take the picture cause there was no way I would be able to hold a straight face. I was doing pretty well, up until he asked what pose he should do...should he get down on his hands and knees???? Oh MY GOD. I lost it. Right then and there. And Katia just said, umm, no. Thats ok. You just stand right there.
Anyways, needless to say, we immediately got up and went for lunch at a cute little french owned bakery that also made pizzas. We had a delicious pizza!
We spent the evening just hanging out at Julie and Sally´s place and then got up and did it all over again the next day. Threw a frisbee around, went to a secret restaurant on the beach where this argentinian guy started his own little secret business serving lunch and boy was it GOOD! Its down this windy little path in the middle of nowhere but then you come across this little spot and its just super cute.
That night, Sally´s mom and uncle showed up for a visit and it got a little wild. A little louder than we were used to since things had been nice and quiet for a while.
We took off this morning for Panama. We made it to Bocas del Torro, where we will likely spend a few days. We´re looking into doing one more dive before coming home...in a WEEK! Baaa.
More to come later....
Ashley

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