Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
After spending a few days at the very americanized Tamarindo, I decided to head off to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. They have a few Caribbean cities, but after talking to other travelers, I decided that Puerto Viejo would be the best place to chill out there. I left Tamarindo very early - the local buses leave 5:30a.m to go to San Jose and I had 1 hour or so break before taking the next bus to go to Puerto Viejo.
I did not have time to book any hostel accommodation for that first night and I was hoping when I get off the bus, somebody will try to come and sell me some cheap hostel.. as sometimes it's hard when you get to a new city to walk around with a big backpack looking for accommodation. Indeed when I got off the bus, somebody came and was trying to pimp out the accommodations where he's get a commission at. I checked out two places and liked the second place he brought me. For $10 a night, I had my own private wooden cabin(with shared showers) and it was only 1 1/2 blocks from the beach and all the main bars/restaurants of Puerto Viejo. I can't remember the name of the place.
Anyways, I stayed in Puerto Viejo for 3 days. Not much to do in Puerto Viejo, but it has a nice Caribbean beach and very chill out and mellow town. I rented bicycles for a couple of day to go and bike around and just doing nothing in particular. I really enjoyed the chill out time and the not so-much americanized touristy feel that I had in the pacific coast.
Sunsets are so colorful and vivid as compared to the ones on the Pacific Coast which were gorgeous as well. The sunset pictures in this gallery are real colors.. not enhanced colors... It's really that gorgeous !!
