Elena and I are in Puerto Viejo.
The town is beautiful. It’s much more laidback and relaxed than any of the places we’ve been spending time in. Well, actually, the farm was pretty laidback and relaxed. But Puerto Viejo is more laidback and relaxed in a different way. In a beach way.
How we got here:
In case we failed to mention, the hostel we were sitting is kind of on a hill. Rather, it’s at the base of the tallest mountain in Costa Rica, Chirripo. It’s also in the middle of the country. No, Costa Rica isn’t a huge country, but it takes some time to navigate due to it’s drastic topography and primative roadways. Because of this, we left the hostel early in the morning to hike down to the bus stop. This small jaunt took 20 minutes with everything we own on our backs, down steep, rocky road. Then we hopped on the bus.
Buses in Costa Rica are terrifying. As a passanger, you sit quietly in your seat (praying to yourself, perhaps) and try not to put your foot through the floor while you’re jamming on an imaginary brake pedal. Enormous 60 passanger buses are packed with 80 people, and the drivers have the gaul to attempt to pass a string of five semitrucks at once on a slow uphill climb with blind corners and heavy roadside traffic…yikes. To say the least, riding buses in Costa Rica is quiet an experience. I’ve heard of adventure tourism, but this is ridiculous.
Once we arrived in San Jose about 3 hours later we began a game of beat-the-clock. Buses to Puerto Viejo depart San Jose at 1.30 and 3.30. We arrived at the bus terminal at 12.45 and expected (hoped?) to find Tom and his brother Ryan waiting for us. Nope. No familiar faces. The clock struck 1. And then 1.15. It looked like we were doomed to spend two more hours in the smelly, busy bus stop because our friends were running a little behind. No big deal, we’re flexable, we thought as we pulled out our books to pass some time.
But wait! No sooner did I begin reading did I see Tom stepping out of a taxi and walk towards me. Yippie! And then he told me that they were planning on taking the taxi all the way to Puerto Viejo! The bus was supposed to take 4 hours…really? I didn’t think we could afford that and told him so. He told me it was Ryan’s treat. What a guy…
The cab ride was long, probably 3 hours, but much better than a taxi would have been. We arrived at sunset and found the extremely posh resort compound that Ryan and Tom booked for our 10 night stay. Holy smokes, what a nice place! (Calling all Krasovich family members: aren’t we due for a family reunion? I have just the place…)
We will soon post some pictures of the beach and the place we’re staying (Cashew Hills Jungle Cottages), but for a few older pictures that we just got up, click here. If you haven’t checked out our photobucket site, that’s it. We’ll be dumping all of our pictures there throughout the trip, so keep checking on it.
So in summation, we’re here, we’re safe, we’re having the time of our lives. We’ll post again soon, and we’ve been thinking of you all often. WE LOVE YOU!!!
Garrison and Elena
