El Mar Caribe: Puerto Viejo y Manzanillo

We arrived after a long day on he bus from San Jose, in Puerto Viejo.  We got off the bus, and walked down the road to Rocking J's Hostel, which is a must see for everyone.  It's about a 15 minute walk from where the bus drops you off.  Rocking J's in the biggest hostel I've ever been to.  It can get a little loud and crazy there, but it really is one of those places you must visit, at least once.  This was my second time...


We spent one night there, and decided to head down the road to Manzanillo for a night or two.  We woke up that morning and started walking along the road to Manzanillo.  It's a gorgeous walk, and a totally flat road, that winds through some jungle setting, and beach front views.  We stopped at a little organic coffee shop along the way, had some iced coffee and granola with yogurt, and continued our journey.  By about 11am it was burning up.  The temperature and humidity combined were killing us.  We kept going, but I don't think we said one word to eachother for a couple hours.  My bags felt heavier than ever.  We finally stopped about half way, and walked out to the beach, where I found some pipas (baby coconuts), and cut a few open to quench my thirst.  Danica didn't want any, even though I insisted it was necessary...
We kept going, and came upon the sign pointing to the tiny beach town of Punta Uva, where we sat down and relaxed a little bit.  We walked back out to the main road, and continued towards Manzanillo.  We kept going, and were almost there, when I decided to put out my thumb and hitch-hike the rest of the way.  We already had walked about 12 miles.  A pickup truck pulled over, and offered us a ride.  We jumped in, and literally right around the next bend was Manzanillo.  Either way, it was a nice relief, and we were exhausted.  We found a little hostel called "Funky Manza Pizza," that was a pizza place with a small hostel behind it.  There was an Argentinian couple, Lucas and Flor, running the place, temporarily, while on a stop on their trip in a Cadillac Limousine from Patagonia to Alaska.  They were super nice, and let us set up our tent out front of the restaurant that night, instead of paying full price for the hostel.  That night, it rained on us, and Danica got super sick.  Luckily she felt better the next day, and we stayed one more night.  We exchanged some stories with Lucas and Flor, and set off back up the road for what would be our last night in Costa Rica, back at Rocking J's...

Snorkeling at Manzanillo

Lucas and Flor's awesome Limo

Manzanillo Sunset

Mosaic art at Rocking J's Hostel