Our destination was Puerto Viejo:
We talked to a lot of the teachers we work with and we were told to stay at Rocking J's - which is a Hostel in Puerto Viejo. We choose to stay in a hammock since we were only going to be there for one night. Let me just say this: It was definitely an experience. When we got to the Hostel we walked through the gate and the first thing you see is a bar/restaurant. After walking past that we walked towards the front desk and checked in. We got our locker key and we were off to find out hammocks and lockers. We easily found our place their and we started to unpack and get ready for the day. We had met a guy from Sweden and he ended up hanging out with us throughout our time in Puerto Viejo. Side note: He took off three months to travel Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. We all rented bikes ($5 for the day) and rode to la playa: Punto Uva - about 40 minutes on bike. On our way to Punto Uva we ran into the girl we met last weekend that was from Italy. Small world/country.
Once we got there and figured out a way to chain up our bikes - yes we struggled a little bit - we walked towards the beach. Within seconds I heard someone yelling my name. Low and behold Elle - another first grade teacher at Lincoln - spotted me and was hollering at us! We spent the day at the beach with Elle and two other Lincoln teachers. It was nice relaxing and hanging out with other teachers we know. Nicole and I were told to eat dinner at a place where the owner catches his own fish daily and each plate is loaded with food. Well, Nicole and I did it once again...somehow we missed it and went to the wrong place. So after we ate we headed back to Rocking J's to shower and get ready for the night. We were going to go to a bar called Mangos. After showering and buying some beers at the store across the street form Rocking J's. We each had one beer and decided to chill around the bar for a little bit. We got a little bored and went to lay down in our hammocks until it was later and we could head out to Mangos. Sleep (once again) won. This is now the reason why Nicole and I will not travel on a Saturday again...we are just too tired to do anything.
On Sunday we woke up and got ready for the beach. This time we walked to a closer beach and sure enough we ran into another teacher from Lincoln. Within minutes Elle and the others pulled up in their car and we all hung out their for the day. Around 2 Nicole and I headed back to Rocking J's to shower and get lunch before catching the bus back to SJ. We went to a place called Bread and Chocolate. Definitely recommend this place! Their sandwiches were so good. Right around the time we were done Elle pulled up and asked if Nicole and I would like to catch a ride back with them instead of the bus. YES, please! Talk about an interesting ride back...Bertha (Elle's car) got dehydrated about 30 minutes our of SJ. So we had to pull over (mind you we were in the middle of a cloud forest - so it was dark, foggy, and cold). Within 5 minutes a tow truck pulled over next to us and Elle talked to the man. He told us that the car needed water. Poor Bertha...she was thirsty! Luckily we had quite a bit of water in the car, which is good because Bertha needed a lot! The car finally cooled down and we were back on the road with the tow truck following us back to Tibas.
Such a great weekend - full of relaxing and meeting new people.