We arrived in the afternoon, our excitement growing as we passed black sand beaches and beautiful clear blue waters on the way. We had read about a really nice hostel (I forget the name) but when we arrived they were totally full.
So we took a chance and followed a pretty drunk local to a hotel down the street. On our walk (his stumble) he pointed out various elements of the town to us in barley comprehensible Spanish. To our surprise though, he took us to Hotel Puerto Viejo which was really a very nice hotel, $12 a person for a private room.
We grabbed Casadas (a typical dish consisting of a meat, rice, beans, salad, and plantains) for dinner at a small beachfront restaurant or "Soda" as they call it here in Costa and then went to sleep early that night.
The next day after eating our standard breakfast of bananas and mangos, we wandered the town. The are many small stands selling goods, and just as many stores selling sarongs, surfing attire, and souvenirs.
A short walk north of town is a really nice black sand beach with very calm waters and despite town being fairly busy, it barely ever has anyone on it. So we spent our first day lounging and swimming there. That afternoon we discovered Rocking J's hostel and decided to move there the next day.
That night, as if the hotel was mad at us for planning to leave, I was awoken to a pleasant surprise. At around one in the morning I felt a drip coming from the ceiling onto my head, after a few drips I realized it was not stopping and caught one in my palm. After smelling this liquid I realized that a cat was peeing through the thatched roof above my head and that I was literally being peed on! I woke up in a daze and went to go take a shower and scrub the cat piss off. No one in the hotel was awake so I curled to the side of the bed where the pee couldn't reach and tried to get some sleep. I was quite grateful that we had decided I move hostels the next day.
Rocking J's is a little ways outside of town ( to the south) but it is a really lovely place. Everything in the hostel is either covered in mosaic or painted creating a really beautiful atmosphere. We were excited becaue for $6 you can hang up your hammock and sleep in that, and for only $1 more they will provide you with a hammock.
After checking in we headed to Cahuita, a small surfing town north of puerto Viejo (a 30 min bus ride $3 round trip) where many go to snorkel, fish, explore the national park, and of course, surf. We decided to go to the national park, which is free but we each gave a $2 donation. You can also pay a guide to take you through the park and they will help you spot white faced monkeys, howler monkeys, sloths, birds, lizards, snakes, etc.
Another great day trip is to rent a bike and head down to manzanilla and/or Punta Uva to check out the gorgeous beaches there. There is also a jaguar rescues center right outside of town that has many monkeys, sloths, and other animals to see in close quarters.
Puerto Viejo is a lovely beach town and I highly suggest it to tourists wanting to do something a bit different than the tried and true west coast of Costa Rica.
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