Puerto Viejo Saying Goodbye to the Caribbean - (26) more edit 2009-07-02 - rec# 155

Puerto Viejo This looks like my last month in Costa Rica. There are some places I want to see that I haven't seen yet, and there are some places I want to say goodbye too. Puerto Viejo was my first trip out of San Jose on my own. It was one of the places I had to return to for one last time. I went by the terminal on Sunday to get a ticket, but they were closed, so I went a little early on Monday to make sure I got a seat. I was rather shocked to find my roommate from hell sitting there in the waiting room. Could she be going to Puerto Viejo too? On the same bus as ME? Could I have picked a worse time to go? No…there were several destinations that morning. She could be going to any one of them. She MUST be going to some other place. Well, it turned out that she sat just in front of me in the bus the whole way there. We just ignored each other (what could I do?) and once we arrived in PV she went her way I and I went mine. I never saw her again. Hopefully I never will. I have dove many times with Reef Runners in PV. So many so that they all know me and gave me a deal if I wanted to go out while I was there, so on Tuesday I went diving. The other diver was a first timer from Holland. He learned a lot on those two dives. We ran across a Toad Fish on our second dive…only the second one I've seen. It was nice to get into the water again. The next way I went to Manzania for a hike. It was hot and humid. The walk along the beach was really nice, once I got into the jungle it was not as pleasant. Lots of lizards. Not many other people on the trail. The Dive Shop was having a BBQ that night. It was fun to just hang with everybody. There were several students from the states that were working up in Monte Verde and were taking a break, locals, Canadians, Europeans…and me. After all the rain we've been having in the central valley it was nice to get back into the heat and the sun. Puerto Viejo has always been special for me. I knew I had to go back one last time. Just to hang out and to get into the water.