June 3-5 - Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Costa Rica

Mosaics at Rockin J's Hostel

After leaving Nicaragua we took a bus down to Liberia. Since Kat was still feeling sick she decided to see a doctor in Liberia so I said goodbye to Misha and Kat and took a bus to San Jose. I arrived there around 7pm, found a hostel, checked emails and went to bed early. The next morning I was trying to decide whether to stick around San Jose for the day or head over to Caribbean coast when I started talking to a girl staying in the same room as me. She was heading out right then to Puerto Viejo which is where I planned on going, so I packed up my stuff and went with her.
Everyone I talked to that had been to Puerto Viejo recommended a hostel there called Rockin J's. We headed there from the bus stop checked in. The staff were not overly friendly but the hostel had a lot of character. There were mosaics everywhere that we learned later we done by various guests that had stayed at the hostel. We also learned that the rumors about the owner being kinda sleazy were true, although he was harmless.


After throwing our stuff in the room and meeting our other dorm mate from Norway, the three of us threw on our swimsuits and headed for the beach and for some lunch. We took the evening to just relax and catch up on emails and such.

The next day was spent on the beach and biking around town. The coast is beautiful. The water was a little too rough to swim in and there were rocks in the water and beaches, but the sand was nice and there were palm trees everywhere. It was also and hot. That night there was a full moon party at the hostel with all you can drink "jungle juice", togas and a bonfire on the beach.

Despite feeling absolutely horrible the next morning, the three of us packed up our stuff and caught the bus to Manzanillo which is about 30 minutes south of Puerto Viejo. I was a little disappointed about Rockin J's because of the awesome things I had heard about but it was still fun. Just wasn't the greatest hostel that I had ever stayed at.