Trip to Puerto Viejo

Puerto Viejo 2006

Oct. 1, 2006 - 20 Photos

Kerri and I just returned from our trip to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica for the weekend. We got a late start on Friday and didn't get in to town until after dark, but just in time for the beach town's festivities to begin.

As we sat down to eat at Cafe Viejo right in the middle of town, a band struck up and a parade started coming down the street complete with fire dancers, drummers, and dancers. All the kids and adults were dressed in all white and playing and dancing in sync as they made their way through town. After the band had passed and we'd finished our dinner, we headed across the street to an art gallery that had just opened that was displaying local artists' works.

After wrapping up things in town, we headed a few kilometers (we speak in kilometers, kilograms, and celsius now...gotta fit in!) to check into our bungalow at Cariblue. It was a little more "rugged" than we thought it would be, but the hammock hanging on our porch made it just fine!

On Saturday, we jumped in the car and drove up the coast about 50 kilometers to Limon and down the coast about 20 kilometers to Manzanilla to see all of the drivable Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. We made on big stop at a local furniture maker where we bought 2 adirondack chairs and a matching table for the backyard of our house. We came back in the afternoon and laid in the hammock reading books all afternoon.

On Saturday night, we went to dinner at a small Italian restaurant only to find that a finalist from Latin American idol and a guy referred to as Costa Rica's "Ambassador of Tango" were performing. Seriously, I have got to get me a title like that. And then I'll make everyone refer to me as "Ambassador" or "Your Ambassadorship". They were both quite good and we were happy to enjoy the evening's free entertainment!

We took Sunday to rest and relax. We had breakfast in town, laid on the beach, got massages in the afternoon, and hit the hammock again to get caught up on some reading (currently reading "Angels and Demons", the prequel to "The Davinci Code").

On Sunday night, we recreated our Friday night dinner at Cafe Viejo--the stone-baked oven pizzas were just too good. On the walk back from dinner, we hear, "Scott and Kerri?" We turn around and find ourselves standing in front of some friends of ours from our Denver book club who were on their honeymoon. Thousands of miles from the US, in a foreign country, at a small little beach town—and we run into our friends. Small world.

On Monday morning, we woke up early to do a photo shoot. We hit the pool, jungle, and beach. No edited photos yet, but I will post them when they are done. Then we checked out of the hotel and hit the road back to Santa Ana!

Other Highlights: Kerri saw two monkeys. I saw none. We ran out of gas at one point during the trip. Not completely out of gas, but enough to not be able to get to Limon. So we had to go see "Tony" in town. Tony sold us 2 gallons of gas. For $10. Probably not a bad deal considering our other option was to walk 50 kilometers to Limon. Kerri stepped in a fire ant hill. Ouch. Not a highlight. Oh, and we bought our own hammock for the house.

Photo Booths and Funny Faces

When I was growing up, my mom and dad always had a photo on the fridge of the two of them in a photo booth out on a date one night when they were in their early 20s. They look so young and happy in the photo. I think everyone should have a photo like that on their fridge.