Mark and I had a very easy night bus ride through Panama to the border of Costa Rica. We got there very early and it was wet so we decided to find a cafe and have some breakfast whilst we waited for the border to open.

We had to cross the border in the rain and scale this wooden bridge across a raging river whilst trying to avoid the truck coming at us the other way! Fortunately, when we got to the other side the rubber stamping was quick and we only had to wait 10mins for a bus to Puerto Viejo.

The bus journey was about 1.5hrs and passed through some really beautiful scenery. Mark kept calling out every km "Look at the jungle!" When the bus dropped us off we were in the main street and stopped for a drink whilst we tried to locate our accommodation. The town isnt very big so this didnt take long.

We walked to our hostel, Hotel Puerto Viejo, and were a little disappointed with what we found but knew the town was fairly busy. It was a very basic place with small rooms and lots of surfers! Not that we should have expected anything else. It did have 2 Blue Heeler dogs though so that was nice.

The weather was very muggy and overcast and so we rested on our first day and waited for the girls to arrive. In typical style we could hear Kate before we could see her when she came marching through the door. We had moved to a 4 bed room at the front of the hotel that had mesh walls meaning everyone could see in!! It was great to catch up with the girls over sushi and hear about their time in Quito and Boca del Toras.

We lasted one more night in the Hotel Puerto Viejo before cracking it the next day and moving on. We were kept up all night with everyone returning home at various hours and mesh walls dont provide much of a sound barrier.

Our new hotel, Jacaranda, was beautiful and in a really tranquil garden setting. We had a great room right at the back with a big verandah and were able to cook as well. The owner was pretty rude most of the time but would then feel bad and try and justify her personality (disorder). In the end we just tried to avoid her.

One thing we all immediately noticed about Costa Rica was how much more expensive it is than any other country we had been to. It is clearly set up for holidaying americans and tries to capitalise on pricing things in the $US. Given there were 4 of us we tried to save money by cooking for ourselves where possible and the girls made some great dishes like fish tacos, chicken pesto pasta etc.

Unfortunately, most of our photos show the beaches when it is overcast. We did have two sunny days when we were at the beach but we didnt take cameras in case they were stolen. There were some really nice areas to swim and the water was so clear at times that we could see small fish swimming around us.

On our last day we got rained out completely. The rain started the night before and hadnt stopped by the time we left at 11am the next day. The wet season starts in May and the caribbean side always gets hit first. We decided to move further up the coast in search of some animals at Tortuguero. When we went to get the bus they told us that the road was flooded and our only option was to go to San Jose. We asked when this bus was due to go and they replied "it just left, but if you are quick you will catch it!" . So off we hopped into a cab and pretty much yelled "quick...to the bus!". We caught is not far up the road with 4 other cars that had already flagged it down. We had prepared for a 1 hour bus ride but were now on a 5 hour journey..nice! We were all wet from the rain as well.

Puerto Viejo was a nice spot but unfortunately for us the weather was too inconsistent and there wasn´t a lot to do when it was raining. Word on the street was the sun was out on the pacific side so that is where we are headed! xoxo