This weekend was definitely one for the books! So many first to add and many things checked off my trip list and my bucket list!

We left the city at about noon on Friday and began our 6 hour trip to the Caribbean coast. Buses here will always make me nervous but it is definitely well worth it. When we arrived in Puerto Viejo it was already dark but you wouldn't have known it from the temperature. As we got off the bus so did a group of other American students from a different University going to stay at the same hostel as us. It was a LONG walk to Rocking J's the first time. Rocking J's is on the opposite side of town from the bus stop.

When we arrived at the hostel however it was well worth it. It was like checking into a giant party. As none of us were too keen on exploring the town in the dark we decided to stay at the hostel and have some dinner. Needless to say the drinks started flowing and Kaitlin, Tina and myself got just a tad more outgoing. We met some pretty great people that night including some people from both Germany and France.

That night was our first time sleeping in hammocks. For $7 that is one of the best night sleeps I've had. Especially in Costa Rica. With the temperature outside all I needed was a light sheet and I slept like a baby. Included with the hammock is the sheet, a locker and a free coconut when you check in.

The next morning we rented bikes from the hostel and rode off toward what people were saying the best beaches in the area. We stopped at the first one Punta Uva and absolutely loved it. There weren't many people there so we were able to just play in the water and lay out withouth being disturbed. Once we had had our fill we decided to head down the road to Manzanillo where everyone claimed was AMAZING. When we got there we had gotten our hopes up so much that the beach was not all that we had expected. Being over crowded Tina, Kaitlin and myself decided to turn around and head back to Punta Uva to spend the rest of the afternoon.

All three of us fell asleep on the beach and were scared half to death when a women selling fruit woke us up. Since we had skipped lunch we headed back into town to find a snack and chill out for a little while before meeting the rest of our group for dinner out. We found what quickly became one of our favorite places in Puerto Viejo. A little coffee/cafe shop on the water called Pirates. We each had a cold chai which was delicious and shared a dark chocolate energy truffle. Everything in Puerto Viejo is focused around health and living well. It was very nice.

The bike rides to and from the beach were so relaxing. It's a beautiful veiw of the jungle straight form your bike. Many times our conversations would cut short because we would all be entranced by the veiw and our own thoughts. Only a couple times was that trance broken, when we could have sworn we heard king kong (turns out to be tiny monkeys we saw later), the most disgusting spiders are stretching across the powerlines or when the three big hill came up. If we wouldn't have had beach cruisers that would have been much easier!

For dinner we went to another hostel that was known for tacos and live music. I had the best shrimp tacos of my life and would eat them again and again. Since we had been quite the party animals the night before Tina, Kaitlin and myself headed back to Rocking J's by 9:30 and were asleep in our hammocks soon after. The party at J's did not hold up for us however and we were woken at 11 when things started going again. Jay himself gave us free shots and had us up and being social once again.

Before we went to dinner on Saturday night we recieved the awesome news that our teacher had cancelled class for Monday morning. Meaning that we could stay an extra day on the beach. Which of course we took full advantage of. The rest of the group still had class on Monday so they jumped on the 11 o'clock bus Sunday morning as Kaitlin and I enjoyed another day on the beach. We stayed in town Sunday instead of riding to the other beaches to save money and I'm sure glad we did.

Sunday was by far the prettiest day of the weekend. Saturday had been overcast and warm while Sunday was bright blue sky and hot. The water was perfect with very little waves so we were able to float in the water with out a worry in the world.

Sunday was a day of relaxing for us. We did almost nothing. After spending the morning on the beach we returned to our favorite Cafe "Pirates" and had a mango smoothie. Then returned back to J's to nap in the hammocks we rented again for the evening. Once we woke up we had a great time listening to some Australians talking and when it came time that they were talking to us, we had a hard time understanding. They made fun of us because "we speak the same language." I would beg to differ. It may be the same words but they say them completely differently! :)

Since my parents are coming to Puerto Viejo in December, Kaitlin and I decided to walk down the road to see if we could find the place. As we left the bartender offered us coconuts so we could drink the water as we walked. Coconut water is really growing on me, and this one tasted extra perfect.

We were unable to find the house, but lucked into finding an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING beach. One that when we were sitting there staring at the ocean, we wondered why we had gone to any of the other ones. It can't be too far from where my parents are staying so I'm very excited to go back. We sat and drank in the beautiful veiw until it started to get dark then made our way back to the hostel for the evening.

Rocking J's is a completely different place on a Sunday night. It's quite and almost no one is staying there so we were able to just hang out and relax for the evening. We called it an early night since we were catching the first bus out this morning.

I am VERY excited that I get to spend more time there later on in December because I'm afraid that I won't be able to make it back there in the time I have left in Costa Rica.

Pictures coming soon! Love always!