By Brenda Ortega Abroad writer
This past weekend I went to a place in Costa Rica called Puerto Viejo, which is about four and a half hours from Heredia. Puerto Viejo is made up of miles of coastline with tons of breathtaking views, delicious Tico food and even better people.
The morning of my trip I overslept the 4:30 a.m. bus that I was supposed to catch with the rest of my friends, but luckily my host mom woke me up in just enough time to catch the 10 a.m. bus. I did not want to go at first because I was kind of scared to travel alone considering the recent shootings there, but I managed to motivate myself and get out of bed and run out of the house in a hurry.
I arrived at the San Jose station, from which I took a bus directly to Puerto Viejo. I was asleep for most of the ride because I was exhausted from the night before and I woke up when we made a stop, which I mistakenly thought was Puerto Viejo. I texted my friend from my disposable phone saying that I had arrived. He said, “There is no way you are in Puerto Viejo in less than four hours.” I started to freak out because I thought I had got on the wrong bus, but then I saw people getting back on the bus and realized that it was only a pit stop for food and the bathroom. When I got back on the bus the girl that I had been sitting next to asked me where I was from and we got to chatting for the rest of the trip. Her name was Melissa and she was from Germany but had been in Costa Rica for almost a year with a volunteer program. Her Spanish was basically perfect; it was pretty amazing meeting someone who speaks three languages with such proficiency.
I had finally arrived in Puerto Viejo and the first thing I noticed was the humidity. My friends Nic and Cody met me at the stop and we walked 10 minutes to our hostel called Lazy Loft. I had never been to a hostel before and it was a little strange at first because there were about 20 strangers sharing the same sink, two bathrooms and two showers.
Our hostel was right above a bar and restaurant, which was perfect for us because that meant we did not have to stray too far for food or fun.
After I arrived I decided to get ready for the night and head out to another bar. I met the manager of the hostel, Justin, who is from California and is from the same area that I live in so we talked a bit about our hometown. Then I met two other girls, Chloe and Jade, who work there and are also from California. What are the odds that I would meet three other people from California in Puerto Viejo?
That night my friends decided to go skinny dipping but I chose not to partake in it because I wanted to watch the fire show. While watching the fire show I bonded with two guys from England, Marlon and James. They were telling me about their plans for the rest of their trip around the world. I danced to trance music with them at a club along with Chloe, who was celebrating her 23rd birthday and her last day in Puerto Viejo. I was glad that I was not with my group of friends because I would have never met such great people.
My weekend taught me to separate myself from the crowd and make a name for myself. Puerto Viejo is a place to party a little, eat a lot and relax even more.
The editorials of The Quill reflect the views of individual members of the editorial board. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the entire editorial board or of the university. The content of the Forum page is the responsibility of the editor in chief and the Forum editor
