Just at the end of the road on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica is the tiny conglomerate of towns summarized by Puerto Viejo. It’s the last few stops before the Panama border which is maybe 20 miles away.
This town is seriously so Slow paced that if there is someone in front of you at the store with more than 5 items.. its better just to come back later, you can wait but it is generally between 5-10 minutes to complete the transaction.
I felt the need to really speed up the tourism process in this place, the walking around could only scratch the surface of this intricate network of small towns. The best way to get around would have to be a dirt bike, I could take it in the cities and up the mountains it would be the perfect fit.
I tried both the motorbike places in town and no one would rent me a dirt bike, I needed a dirt bike because I want to ride in the dirt! cant these people get it. oh yeah were all a little slow here… sorry.. The only options were these silly city scooters and electric golf carts.. I was a little weary of the bike sized tires on the little 115cc hogs, but the girls at the shop promised that they were as sporty as anything I had ever been on before.
I immediately took off on a long distance journey to the small town of Manzanillo at the end of the road.. As luck would have it, just 5 miles down the road and 3 sweet jumps later this metrosexual motorbike has a damn flat tire. I start walking back on the road like a looser and no one will pick me up. Thankfully enough capitalism has spawned its bastard child here and just about every property on the road is a Hotel/Tour/Restaurant/Scuba Rental/ Bike Rental/ Store/ massage/ pizzeria. So I stopped in and rented a sweet beach cruiser to make the journey back to the shop.
I told the shop the good news about their sweet scooter and decided to wait around at the beach while the mechanics put a new wheel on.
Maybe 2 hours later I was up and running again and determined to take this little scooter out to the forsaken city of Manzanillo. The road was good for the most part and I made it to the small town without incident. Feeling the need for some incident I tried to make the harrowing journey out to Punta Mona. It got a little scary halfway down the foot trail, and I decided to abandon the mission knowing full well that I would put the scooter in deep ravine with no hope of getting it back by 6pm.
The hostel I am staying at here called Rockin J’s is pretty laid back. Everyone is in tents in this giant upstairs called the refugee camp. There is a giant yard, beach access and a mandatory showering policy to keep the pachouli levels in check.
5 Comments
April 9, 2008 at 6:45 am
Nice tent village. You should have rode it on the rim. I guess this one was not “Made In Japan”. Stay away from all that whacky tabaccy…
April 9, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Why’d ya ditch the Subi and kayak? Now what are your plans?
April 10, 2008 at 12:06 am
haha. i like the ‘do not smoke marijuana here’ sign….
April 10, 2008 at 12:13 am
so fill me in. how did you get from san jose to the coast? walking?
last i knew you sold the sooby, then hopped on the boss towards san jose. i feel there is some information missing.
April 10, 2008 at 4:37 am
I thought you made a great deal on the sale of the Soooobarooo. Congratulations!