Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica - Days 26 & 27

Friday, March 8

Happy Friday from the east coast of Costa Rica! I woke up early again to exercise and do some work on my computer while Andi and the kids slept. Andi is finally sleeping now — he was up a lot of the night with a stomach ache again. It doesn’t help that nuts fall from the trees all hours of the night and land on our metal roof causing a loud BANG! noise. These nuts are small, but they sure make a big commotion.

Tory and Aden woke up around 6:30am, and I got them breakfast. Isis, the owner of our airbnb, gave Tory and Aden a big bag of Legos to play with during our stay. Aden parked it under the kitchen table as soon as he woke up and played there all morning.

Later, Andi and Tory learned about the scientific properties of matter while laying in the hammock. It’s taken my brain some serious re-training to accept that learning doesn’t have to happen in a classroom. Our kids learn anywhere and everywhere, even in their pajamas.

Andi said he felt alright this morning, albeit a little tired from not sleeping well, so we followed through with our plans to meet our new Canadian friends Adam, Super and their 4-year-old daughter Cleo at the beach this afternoon. We met them during our stay at Chilamate Rainforest Eco Retreat, and we all hit it off! It just so happens they are in Puerto Viejo the same time we are, so we decided to get together today.

On our way out the door to Playa Negra, Aden had a huge meltdown about getting dressed in his swimming suit. He did NOT want to go to the beach he informed us. Aren’t we horrible parents for making this child go to the beach beside the beautiful ocean?! Sorry, Aden. You are overruled.

We met Adam, Super, and Cleo at Bananas Hotel & Restaurant on Playa Negra. It’s a black sand beach which is always neat to see. We found some lounge chairs in the shade and placed a drink order for coffee and waters with the server. The waves were intense here, so the kids played in the sand instead of swimming.

Initially, we were hesitant about traveling to the east coast of Costa Rica. Andi has always heard this side of the county isn’t as safe, but so far we haven’t experienced anything here that’s led us to believe those rumors are true. Like anywhere, it’s a good idea to watch your stuff (aka: don’t set your bag or your cell phone down and then walk away), but I have yet to be in a situation where I felt unsafe or uncomfortable. We did see this sign posted at Bananas which reminded customers to take a cab instead of walking on the beach at night. The nearest big city, Limon, has a bad reputation for being shady, but that’s over an hour away from where we are now.

We rinsed the kids off around 12:30pm, and walked up to Bananas Restaurant for lunch. This is an adults-only hotel, but they didn’t seem to mind our three children running around like wild maniacs. Aden, Tory, and Cleo played in the gardens around the restaurant while the adults ordered food. The menu was typical American food — Super and I each ordered the chicken wrap and Andi and Adam each ordered the chicken pineapple skewers. Tory must have been starving because it’s the first time on this trip I’ve seen her devour her cheeseburger.

As we packed up to leave after lunch, I searched all over for Aden’s missing red beach towel. He set it down somewhere while they were playing in the garden and of course he couldn’t remember where he put it. Andi asked one of the employees and they said they put it in the hotel wash. Ha! It’s next to impossible to get anything to air-dry here in the rainforest, so the plus side is that we got a free wash out of the deal. We’ll have to come back to Bananas later to claim our towel.

The seven us of decided to move farther down the beach to a spot that was safer for the kids to swim. We drove and Adam, Super, and Cleo rode their rented bicycles. Bicycling as a mode of transportation is huge in Puerto Viejo. The town is very flat and beaches and restaurants are easily accessible. We stopped for ice cream on the way to the second beach because it was HOT outside!

The kids had a great time swimming and playing at the beach. Puerto Viejo beaches have a totally different vibe than anywhere else we’ve been in Costa Rica. There’s lots of palm trees giving off shade, and the people (both locals and tourists) have a chill, relaxed vibe. Some of the beaches on the West Coast are huge, walkable beaches where the sand stretches on for miles. The beaches here are shorter and more narrow with more trees.

Just before sunset, we said good-bye to our Canadian friends. They’ll be leaving Puerto Viejo tomorrow, but we hope to meet them again someday if we’re ever their way in Montreal or they’re our way in Wisconsin.

We stopped by the grocery store on the way home, and Andi also stopped by the pharmacy to talk to a pharmacist about his stomach. It’s still hurting and he said he's starting to feel really dehydrated and lethargic. The English-speaking pharmacist gave him some medicine for diarrhea-like symptoms and also a probiotic liquid to drink. It’s a bit of a gamble to take a medication while traveling that’s not prescribed by our own doctor and the boxes/bottles are written in a language that we don’t speak, but we’ve learned from experience that it’s silly not to get medical help while you’re traveling and sick. We’ve had previous trips ruined which could have easily been avoided if we’d just gone to the doctor wherever we were. While we were at the pharmacy, I also grabbed some sinus medicine and Kleenex as I can feel a head cold coming on.

Back at the airbnb, Andi cooked pork chops and green beans for dinner and everyone enjoyed it. That’s always a win! When 6:30pm felt like 10:00pm, we knew it was going to be an early bedtime for all of us.

Saturday, March 9

I woke up at my usual time this morning with the worst sinus pressure. Ugh! My head felt like it was going to explode. No workout for me this morning. Andi and I hung out in bed scrolling social media until the kids woke up, and then we all got dressed and headed into town for the Saturday farmer’s market in Puerto Viejo.

Farmer’s markets are just about the best thing ever while traveling. They have such good energy! We’d read that this one in particular is a big one with lots of fruits & vegetables for sale, homemade yogurt and pastries, as well as artisan goods.

Look at all those colors! We bought some fruits and veggies, including passion fruit which I’ve come to love since traveling in Costa Rica. The texture isn’t for everyone, but I love the sweetness and the crunch of the seeds. Andi and the kids shared three mini cinnamon rolls.

After the farmer’s market, we wandered into a surf & coffee shop. Andi bought a hat there, and I found a cute beach dress. Then, we went to a bakery for breakfast. Andi ordered a ham & cheese omelet, I ordered a bowl of yogurt w/ granola and Tory and Aden each got a pastry. The cafe was busy because it was Saturday morning. While we waited, Tory and I practiced counting Costa Rican money which is called colones. There are coins worth 100 and 500 colones, and paper bills worth 1,000 colones, 2,000, 3,000, and so on.

Andi’s omelet and the kid’s pastries came to our table pretty quickly, despite how busy it was in the restaurant. My yogurt bowl didn’t come, but I’ve noticed after eating in various restaurants the past four weeks that plates doesn’t always come out of the kitchen at the same time in Costa Rica. No one came back to check on our table, so I finally asked the waitress where my food was. She said she’d check and then returned to our table a few minutes later to tell me that it would be “another 30 minutes” because there’s 4 tickets ahead of mine. What?! “But I only ordered yogurt and I ordered it with everyone else at our table,” I told her. She informed me that the kitchen “chops everything from scratch” so that’s why it takes so long. No part of her excuse even made sense to me! I was ticked. One thing you do not want to do is mess with my food because I get hangry. Luckily, I drank Shakeology before we left the airbnb this morning so I wasn’t that hungry. I cancelled my yogurt bowl order and we left.

After breakfast, we went to Alamo to handle some paperwork for our rental car. Our insurance only allowed us to rent a car in Costa Rica for 30 days, so we had to go to Alamo and basically “re-rent” our SUV for the rest of our time here. While Andi dealt with the rental car, the kids and I walked over to Bread & Chocolate to find a toy Aden had left behind yesterday. They found it after we left and kept it for him so he was happy.

After all of our business in town was settled, we returned to our airbnb to grab our swimming suits. We planned to spend the afternoon at Playa Manzanillo which is the beach at the very end of the road in Puerto Viejo — as close to Panama as you can get before crossing the border. The beaches here are so pretty and different. We found a shady spot under the palm trees and the kids played in the sand and in the ocean for the rest of the afternoon. There weren’t many kids there unfortunately, only a girl about Tory’s age from Estonia who didn’t speak English.

The kids had a blast playing in the sand on this beach, and built themselves a huge fortress with walls that filled with water as the tide came in. Tory, in particular, could play in the sand day long. Sometimes I feel bad that she doesn’t have any beach toys, but honestly she doesn’t need them. She uses sticks and rocks — even coconuts! — to sculpt and decorate. Aden is more of a surfer boy and loves to splash in the waves.

Neither Andi or I were feeling that great, so we decided to make it easy on ourselves and get take-out for dinner on our way home from the beach. We’ve been wanting to try Caribbean chicken while we’re here, since that’s what this area is famous for, and Isis (our airbnb host) recommended her favorite spot for it. Andi placed a to-go order at Restaurant Selva, then he dropped Tory, Aden, and I off at the house so we could shower while he ran back and picked up our food.

The Caribbean chicken wasn’t what we expected it to be. I imagined it being more like a grilled chicken skewer, but it was actually slow-roasted chicken wings in a chocolately mole sauce. The meat was served typical casado-style with rice & beans, salad, and fried plantains. It was really tender and very good - just different. I love all the experiences we’re having in Costa Rica — from the food, to the people, to the beaches. It’s been a great month.