Just the other side of the border to Bocas Del Toro, Puerto Viejo is Costa Rica's gringo beach party town and is often compared to its Panamanian neighbour. Personally I preferred the much more peaceful atmosphere offered in Puerto Viejo, and welcomed the opportunity to spend a few nights cozied up in a hammock. After a bit of a faff getting through the border without an onward ticket, I made it into a country I've fancied visiting ever since I saw it featured on an episode of "Wish You Were Here" when I was a kid; however I would not be staying in one of the luxurious resorts I had seen!

I was still with the French girls, and the hostel that we stayed in had a kitchen and ironically the English girl treated them to some good home cooking. Our time in Puerto Viejo was fairly relaxed, although we did continue to have some good nights out. Amongst the fun was a Ladies' Night (which is always dangerous), and a brief watching of a real-life full on rodeo. We had been warned that it was risky to wander the street from our hostel into town at night, and some Canadian boys who were staying with us tried to force us to borrow their machetes for protection... to be honest, I felt safer without one so I kindly declined!

During the day we spent some time at the beach into which the hostel backed, as well as venturing a little further afield to beaches further from town for some more Caribbean swimming. For this we hired bicycles and it felt good to be doing a little bit of exercise again, as it has been far too long. During our ride we went past a forest and there were two groups of howler monkeys calling to each other across the street. It was so surreal to stumble across their "conversation" and watch them move around in the trees. 

Sadly time is not a commodity I have an endless supply of, otherwise I would've quite liked to stayed here a little longer. However, after a few days it was time to move on, and sticking with the French girls meant I would still have someone to cook for, which is always preferable to preparing food for just yourself... plus I was enjoying their company very much! As first stops in countries go, Puerto Viejo was a pleasant one and managed to reinstall my faith in Costa Rica after the border kerfuffle... let's hope the rest of the country lives up to my chilhood expectations.