A Weekend In Puntarenas

With everyone here in Costa Rica taking the day off on Monday for La Negrita (La Virgen de Los Angeles), we students had a three-day weekend.  I took the opportunity to head to the beach.  Though teachers and students in my program warned me that Puntarenas was ugly, passed over, and nothing like what it was a decade ago, I decided to head there all the same.  The way I saw it, Puntarenas was a three hour (four dollar!) bus ride away, and the easiest place to go without making plans.

I loved the point, and I loved the beach.  I would highly recommend Puntarenas to any traveler looking for:

      1. A budget adventure
      2. A relatively gringo-free zone
      3. A beach and a pair of piers full of Ticos doing what Ticos like to do.

Highlights of my trip:

-Arriving in a thunderstorm, persevering through three "hostels" to find one for under $10/night with a private room, and then immediately ditching my stuff and running for an hour and a half on the beach, all the while being blown around by gale winds and doused with torrential rain.

-Eating ceviche and saltines after that first run and realizing that, if you're hungry enough, ceviche is a delicious dish of diced fish steak cooked in lemon juice.  Of course, you could also say that ceviche is raw seafood served in an acrid juice...

-Going to the aquarium/rehabilitation center and seeing a number of pelicans not-fit-to-fly living out their days in comfort, realizing that the pelican that I saw flirting with death while running the night before was likely in this group.*

-Failing to order the correct dessert and having a pink, cola flavored shaved ice/chocolate and vanilla ice cream/vanilla syrup/dry condensed milk sundae at a Dos Pinos.  It was one of the best, albeit weirdest, things I have tasted while traveling.

-Reading, writing, and thinking in my chest-like room in the hostel while propping my legs and head up against the walls and watching geckos scurry across the roof.


*While I know this Seaquarium supports conservation efforts in the region, it is not worth your time or money.  I was offended that they recently doubled the price, for foreigners only.  Moreover, there is not much to see or do in the park.  I am an ecology enthusiast and I could only pass 45 minutes inside the park.
One exception: If you're traveling with children under the age of 12, there is a pool, tons of things to climb on, photo ops, and other children-oriented activities.  Also, children under 12 are free.

And with that I'm off to bed.  The trip was wonderful but exhausting, and I'm catching up on sleep and TESOL studies.  This next week I'll be: Finding an apartment/room in San Jose, taking care of getting my funds to Costa Rica (it's been a bear), and attempting to drop in on the apartment of someone else from Politecnico for a birthday part.  My thoughts are fading and I'm ready for sleep.

Pura Vida,

Z