CARRIBEAN COSTA RICA

Puerto Viejo - a little beach town on the southern Carribean part of Costa Rica.
It’s chill and so am I.
Reggae music, little wooden shacks that sell fruit - small breezes of weed. Everything is slow expect for the TukTuk drivers. They roam around like there’s no tomorrow.

A Fresh mango tuna salad with a beetroot reduction in front of me. I am not saving money, though I should. What was expected to be a chilled out beach town has merged into a hipster paradise and now a family place. Hostel gentrification is taking place.
Prices have gone up- the interesting people can’t afford the beds anymore. The vibe is gone.

And so are the musicians at the beach, the healing centers, cacao ceremonies as well as the fire breathers who juggle their fire pois.

Fucking kids in the hostel pool where I want to get drunk in.

My friend arrives and we head off to buy a bottle of Cacique (a Costa Rican Rum that is beyond good!). It has 30 degrees when we buy it, and need to chill it in the freezer. We drink it pure out of water glasses. It barely tastes of alcohol which is very dangerous.

It’s raining - raining a lot. We walk to town without an umbrella. The rain is warm and by the end of the day it’s just water. We’re happy and tipsy!

I hear my last name. Oh no “where”. Again!
A student from Berlin with his parents. Act sober - BE sober. I wasn’t and I talked A LOT. They were all super friendly though and after a few minutes we went separate ways.

More Caciqui! We ordered food. Sushi in tiny potato cups. (Saving money is challenging).
My friend Cris tried the little potato cup filled with avocado cream and tiny tuna slices sprinkled in sesame, said he wasn’t hungry and got 4 slices of pizza from a street vendor outside.

The night was lots of walking around, Carribean music anywhere and plenty of people dancing at the beach.

The next morning was a disaster. Cheap Rum has its prize. I could barely walk nor talk and the only thing I was capable of was riding with my bike to the next village to sit at some secluded beach with my friends watching the sunset. No one talked. The head pounded. Too much rum.
But so good. So good.

The evening ended early and I was falling asleep next to my travel trolley. I used to have a backpack. Used to eat peanut butter with bananas when my money ran out.
I am gentrifying.Read more