Don't stop the Rock

Rocking J's, the hostel we stayed at in Puerto Viejo, is something like a Hawaiian Hofbrauhaus set on the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica. In the morning, Jack Johnson songs meander their way up to our private room (while advertised as "Costa Rica's one and only hammock hostel" we decided to fork out the few extra dollars for a bit of privacy). The walls and floors are covered in either colorful tiles or murals, both seemingly the creation of backpackers come before. Indeed, on Saturday, J himself invited us to create our own tile art on the other side of the hammock room, but we elected to bike down to Punta Uva instead (a fateful decision).

Biking is the best way to get around Puerto Viejo. There's not a whole lot in the "town" per se, with many bars, restaurants, hotels and shops straddling the beach and the road south toward Manzanillo. Thankfully, there's not a lot of development, and where there is, it doesn't block the view of the beach from the road in most cases. That just doesn't seem to be the Caribbean style.


I wrote this initially under a thatched roof with hammocks, rocking chairs, and a large hollowed out log (where I chose to sit). My bag sits on a bench plastered with old music CDs--an interesting mosaic of styles and colors. By day, J's is mostly quiet, but at night it livens up quite a bit, somewhat too much. As Avalon said, "We're on a hostel budget but over the hostel scene." Some hostel scenes aren't so bad, quite fun, in fact. But J's Saturday night was a bit much, with a group of kids ("retards," Avalon says) who one would think had never touched alcohol before or spent much time with members of the opposite sex. But back to the story... I'm working on an article for The Tico Times about the economic slowdown and its effects on tourism in Costa Rica. While many hotels in the country are struggling, J's seemed to be immune. Or so I thought.

I talked to J himself today, and it sounds like things are pretty rough there too. This weekend was packed but it's been slow otherwise, he said. Actually, what he said was "October through December f***ing killed us, man." That part probably won't make it in The Tico Times. When the article comes out, I'll post more here.

Stay tuned tomorrow, as there apparently may be a taxi strike that shuts down roads throughout San Jose. As if commuting wasn't fun enough!