Beaches

We set off about 10:30 with the intention of visiting the botanical gardens, however with addresses being what they are in Costa Rica we managed to walk through town and out the other side without finding the road we wanted!! After exploring a couple of side roads we thought it must have closed down and decided to walk back to the hostel along the beach. Interestingly the beach on the north side of Puerto Viejo is made of black sand while the one on the south side is all white sand this means that you get to observe the area where this change occurs gradually creating patterns in the beach. While walking along the Black sand beach we discovered some small birds feeding in the sand which amusingly ran in front of us most of the way along. We also saw two horses who seem to live on this beach as Mae had heard someone talking about them the previous day. As we approached the hostel the coast becomes more rocky with several pools developing in this area. We arrived back for a cold shower and after reading our books for a little while went to the bar for a drink. Mae also decided to partake in an "Ice Shot" which involves running the shot (or 3!) down a groove in a huge slab of ice before drinking it. We then headed into town to find the local nightclub which we were informed may play some salsa. This "club" is really just a bar which is right on the beach front allowing you to sit on the beach drinking listening to their music. The place is beautiful and very relaxing but we didn't stay that late as the DJ wasn't playing any good music!! We got a couple of Salsas and some Merengues as we arrived but after that it turned into standard American music (some of it VERY OLD!!!) There seems to be a tendency in America and here for the dj to just play what he wants to hear regardless of whether anyone is dancing to it or not, I hope this doesn't continue for the rest of our travels.