Swing and a Miss

To every travelling high, there is a low. That is to say you might have found some city or beach or temple that made you love travelling. Then, suddenly and without warning the glow is darkened. i was riding high in Costa Rica with enjoyable visits to both Montezuma and Tortuguero. Both places beach destinations although on opposing Pacific and Caribbean coasts. On my way out to Panama, i opted to stay in another "beachy" place for a bit. The town is called Puerto Viejo, and man, is it a buzz killer.

A truly good tourist destination needs a multitude of activities. And this is especially true when talking about weather dependent destinations. If you go to a ski resort and there's no snow, what do you do? A crappy resort will have nothing alternative to offer, whereas a good resort will have skating and curling and theatre and whatever needed to avoid death by boredom. Same goes for beach resorts. What happens if there is no sun? Well i arrived in Puerto Viejo in the rain. And the answer to that question is you do sweet-f**k-all. The beach is not polluted but it's rocky and generally unattractive. The diving is sub-standard is compared to other parts of the country. The surfing isn't so super. And it's no really that cheap. But still, herds of pale skinned backpackers migrate to this place and rave about it.

Everything opens late as all the cool people were out partying all night, dude. Service is slow, if at all. The people, while not "unfriendly", showed little interest in tourists other than for their cash. The general clientele of the town are early 20's and have I.Q.s to match as any conversation in town would start with "Dude, i was soooo trashed last night...".

I realize there will be those who might think i'm too old for them shenanigans. Truth is, I never found it appealing but find it even less appealing now. There will be those who will enjoy Puerto Viejo. I am certainly not one of those people.