San Jose and Puerto Viejo de Talamaca

For New Year´s eve festivities Lyds and I headed into San Jose and to the Hostel Pangea which was known as a bit of a party hostel. We got there on the 30th and after looking around, got the feeling that it was likely to be a fairly happening venue for the big night.

Not long after we got there, the guy at reception told us that in nearby suburb Zapote there was a big fair going on. Keen to check it out we headed over there and unexpectantly found a HUGE street party in a fairground type atmosphere with heaps of food stalls, beer tents, rides, fireworks and even a bullring. However our eyes quickly focused on the 3 massive marquee tent/nightclubs that each of the 3 main beer companies in San Jose had set up and were sponsoring. Each looked like they could hold about 5,000 people. The whole area was packed with people and we very quickly agreed that on New Years Eve the next night we were going to skip the hostel party and return back for what was likely to be an even bigger night.

The next day we did some sightseeing of central San Jose which had some nice parks, historical buildings and a shopping area that reminded us a lot of Bourke Street mall in Melbourne. We headed back out to the fairground that afternoon because we wanted to check out the Bull Ring where inside they were basically having a mini version of the running of the bulls. It was a great show where for about 2 hours they realeased a different Bull for about 20 minutes each to chase around 100 mad men (and the odd female). The photos below do it a lot more justice than any description I can write here. Suffice to say that most of the time the crowd seemed to be cheering for the bulls and the highlight for us was definately the times a couple of the bulls jumped over the safety barriers and proceed to chase down runners on the other side as well. Classic stuff!!

(Lyds: just an fyi that no bulls or people were hurt in the process... save perhaps a couple of sprained ankles and an ego or two)

After the show it was back to the hostel for our celebratory bottle of champagne. We became buddies for the night with another Canadian couple from Victoria Island (Shamus & Meagan) and stayed at the hostel until around 11pm. They knew about the fairground too and wanted to go. We headed off in a cab only to be absolutely shocked to find out the place was a GHOSTTOWN. Apparently in Costa Rica they all like to do quiet family events for NY's....not quite the Australian/Canadian way !!! We rushed back to the hostel just in time for the countdown...11.59pm....yikes, close one. It's safe to say we still salvaged a great night including homemade fireworks by the Hostel staff, dancefloor, and great cheap drink specials named after superheros...

Here is a gallery of pics from our stay in San Jose...

If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - SanJose

After a quiet New Year´s day we headed out of town to the Caribbean coast for our last stop in Costa Rica - a little beach town called Puerto Viejo de Talamaca. We were especially interested in visiting here as it came highly recommended by a few friends of ours, two of whom chose to marry here a month before our wedding.

The place itself was beautiful with a lot of charm. Unfortunately the weather put a bit of a damper on our spirits and our activities, with three solid days of rain. The town was one of those places where you feel as though many of the residents probably came for a visit and decided to stay for a lifetime. It is pretty well known in surfing circles for the massive ´Salsa Brava´ break. We spent quite a few hours watching some of the locals riding this rather large wave, and dreaming of one day being in the same league.

Used to a lot of sun though it wasn´t long before we decided to move South and hit our last country in Central America....Panama.

Here are some pics from our time in Viejo de Talamaca...

If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - PuertoViejo