I have an uber tan!

Yes, 5 days spent snorkelling and lounging on the beach will do that to you. I have the biggest bathing suit tan. I forgot my proper togs in my hasty packing before I left Brisbane, so being inspired by what we did in Grafton, I just jumped into the water with a sports bra and undies (it was ok, they looked close enough like togs). 5 days later, I have a huge white patch on my back in the shape of my sports bra. It's actually pretty funny! Everyone at the hostel has been commenting on it (when they can see it). It's really distinctive. I guess now I know why you wear a bathing suit as opposed to a sports bra, lol! Thankfully, despite having a huge tan, I didn't get sunburnt. The sun here is really strong, which reminded me to constantly reapply sunscreen, so yay!

So anyway, a bit about where I've been. After the farm, I headed to the Caribbean coast with 2 other people who decided to tag along with me from the farm. We went to a town called Puerto Viejo, which is right at the southern end of the Costa Rican Caribbean coastline. The town had a strange vibe to it. For one thing, it felt like the gringos completely outnumbered the locals. There were white people everywhere you looked, it was incredible. Obviously it was a tourist town, but it just felt different. Banos in Ecuador was also a tourist town, but that one felt right as a tourist town. I guess it was more developed. Puerto Viejo was like a small town being infiltrated by tourists. Despite the copious numbers of tourists, the streets, bars and clubs were mostly empty. That was another strange thing. The hostel we stayed at was pretty much fully booked, but we hardly saw anyone throughout the day and night, just handfuls of people scattered around the place.

It's funny, there are lots of people here of African-Caribbean descent, and they all speak spanish with a caribbean accent! It was cool! Also, you know you're in a beach town when all the roadkill are crabs...

The Caribbean Ocean has really warm waters and small waves. There's one big surfer beach (called Salsa Brava) but apart from that, the waves were pretty small, just gently lapping at the shore. We were in Puerto Viejo for 2 full days, where we went swimming the first day and snorkelling the next. It was good to swim/float in the ocean. Good body surfing waves were irregular and generally far apart, so in between waiting for a wave, I'd just float in the ocean. That was fun, now I can sort of understand why people lie in those sensory deprivation tanks, it's actually really relaxing! The snorkelling here wasn't that good though. At this stage, I was comparing to the Great Barrier Reef, and there's almost no basis of comparison. The reef here was small, the corals were brown and there were scarcely any fish, just little ones randomly swimming around. It was pretty disappointing, but I guess I shouldn't be comparing to the GBR, which is one of the best in the world (I think). We hired bikes to ride to the snorkelling place, it was fun! The bikes were basic, old school bikes. At first I freaked out cos they had no brakes on the handle bars, but then we figured that you can brake by pedalling backwards, so it was ok after I had gotten used to it.

The beaches here are so stereotypical though. Mostly tranquil ocean, white sand and a coast lined with coconut and palm trees, right at the beach. I never thought it would be so stereotyped! I guess this must be what it's like all over the Caribbean.

After a few days in Puerto Viejo, we randomly decided to take a sidetrip to Panama, to another sun, snorkel & dive place near the border called Bocas Del Toro. It's a series of islands also on the Caribbean coast. Although this is also a tourist town, it didn't feel weird like Puerto Viejo did. The locals balanced out the gringos, and the place just seemed more natural. I liked it better than Puerto Viejo. We went snorkelling here as well, and it was heaps better too. The corals were actually colourful, and there were lots of little fishies to swim after, lol! Plus I had a better snorkel, one of the ones that can drain water out of the bottom, so I didn't swallow salt water like I did in Puerto Viejo. I wish I'd brought my own stuff, which would've been heaps better, but I guess that would've been impractical due to my already ridiculously heavy bag! It's getting heavier as I go along, unfortunately...

The border crossing between Costa Rica and Panama was so small. On both sides, there was a small, one window immigration office to stamp your passport. An old bridge connects the two countries, and most people just walk across. It was very cute.

So anyway, I'm heading off to Mexico bright and early tomorrow morning. I'm going straight to the farm, cos I have no idea what else to do in Mexico and hopefully I will have inspiration there. I think they have internet access at the farm so I can keep you all updated...i hope this is not wishful thinking.