Last Updated:
I signed up to go on a rain forest hike this morning. Originally, I was going to rent a bike and just ride to the beach, but I decided to go with the group and then hit the beach in the afternoon. The hike was alright, I’m not a huge fan of Golden spider and Eyelash Viper hunting, but the views from one of the lookouts was super gorgeous. However, our guide tried to hijack us for more money towards the end of the hike! He was like, “you can just pay me the $30 now, before we get back” and everyone just stared at him. After a year of traveling, I’m quite used to the “oh, well no, the price is actually X” spiel. So being the frugal backpacker, I told him that he had said it was $20, and after a few minutes of debate that was headed nowhere, we all said we would just pay him at the hotel. Long story short, when I paid him the $20 he started arguing with me and so I told him that I wouldn’t have taken a guided jungle hike if it was $30, and I ended up just walking away because there was no reasoning with him! For the rest of the day I was joking that a Rasta van was going to pull up and kidnap us all. ;)
I did finally get to the beach, and it was amazing. If you ever venture to Puerto Viejo, I would skip the rain forest hikes (that’s what Fortuna and Monteverde are best for), and focus on the water! It felt quite nice to get in the water after hiking around in the heat all morning. After a little too much sun, we had a lazy afternoon lunch at a beach-side cafe, before going back to the beach to watch the sun set. I want to buy a hammock, but I think I’ll wait until Manuel Antonio so I don’t have to carry it around for the next two weeks.