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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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Cariblue was a nice change to the budget travel I had been experiencing for the last two weeks. Set along the beautiful beach of Playa Cocles Cariblue has a huge amount of amenities to choose from including big bungalows, ping-pong, pool, swimming pool, and breakfast buffet included with the rate. Although the $99 a night seemed to be a little high, once you experience the breakfast buffet it seemed more worth the rate. Everything from fresh fruit, cereal, juice, pastries, scrambled eggs, sausage, coffee served all day and fresh tomatoes this buffet rocked. Just remember to get up early when it opens at 7:30am as they hardly change over the warm food.
The pool at Cariblue was definitely the highlight for me. I took advantage of this pool everyday. It was a nice escape from the daily warm humid sticky weather. Especially at night when it cooled down to a reasonable temperature.
After the long bus ride we decided to have a gourmet dinner at the Resort Restaurant. The seafood dish I had (lemon/garlic creme sauce w/shrimp) was very tasty. The presentation was the highlight, the service was O.K., and the food overall was extremely over-priced. But my friends and I always figure out a way to make the best of our dining experience and had a most pleasant night.
I never turn down a game of ping-pong and my good friend Damian and I played late into the night in a grueling best of seven game series. Unfortunately my opponent took me down after my senses were slowed by the alcohol consumption through out the series. By the way Damian we never did finish off the second round.
Overall Cariblue Resort was a great experience. The new manager was very personable and friendly. Also the friendly Restaurant staff made the stay more comfortable. The only downfall was the little bed bugs that tore me up the last two nights of my stay. Pretty ironic due to the fact that I never got the bed bugs in the $10-15 rooms I paid for through out the two weeks before staying at Cariblue Resort.
previous travel blog entryComments or Questions for the Author
MarkoNeu says:
Reading this blog entry, I remember discovering bed bugs for the first time in my life in, of course in no other than...Puerto Viejo. I never even knew they really existed until then. I simply thought it was something you heard of as a child and then forgot about. I will forever be creeped out by the thought of what happened that night. Supposedly bed bugs sleep in the exact same place every single night. Evidently, they respond to timing and patterns in bed movement. Basically, they know when you fall asleep. They also have heat sensors and can tell exactly where your blood veins are and as soon as they use their little hypodermics to poke underneath the skin they fill up---completely within seconds to 10 times their size. They repeat the pattern again the next night...and from what I heard, they do not skip meals either. It's disgusting, I know, I saw this one in Puerto Viejo that literally could barely walk and I will never forget it. I had the worst time sleeping in Puerto Viejo after that, because (as you know) most of the places there are in someway "open air". Nothing is really completely enclosed and so the rooms are usually exposed to the elements in some fashion or another. Which is really nice until you start to find things crawling around. My big problem there is wondering about all of the things I didn't see, or wouldn't see when I fell asleep. I remedied this by sleeping most days on the beach. Not smart because of the sand flies. There's a commercial on TV (or it used to be) that every time I see it reminds me of Puerto Viejo. Remember the one where the lady is planning this really exotic vacation and using a popular travel site to do it, but then suddenly has thoughts of waking up in the middle of the night underneath the mosquito net with monstrous bugs and creepy crawlies all around her and starts to scream - wakes up and decides against the REALLY "exotic" vacation? That's Puerto Viejo. After hiking 8 months from Houston to Central America, we ended up spending most of our time in Puerto Viejo (several months). And of all the destinations we encountered along the way, it's the only place we return to. If you are interested in seeing video of the place you can go here http://puravidadvd.com We love it in Puerto Viejo and it's by far our favorite place to visit in Costa Rica. One reason it's our favorite is because even though Costa Rica is a world apart, Puerto Viejo is a world all on it's own and is a little bit further into the unknown and away from civilization. Not really, but it feels that way. Like Costa Rica used to be. We also like the fact that it's the only place in Costa Rica where you can really get into riding bikes. In a word - it's relatively flat there (unlike the rest of the country) and bikes abound! One last thing about Puerto Viejo, my roommate ended up with Dengue Fever - I didn't. And if you really don't like bugs (which I do actually), you should invest in a good mosquito net and take along with you. You will appreciate the fact that you did. Although it probably wouldn't have stopped the Dengue which probably was contracted while sleeping on the beach.
Rob T says:
I am glad you caught up to your friends safely. The Cariblue Resort reminds me of our trip to Baja, at the Presidente Resort. "Good Night, Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite". Rob