Party like it's 6 o'clock!

Let's be honest.  Even though we have been traveling, we haven't been living the exciting kind of life that you imagine when most people go on vacation.  Part of it is that, honestly, we don't consider ourselves on vacation.  The other half is that we have a daily budget, so to keep within our budget, we sometimes have to cut out things like restaurant dinners and going to the bars.  Finally, tired of spending our nights eating PB&J and reading books (which we both like, don't get me wrong), we decided to stay in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica specifically so that we could experience a bit of night life.

First, let me describe Puerto Viejo.  It is a Caribbean town, so it has more of a Rasta / Jamaican style infuence to it than a Central American influence.  It's not uncommon to see guys in dread-locks, sandals, and a Bob Marley t-shirt talking in Spanish to a typical-looking Costa Rican.  Imagine people saying "Como está, mon?" and you get the idea.

Anyway, back to our wild night.  So, we started out at a beach-side bar and took advantage of the 2-for-1 mojito "Happy Hour" (can you call it a Happy Hour if it is all day long?).  The bar floor is made from sand and most of the people who work there don't wear shoes.  You feel like it's the kind of place where if you ask what time it is the response would be "It's time for a beer, mon!" 

After polishing of our mojitos, we moved to a bar on the "main strip" where we ordered some beers, and eventually some shots.


Fueled by our Imperials, shots of Flor de Caña, and our mojitos, we decide to get a Cuban cigar.  What says "out of the USA" more than a Cuban cigar?


Ya, woo, now we're partying like it's 1999!  We even have people come up to us and offer to sell weed.  ("Do you want your hair braided?"  "No?  How about some weed?")  We must look like real party animals if people want to sell drugs to us.

In any case, we finish off a couple more beers and the cigar and head back to our hotel.  We figured it had been a pretty good night and it was about time to hit the sack.  I mean, after all of that, it must be, what, 10, 11 o'clock?  Nope.  It was around 7.  People were leaving to go out to dinner or generally carrying on like it was, oh, I don't know, 3 hours before their bed time.

Sigh.  So we're not exactly party animals.  But we're not exactly a boring married couple, either, right?  I mean, we can still go out and party like the rest of them!  Tell me it's true!