This past weekend we took a three day weekend and went to Puerto Viejo, a small beach town on the Caribbean coast near Panama. Another family who is in language school with us went with us. It was a very fun weekend full of rest, fishing, SEC football, and a long traffic jam. Here is the weekend in picture form….

We rented two tiny cars (note: NEVER buy a Peugeot – the French build cars about as well as they fight wars) for the (supposedly) four hour drive. Everything started well enough as we wound through the mountains of Parque National Braulio Carrillo.

Here we are five hours later, about a mile down the road. There was apparently a huge accident and they shut down the road. Our “four” hour drive took almost twelve.

The drive was worth it, however, when we finally arrived at Playa Negra (the black beach) where our rental house was. It was a very secluded spot, and we had the beach to ourselves all weekend.

Avalyn really enjoyed playing in the sand…and got pretty dirty!

She got a little on her face too…

…and everywhere else. She was a little unhappy about this picture being taken.

Is that not just the cutest grumpy face ever?

Here’s our two families on the day we left. If only we had a week! Thankfully the drive home clocked in at 4:10.