The Caribbean Side: Cahuita 

6/13/2017

After our couple days in Puerto Viejo we hopped on a 20 minute bus to Cahuita, a small town 20 minutes North. Arriving to our hostel around 10:30am we were greeted by the kindest woman named Andrea. She and her husband have been running the hostel for over 30 years and now that her husband has passed she and her son run it. It is located a 20 minute walk from downtown Cahuita and just a couple minutes to the beach. Surrounded by a beautiful garden and trees our private room was tucked back in the corner of the property- hammocks swaying gently on the porch when we walked up. After enjoying a “welcome” juice which was delicious, Kyle and I packed a small bag, put on our swim suits, and headed to Cahuita State Park. 

There we spent our afternoon hiking, swimming, and observing various wildlife, particularly white-faced monkeys- although we did see a couple howler monkeys.
The trail of the state park ran parallel with the beach, which provided shade that I found myself very thankful for. Finding a bench we stopped to make veggie sandwiches for lunch and then walked down the trail a bit and found a place to go swimming. The water was scattered with rocks and coral that could be seen vividly through the crystal clear water of the Caribbean. Swimming was enjoyable, but definitely not very refreshing as the water was almost as warm as the air! Kyle climbed a tree and grabbed two young coconuts which he then cut open, we floated in the warm clear water sipping on cool coconut water.  

That evening after showering and relaxing for a bit we headed into town and had our first restaurant meal since arriving in the country- thank you Patti and Rick!!! We had a local meal called Casado which was delicious. I really enjoyed sitting at our table along the side walk and watching the night life of the small town of Cahuita. Local children ran around happily and carelessly while adults chatted on the corner.
We saw two sloths moving rather quick for their species across the electrical wires which we called “sloth highways”. Pretty cool! 

On Friday we spent our morning playing frisbee on the black sand beach before taking our 4pm bus back into San Jose. Kyle and I downloaded a couple movies from Netflix before the bus ride, and it made the 5 hour bus ride go by much faster! That night we stayed at a hostel in San Jose, while waiting for Ryan to fly in the next morning.  

Since Ryan has arrived we spent 2 days in Montezuma, 2 in Monteverde enjoying the rain forest, and are currently in La Fortuna checking out volcanos. Traveling by rental car has been quite the adventure! I’ll write more about it later.