Blogs from Cahuita, Limón, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 7

Another lovely 4 hour bus ride from San Jose delivered us to our second weekend destination, Cahuita. Cahuita is a groovy little town located on the southern caribbean coast, north of the more popular tourist spot Puerto Viejo. We chose Cahuita instead because we read that it ¨has managed to maintain a more relaxed relationship with floks discovering the caribbean coast. Most of the businesses are still locally owned and the vibe is still very laid back.¨To say that this little reaggae town is laid back is a major understatement. The ´downtown´where the bus dropped us and our hotel was located was nothing more than two intersecting dirt roads, a few quite restaurants and two bars. It is the first Afro-caribbean settlement of Costa Rica and the energy vibing in this town is something to ... read more

My Friend and Escort on the Reef While Jenny built a sandcastle in the black sand of Playa Negra, this canine stood sentinel. Then Jen sent her off to check up on me, and then I had a new friend.Travelling around this wonderful country has taught us some interesting things about ourselves, chiefly among which we are mountain people as opposed to beach people. Not that we don't like the beach, because it's great, but we feel more at home in the mountains. There just seems to be more to see and do. And it's cheaper. The trip here was very neat, with waterfalls cascading down through the greenery along the roadside. Though it was tough to catch much of them as the bus careened along at a breakneck pace. We went through miles and ... read more

The flight from Cancun to Panama City and then on to San Jose wasn’t too bad at all. The plane was pretty small and on both occasions we encountered a fair bit of turbulence but this just made things more interesting. We left Cancun at 1510, an hour later then we’d expected (not sure why) and arrived in San Jose at 7.30pm (8.30 pm Mexico time). After thinking that we’d lost our luggage, only to find it had been put to one side as it had ´priority´ over the other bags, we caught a taxi to Hostal Pangea which had been recommended to us by Volunteer Latin America (the organization that we’d arranged the Turtle Project with). On first impressions, San Jose didn’t look too sharp. The place seemed pretty scruffy and all the windows ... read more

We took the city bus back to the town of Cahuita with Tanya and Jessie. We wandered this cute little town and then headed straight for the Park. We were wanting to see some wildlife. We got pretty lucky and saw 3 sloths, alot of monkeys, and some racoons. They were a lot smaller and not as violent like at home. It was a very fun day. We took the last bus back to Puerto Viejo and chilled for the night.... read more

My past week was spent on the beautiful sunny Atlantic coast, which accommodated my first few days of no rain and blistering heat. My first stop was Cahuita, and on the way we stopped in Limon, a big port town, to take a break from the bus. We were getting off, when all of a sudden there was smoke everywhere, from behind which a group of riot police emerged herding us indoors. Turns out they were firing off tear gas at a bunch of protesters that were rioting against a pro-upper class government reform. After the chaos settled, and we were back on the bus, a local beside me explained that this makes him proud to be a Costa Rican, because they actually have the freedom to protest, where as neighbouring countries don´t have that same ... read more