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Published: September 22nd 2006
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Having spent a few days in Seattle resting our feet and feasting on the local produce we were once again in the air heading to Costa Rica. We were over the moon to see the familiar faces of Rachael and Jeffrey waiting amongst the throngs of taxi drivers at San Jose International and after a night in the capital we were on our way to the Caribbean coast. It was dark by the time we arrived in Cahuita, a laid back Caribbean Rasta town. Thanks to Rachael and Jeff's excellent Spanish skills we soon found a great little room not far from the beach, where we'd spend the next few nights chilling out, playing cards and drinking the local beer (Imperial).
Cahuita is a great little town embodying the Costa Rican motto of 'pura vida'; the pure life. This involves being as laid back as possible and generally not taking anything too seriously.
Here we sampled typico meals - pinto (rice with black beans) for breakfast, casados for lunch and dinner and a standout Rondon (Caribbean spiced one-pot) as well as the first of many excellent fresh juices such as mango con leche and pina con agua.
Our days
were spent swimming and surfing in the warm waters of the Caribbean sea and wildlife watching in the Cahuita National Park. On our first day in the rainforest we saw howler monkeys, white-faced monkeys, colonies of leaf-cutter ants, hermit crabs, various birds, a turtle and a baby boa constrictor!
Steve and Jeff's surfing safari was cut short on a couple of occasions. The first due to three white tipped fins cruising precariously nearby and the second due to a huge fin that could only have belonged to a shark at least 5m in length... or a stick attached to a submerged man eating log. But they were taking no chances.
We reluctantly left Cahuita, looking forward to our boat ride up the rivers and canals from Limon to Tortuguero. Another wildlife feast with sloths, monkeys, a small toucan, russet spoonbills, salt water crocodiles and carnivorous bats.
Tortuguero itself wasn't particularly impressive; a tourist town on a peninsula surrounded by a river full of crocs on the one side and a sea full of bull sharks on the other. The humidity was intense and the urge to swim almost took over, but we had to settle for cold
Watch your step
these orange and blue crabs were everywhere. showers.
Our main reason for visiting Tortuguero was to witness the nesting green sea turtles doing their thing. Late at night we set out, armed with torches and litres of insect repellent, led through the rainforest by our guide, a former turtle hunter turned conservationist working to protect the turtles from poachers and manage tourism in a sustainable way.
We arrived on the beach, switched off all torches and by moonlight and infrared we saw massive female turtles emerge from the ocean, digging nests and laying up to 450 eggs (of which only a few youngsters will survive, to return to this exact beach to nest) and then, absolutely exhausted by the effort, back into the sea to face the strong currents and the waiting bull sharks. To protect the turtles no photography was allowed. It was a priceless and amazing experience, especially watching the old girls returning to the ocean for another season.
Back down the river and on our way to Monteverde, a central highland town founded by a group of American Quakers attracted to Costa Rica by its passivist policies (Costa Rica has no military and thus a greater expenditure on more useful social
Cahuita beach
in the Cahuita national park, caribbean coast infrastructure).
Here the four of us explored the surrounding areas such as La Lecheria (dairy) with the famous Monteverde ice cream and the artists' cooperative where we stocked up on delicious organic fair trade coffee, a Costa Rican speciality.
Looking for a bit of a buzz we headed over to Selvatura adventure park, an extremely wealthy private rainforest estate with suspended observation bridges and zip lines through the canopy. We spent a fun few hours screaming through the canopy, attached to steel cables by those little carabina thingies.
Monteverde is known for the nearby cloud rainforest, a unique and beautiful ecosystem. The continental divide runs through here and we were lucky enough to see an armadillo and coatis (tree dwelling mammals similar in looks to a cross between possums and tree kangaroos).
Meanwhile, Rach and Jeff visited the Childrens Eternal Rainforest (land reserved as a conservation area thanks to the fundraising of school children around the world) where they saw heaps of wildlife, including fighting coatis, a family of armadillos and a very aggressive monkey that challenged Rach to a duel.
Costa Rica is home to some interesting cross-breeds of dogs. Many of them are
Us with Rach & Jeff
in the Cahuita national park, caribbean coast homeless and badly treated, though still pretty friendly but almost always malnourished. Two exceptions to this were Carol the Barrel and Meg the Keg, aptly named resident chihuahuas at our guesthouse in Monteverde. They provided hours of entertainment attempting acrobatic tricks for food. See photo.
From Monteverde we headed south-west on a series of buses and ferries across to Montezuma on the Pacific coast. Another laid back beach town with a reputation for the love of wacky tobaccy. With great swimming beaches, where we put in long hours body surfing and generally being beach bums. Jeff was determined to pick a fresh coconut from the tree on our trip and Montezuma was the place. Fresh, green coconut milk and flesh is surprisingly tasty.
A highlight of our time in Montezuma was a visit to the high waterfalls and deep pools, a short but difficult climb up the surrounding cliffs. We were rewarded with steep waterfalls to jump off, into clear, cool swimming holes. See photo.
Rach and Jeff kept the best til last and took us up to visit Jeff's project site and sponsor family in the northern town of La Paz near Volcan Tenorio. Here we
Old pier
in the Cahuita national park, caribbean coast were able to see the work Jeff and the other volunteers had done in the rainforest and the difference it had made to the reserve and the family. We spent one very soggy day in the beautiful rainforest, crossing the spectacularly aquamarine Rio Tenorio and waterfall (see photos). The next morning we returned to the river to a special spot with natural thermal springs. We sat in the rock pool, soothed by hot water, surrounded by misty rainforest and brilliant blue morpho butterflies. Tops!!!
Back in San Jose we stocked up on our last great Costa Rican breakfast and tried to avoid thinking about leaving. Costa Rica is an amazing country and being there with Rachael and Jeff made it especially memorable.
Next stop, Germany!
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Rach
non-member comment
!!Estoy amorando memorias de pura vida!!!
I'm loving the pure life memories!! Perhaps we'll commission Jeff to bring some Del Fruta home from Guatemala?So that only leaves the questions... when are we going back guys?