On Sunday we’ve been to Cahuita national park and we’d like to share some of the pictures we took there with you. The night before we went out with everyone from Manu’s place to Puerto Viejo. We had an absolutely great night there! Luckily Manu decided to take his car to go there rather than his motorcycle so he was able to give us a ride to town. The place looked totally different at night and it was packed with people whereas during day it was always obvious everywhere that the tourist season wouldn’t start till December. Reggae music could be heard at every corner and after already having had a few drinks at home we were ready to conquer the night.

We had read and heard before that the east coast of Costa Rica has had a lot of influence by the jamaican culture. We had already figured out that this mainly meant that a lot of people were smoking marihuana and reggae music and pictures of Bob Marley and Che were rather common. Even so it was quite a sight to witness some local guys sitting at a table in a bar more or less openingly selling ‘ganja’. You could smell it everywhere too and apart from that there wasn’t much smoking going on. That suited us well since a pack of cigarettes only costs less than two bucks here and some of us are still newly converted ex-smokers who struggle to carry on from time to time.

We started the evening in a huge bar named “Lazy, mon” and then went to another one which had live reggae music. Most of the time we eventually spent dancing in a tiny place named “Taifa”. They played some rather good electronic music there.

After grabbing a bite to eat we took a taxi home to spare us the 6 km walk from Puerto Viejo to Cocles. Only later did we find out that we apparently had lost the compact camera we had taken to town. Maybe it was even stolen – we just don’t really know although I suspect it might have slipped out of my pocket during the taxi ride. The thing is that our friend Christoph borrowed it to us! He even said he wouldn’t mind if it was stolen or got lost. Well, did that for you mate and we’re really sorry about that! Our host Manu said it wouldn’t make sense to go asking for it since a local would never give it back if he had found it. That was a sobering bit of information for us. It also bugs us that some pictures and videos were lost along with the camera.

On sunday morning we woke up around 6 am with a slight case of hangover and hitchhiked to Puerto Viejo. That works really well around here and we use it regularly as means of transportation. That morning we rode to town in the bed of a pickup truck which was really refreshing since it was awfully hot and not a cloud was to be seen.

At first we had to locate the temporary bus stop because there was a triathlon going on in town. The timetable we had apparently didn’t cover sundays and we had to wait for the bus an hour longer than we had planned. After a 30 minute bus ride we arrived in Cahuita then and set out for the national park. The admission was free and the park was laid out very nice. You walk along the beaches most of the time with some strips in between that lead you deeper through the jungle. The ticos practice recycling everywhere but the national park took it even one step further as can be seen in one of the pictures.

The trail was supposed to be a bit more than 8 kilometers long and we had the whole day so we took our time. Our visit absolutely proved to be worth it and we saw a lot of animals that were not shy at all. We’ve seen an eagle on the beach, thousands of crabs, a raccoon, a coati (Nasenbär), three different kinds of snakes, lots of howler monkeys, lizards and a lot more. Also we’ve walked through an impressive landscape of rivers, jungle and beautiful beaches that were mostly deserted. Some of the animals came as close to us as 1 or 2 metres and didn’t show any concern about us at all.

Near the end of the main trail we met a very friendly ranger who talked to us extra slowly to help us practice our spanish. He explained to us that the area we were in would close at 2 pm and the rest of the park 2 hours later. That meant we had to hurry a bit and also we were already well above the intended 8 kilometers of hiking. Another ranger had earlier presented us with the options to either go back the same way we had come or to walk 5 kms to the bus stop at Puerto Vargas. We had opted for the latter one but little did we know that the 5 kms came on top to the length of the trail. Eventually we exited the park at 4 pm sharp and were pretty exhausted.

We had arrived at some bus stop in the middle of nowhere and had to wait 90 minutes for the next bus to get back to our bunk bed in a room which we were sharing with the german girls Michaela and Ellie. There was only one problem – the bus didn’t come. The sun had already set and after half an hour we decided to try hitchhiking again. Lo and behold – the first car stopped for us right away. The driver was some shifty looking older jamaican guy who transported two teenagers in his beat-up car. We were just happy about getting a ride and the guy seemed nice enough although we had difficulties understanding his creole english. After a short distance he said he’d like to get paid 2000 Colones for the ride. That was more or less what the bus would have cost us so we said ok. In Puerto Viejo he then finally demanded 2000 Colones each. I gave him 2000 and told him not to try to rip us off but somehow it was a sobering experience. The local people just had seemed so friendly and relaxed before. We then tried hitchhiking again from Puerto Viejo but there were only a few cars going by and in the rain that had started nobody was inclined to stop for us.

In the end we walked home from Puerto Viejo and had covered about 19-20 kilometers that day. Our feet were killing us and we realized that we really don’t like having no vehicle of some sort available. That realization was driven home further the following day during another walk in the rain. It just is so much more convenient to be independent regarding mobility and backpackers can be pretty restricted in their movement. We’re even thinking about getting a car earlier than only in the USA next year. So there’s that to add to the top of the list of things we miss in Costa Rica. Anyway the trip to Cahuita was great and we can really recommend a visit!

PS: There’s a snake to be found in a picture which appears to show only some sticks on the beach at first sight. Can you find it?