Cahuita and Puerto Viejo (El Caribe) in October

Molly, Ruthie, and Anthony were all off from school at the same time for a few days and so we took the bus heading east to the Caribbean, passing through the very gorgeous Brauilo Carrillo Parque National (a mountainous cloud forest with spectacular views named for the first president). Four hours later we arrived in Cahuita in the dark in the middle of a downpour (truthfully the downpour had begun before we left San Jose, and just continued with us). As the bus pulled away, we noted that we were in the tiniest of strip malls, after closing time. Amy finally found a taxi driver in a video arcade around the back of the mall, which was entirely empty, except for him, and after he finished his game, he agreed to drive us to our hotel. Our hotel was maybe 200 meters away, but he somehow managed to get lost, so we had a tour of the entire town, which is all of 3 streets, depending on how you define “street”.

At the little restaurant (and I mean little, as in 5 tables) associated with our hotel (also little, as in 4 rooms) there was exactly one family dining (also little, as in 2 people). And it turned out that we knew them from synagogue. We joined them for dinner and ended up spending quite a bit of delightful time with them through the weekend.

In the morning, we got to see the resident iguanas (everywhere of course), parrot, and caimans in the creek behind the hotel, and then we spent the day in the fabulous Cahuita National Park, with capuchin and howler monkeys in the jungle and warm gentle waters and beach.

That night we slept in Puerto Viejo, again in mosquito-netted beds, and discovered we had landed in vegetarian heaven! One place to highlight was Miss Veronica’s. She is a Seventh Day Adventist who cooks macrobiotic, organic vegan meals, Caribbean style. So if the hotel restaurant the night before was little; this restaurant was tiny. In fact, this restaurant really was Miss Veronica’s wee porch, which held our table of 7 (including 2 Swedes and a German) and no more. But what a meal!!! Also, here is a photo of a favorite place we went to for breakfast. There is a big difference between the places owned by the locals versus either out of town Ticas or folks who have settled here from elsewhere, in size, but not taste!

We met Emily and Isa again at the Manzanillo National Refuge, and the 3 older and 3 younger persons promptly got separated from each other. Molly and Isa had the art materials in their pack and so they made drawings on their rocky beach, while Ruthie ran up and down the various paths searching for the older persons. The older persons eventually backtracked, knowing that the younger persons would not have walked to Panama without them. With a sufficient amount of running, shouting, calling, and a bit of luck, we all discovered each other, had a lovely late lunch, a visit by the howler monkeys and we were able to hike back to the trailhead before dark.

Another great delight of this weekend was the discovery of three Elon students also in Puerto Viejo for the night. They knew we were there, and when their turtle protection project on the west coast was rained out, they decided to head to Panama. What joy for all when they spied us across the street and ran behind us shouting “surprise!” Ruthie and Molly joined them for another disco party. Anthony and I went back to our hotel, after noting for the students and our kids that the disco was totally surrounded by cops, in fact, more cops than we had seen in our entire time in Costa Rica. We figured it was a drug bust and we just hoped no one would open fire with the entire town of Puerto Viejo present. That was how relaxed the atmosphere was. In retrospect, what were we thinking?! Pura vida, I guess!

This weekend we had a wonderful time, eating, relaxing, meeting old friends and making new ones. Between the howler monkeys and the roosters who did not know to wait for dawn, however, we did not get much sleep. Great place though, and we would be very glad to return!