Cahuita

This weekend we spent two nights at the small town of Cahuita on the southern part of the Caribbean coast. We took a 4 hour bus ride from San Jose and arrived early afternoon to a torrential downpour. I had no umbrella (I swear we only own two in California, which mom and abba brought and used) and could only hope that the clothes in my back pack were not as soaking as I was as we walked over a mile to our Cabina. Luckily my shoes are true to their word waterproof so my feet stayed dry. The Cabina was absolutely precious. It was like a little Anne of Green Gables house with a front porch and white latice trim and a gabled roof. We had a full kitchen and large bathroom. The grounds were beautiful too with lots of Heliconias and tropical plants. And high up in the trees we could spot large iguanas.

Cahuita had faced bad weather for the past week. The torrential downpour that we walked through had been drenching the town non-stop all week and today's weather was considered fabulous because there were only heavy showers with breaks between them. The featured black sand beach Playa Negra that was across the street from our Cabina was more like playa sucia. The sand was completely hidden beneath the blanket of drift wood, of branches, of coconuts, of palm fronds, of leaves and even of entire trees that the stormy weather had washed ashore. The water was a deep purple from all the silt and dirt that was churning in the waves. When we walked along the shore the sweet vinegary smell of rotting bananas floated in the breeze. Most of the litter was organic matter, but there were some gross things including a dead pig. Most of Saturday afternoon we spent eating and walking around the unpaved puddly streets. The football (soccer) field was a perfect lake. Bob Marley was playing from every other restaurant and rastas hung around the corner with their long dreads stuffed into their crotched hats. Everyone was super friendly and walking around, or biking with a surfboard under one arm to catch the afternoon's waves.

Sunday started as a bit of a disappointment. We were ready for a big day at the National Park that is situated at the other end of town. But when we arrived it was CLOSED due to the storm aftermath. The trail was being cleared and perhaps would be open later in the day. We walked a little out of town to go see the butterfly garden and same story...closed because of storm damage! So as was the trend of these past 3 weeks, Costa Rica was, yet again, absconding its gems from us. We decided to walk along the black sand beach for a couple of miles which was actually quite wonderful. A town dog adopted us as we meandered and loyally traipsed around with us contently.
We turned around as it began to rain again, but it was only a short shower. By noon we had already walked 6 miles. We had lunch at a place called "Ingrids." After lunch we checked the national park again and it was open! But only until the first river that usually can be easily forded at low tide, but due to the weather was impassible. This meant that the trail only extended about 1 or 2 kilometers. The park followed the coast line (this coast had white sand instead of black). A ranger showed us a some Howler Monkeys (mono congo) in the trees as well as some sloths. It was amazing how he could pick them out with such ease while as hard as I tried I could NOT see any animals without someone pointing them out. Our animal count for the weekend included: Howler monkeys, sloths, iguanas, lizards, crabs, toucans, oro pendulum (birds), and a plethora of butterflies. By the end of the trip, I had honed my eye and began to spot sloths and monkeys. And as we were walking out of the park on Monday afternoon right before we headed back to San Jose, WE were the ones pointing out the animals to other people walking through the park. It was a good feeling.

We had a delicious Italian dinner at Cocorico. As soon as we sat down at the restaurant the rain started up again. It was unbelievably heavy. We ate without speaking because the rain was so loud you couldn't comfortably uphold a conversation. It just poured from the sky like a garden hose on full blast. The water dripped off the roof in these gorgeous streams illuminated by the pleasant decorative lights of the restaurant. It paused momentarily, as we left dinner, but the dry skies did not last in our mile walk home. However, it was the most enjoyable walk ever. The night was dark black, the raindrops were succulent and heavy. The sound drowned out the crashing of the ocean and I sang a loud into the darkness and no one could hear me. I was borrowing a large umbrella (the kind with the silver pointy tip) from our Cabina and was unperturbed by the puddles. The shower however, was even too grand for this heavy duty umbrella and my legs were soaked by the time we got home. Luckily I was in a dress and so it didn't matter.

Monday broke with blue skies and a hot Caribbean sun. We got to the butterfly garden and Abba and I went crazy taking photos. We had a delicious breakfast--> an enormous bowl of fruit covered in yogurt and granola. We spent the early afternoon in the National Park again and got to experience the blue sky, bright sand, hot tropical version. It was still closed past the river but the stretch we could explore was worth doing twice.

We caught a 4:30pm bus home to San Jose. The ride was extra long because we got stopped by police for an extensive check (we are close to the boarder with Panama). Mom and I did not have proper ID but we were let off with a little finger shaking. Run-ins with the police seem to be a weekly event for us. No less than 5 minutes later the bus got a flat tire so we spent some time at the llanteria getting that fixed. But other than that, we made it home safe and sound. And the weekend turned out to be quite a nice one!