Day 11 - The Beach and the Rain Forest

Sundays are sometimes challenging to figure out what to do in a predominantly Catholic country.  It's hit and miss as to what will be open.  As such Tina and I just decided to set out driving and find out what we'd come across.  I knew heading south was a National Park I had wanted to visit and those are usually safe bets regardless of the day of the week.  We hit a treasure chest in coming across Cahuita National Park.  It has about a 5 mile one way trail of which Tina and I did about 3 miles out and then 3 miles back.  Extremely easy walking since it's all flat land.

The park is right on the Caribbean sea and is a peninsula that jet's out into the water with surrounding corral reefs and estuaries for abundant aquatic plants and animals.  It was inhabited up until 1970 by the town of Cahuita and some evidence of it's existence is still on the shoreline.

A Shoreline Under Constant Siege by the Ocean

The Birds Inhabiting an Abandoned Dock

Always on the Hunt

More Abandoned Structures

The Coral Covered Shoreline

Part of the Extensive Estuary

I'm not sure why this area has such a large amount of drift wood but it is all along the coastline down here.  It forms some really neat scenery.

The land of the peninsula had been farmed up until 1970 and was one of the first national efforts by Costa to return portions of the country to it's native state.  The resulting rain forest area from 43 years of restoration is simply incredible and rich with a wide variety of animal life.

A Costa Squirrel (Looks Rather Americanized)

Our Friend the Coatti (More Bashful in the Wild)

Same Grasshoppers I Fight at Home (Protected Here)

A Laid Back Lizard

 We saw several of these monkeys known as White-headed Capuchins.

You Talkin' To Me, Mannnn???

We had been warned that the only danger from any animals in the park was that these monkeys would steal your food from you if they got the chance.  Not thinking much about it, we got to the tip of the peninsula on our return hike.  We decided to have an energy bar and I had just opened 2 of them and handed 1 to Tina when 2 of these monkeys made a mad dash to us.  In a flash one of them was climbing Tina's leg and then onto her chest right after she'd taken her first bite.  He easily got the rest of it away from her and jumped down to be on his way.

Now being the good brave and loving husband that I am, I immediately took a stand ... 

... and turned around covering my own bar and ran like mad, leaving Tina to fend for herself.  Fortunately the 2nd monkey decided his buddy was an easier pursuit than I was and so they left us alone.  Other than being in total shock Tina wasn't hurt or anything but we were both amazed at how fast and nimble the little guy was in stealing his lunch time snack.

The other unique sighting of the day was a sloth we saw just sleeping away the day up in a tree.  This was a first for both of us.

A Sloth ... Just Another Bad Hair Day

We also got brief glimpses of Hollering Monkeys up in the tree's of the inner rain forest.  They are so named because of the barking like sound they make.  We actually first thought it was a dog somewhere, but then spotted one up in the tree proudly proclaiming his territory.  Unfortunately, it moved to quick for a picture.

After a dip into the water and a quick shower at the park facility we headed down to a city called Puerto Viejo.  This is a gem of a town that we probably would have stayed at if I'd known more about it ahead of time.  We picked the place we were at so we could do both north and south of Limon, but this town a hour to the south is really special.  In ways it's a throw back hippy town of Costa with laid back, easy going people m, aking arts and crafts and selling various items.  The town also has a lot of neat looking B&B's, water front activities, and beautifully landscaped parks.  We liked it so much that we drove back up to our hotel, got cleaned up and then returned for dinner.  We had found a little Argentinean restaurant that a couple runs off the front porch of there gorgeous house.  The grill Tina and I split was more than enough for 4 people.

Brazilian Grill ... Some of my Most Favorite Food

Overall it made for a special evening even if it was a long ride.  I would highly recommend Puerto Viejo to anyone wanting to have another unique Costa experience.

So until next time ...

Buen Día