Cahuita

The government of Canada has travel warnings regarding the Caribbean coast, including Cahuita.  From what I read, it stems from a series of robberies dating back to 2011ish.  As per tripadvisor, robberies still happen, but it seems moreso towards Puerto Viejo and south.  Anyhow, you might be asking, "Why Cahuita then?"  I picked Cahuita as a destination because it was supposed to be a laid back town with a beach and an incredible national park.

Cruising the river from Tortuguero to Moin

From Tortuguero, we took a 4 hr long boat ride to Moin.  The boat capacity must've been around 24, but there were only 5 passengers total aboard!  It gave us tons of room to lounge and stretch our legs.  We traveled with a bilingual Mexican tourist.  It was interesting sharing stories about travel and learning Spanish.

SLOTH!!!

I don't know how the boat captain did it, but he managed to point out monkeys, a crocodile, and 2 sloths!

Bananas ready to ship to a grocery store near you!

From Moin we took a shared car to Cahuita.  I was expecting to take a taxi from Moin to Limon, but it turned out that a shared car was similar in price and much more convenient.  Along the road from Moin, we past ginormous stacks of shipping containers full of bananas.  Every popular banana brand was represented ie. Dole, Chiquita, Del Monte, etc...

Creative outdoor gym at the beach!

Cahuita was an even smaller town than I expected.  Basically only one road with shops and restaurants on it.  There were 2 grocery stores, both run by Chinese families.  I talked to one shopkeeper, and he said he was from Guangdong!  Small world (or big province)!

At Playa Negra (no the sand isn't actually black)

We were told to be careful with bag snatchings, especially when leaving stuff at the beach.  So, we took turns watching the bags and swimming.  I had finished swimming, and came back up to the shade to watch the bags so K could swim.  As she headed down to the water, a guy on a bicycle stopped and looked suspicious, and was making a weird hissing sound (think like a snake).  Of course I panicked and yelled "THERE'S A WEIRD GUY HERE"  Turns out hissing noises are the equivalent of catcalling.  And many people in Cahuita are fluent in English due to their Jamaican background.  So at least this guy knows he is weird now.

Beach/Jungle walk

On one of the days we walked the length of the trail in Cahuita National Park.  Spotted tons of capuchin monkeys, and one sloth.  Along the trail there is a lovely beach.  Unfortunately when we were there there was a group of middle-aged German tourists skinny-dipping.  Actually the real reason we didn't swim there was the lack of shade.  The sun is HOT in Cahuita, and sunbathing in the sun isn't an option.  In order to not melt into a pile of goo, you need to hangout in the shade.  Near Puerto Vargas there was another lovely beach and we swam there.

What do you do when your clothes are super sweaty? Dry them on a tree, of course!

Our days in Cahuita started early and ended early.  Costa Rica has 12 hour days, with the sun rising around 5:30am and setting around 5:30pm.  So we followed the sun and woke up early.  Most nights I was tucked into bed, fast asleep by 7:30pm.

Beachtimes!

We ate most meals at Kawe, a local favourite where they cooked their rice and beans over a wood fired stove.  We tried many of their dishes and all were quite tasty!  I especially liked the pork rib casado.  mmmmmmm...

Capuchin monkey!