Cahuita

Well, you´ll notice from now on that I won´t be updating things chronologically. If you´re interested, my trip went: Heredia and Volcan Poas (near San Jose), Santa Rosa (Guanacaste Province), Monteverde, Sarapiqui, Cahuita (Caribbean side), and then back to the capital, San Jose.

We just spent a few days on the gorgeous beaches of Cahuita, a small Afro-Caribbean town on the east coast of Costa Rica.

The first day we wandered the town a bit, and Luis said the National Park´s beach wasn´t far at all, so despite the rain we went there. They were closed, as it´s only patrolled from 6am to 5pm daily, so we walked back through the town.

Unsure of where to go next, we were looking around, and were stopped by an interesting yet polite woman who told us that one way was the white sand beach (the national park), and the other way was the black sand beach. Then she politely asked for some money to eat, and I embarrassedly gave her some coins. Another man asked us if we wanted avocados, and ended up cursing us by the end of the night, because we were all afraid of buying stolen avocados!

Despite a shaky start, we had a great time in this cool little town. That same night we had a great dinner of pizza and fish in cocorico (coconut, yet spicy!) sauce, and a great dessert of crepes with nutella, and someone ordered coconut ice cream, which was AWESOME! We went back to the hotel, El Arrecife (The Reef, in English), and hung out in the hammocks. A mama cat came by, and when I picked her up, I asked her if I could see her kittens. She didn´t show me til the next morning, when I saw all of profe´s children petting them! I was so excited! I´ll add pictures of the little cuties later. :)

I was up early, and the whole class went to the beach, and paid the voluntary, but suggested admission to the park. We got a little talk about this set-up, which I really like. Although the park was once owned by people that lived in it, it was set up so that the fees for the park would only go to improving it, and more importantly, for improving the community surrounding the park. This acts as a bit of compensation for those who no longer own that land. During the talk, we learned that the voluntary fee has been working well, as the locals, who should not have to pay as much, will pay a few hundred colones or so, and visitors are often generous enough to pay more than the suggested donation. They have used the money in the past to make schools and centers for the elderly, and the park is patrolled and well-kept, with showers and changing rooms. They also have some information about the area and wildlife you can see in the park. :)

We all had a great time playing in the water, as the waves weren´t too rough, and there were plenty of sand dollars to pick up and inspect. After we felt we had enough sun, we could hide under the shade of the palm trees and look for howler monkeys, lizards, coconuts, crabs, and lots of leaf cutter ants. Leif and I went back in the afternoon (Oh man, after the sun was a little less intense!) to explore the rest of the trail, and found that it went all the way to where a stream came out, and we continued down the rest of the gorgeous beach.

That evening I had chicken in the cocorico sauce this time, and it was SO good!!! While we were eating, I think we were watching the owner of the restaurant help his daughter set up a stand to sell empanadas to make some money. They speak a mix of English, a native languag, and Spanish, and he spoke to us in English, mostly. As he was preparing he said to us, Well, we all need to live. That seems to be the way of life in this area. You need to make sure you do something to make money to live.

The next day, we went to the black sand beach near Limon. We had a great time, as Profe (if you haven´t figured it out by now, that´s short for professor) found us a guy to take us out on the reef snorkeling. Jane, Leif and I went with him, and he wanted $5 each for a guided tour. I paid another $6 for renting a snorkel, mask, and flippers nearby, and we walked out to where we swam to the reef. It was great, because we saw a few different kinds of coral, lots of gorgeous fish, he caught a few lobsters to show us and we saw even more, and I even swam under a tunnel in the reef. He didn´t catch any lobster that he could sell, though, as they´re regulated in Costa Rica and must be a certain size. He was talking about what a shame it is that they overfished them in Panama, and also about how everyone needs to work together to keep the beach clean. He seemed like a really cool guy.

That night we had dinner at the hotel, which Profe set up for us, complete with Caribbean rice and beans, yummy chicken, and a calypso band! We had a great time eating, dancing, and hanging out on our last night together on the trip.

The next morning a couple of us got up bright and early for another beach walk, and then played with the cats. I was happy that George bought some cat food, because mama cat was looking pretty thin!

We went to a pineapple plantation after leaving Cahuita, and it´s a farm called Ojo de Agua. They sell pineapples to Del Monte, so they´re often the ones we eat up in Potsdam! We learned that pineapples are related to some of the epiphytes we found on the trees in the forest, and that they grow from the ground! I had already known that, but it was pretty darn cool to see a whole plantation. We also saw how they wash and pack them, and then how they core and cut them up to be dried. The guides told us that they are required to make sure that none of their pesticides go into the river, so they have a system set up so that the water for the pineapples seeps into the ground, so it is filtered there before it gets to the river. We also tasted the best pinapples we´ve ever eaten! Nom nom. :)