What turns a hike from a long, boring walk into a great hike? The things that I think of, off the top of my head are: good scenery, lots of wildlife, and a good temperature. With these criteria in mind, we went on the world’s best hike in Cahuita National Park. The trail through the park is free as long as you go in the side that is owned by the city, if you go in the side owned by the government it costs $10. They do ask for a donation, which we were happy to give. The trail is an easy 8km hike, we did it in flip flops. Halfway through there is a gate. The gate is closed at 2pm everyday, if you are hiking and you get to the closed gate, it means “turn around and go back the way you came because the park is closing soon and you need to get out somewhat quickly.” It is a symbolic gate used to keep people aware of the time. Now, let me say Cahuita is hot and humid. Very, very humid. Worse than Kansas City humid. And it’s hot and the sun is strong. We walked the 800 meters from our cabina to the national park and were sweaty and hot already (of course, that’s pretty much been the norm in Costa Rica anyway- Nick has described himself as soggy on more than one occasion). The National Park is right on the ocean and as soon as we got there we felt the amazingly cool ocean breezes and the large palm trees provided lots of glorious shade- it was heavenly. We started our hike along the trail, which winds around, always running parallel to the beach. Every hike I do from here on out absolutely must have a beach running parallel to it! Not only did the breezes keep us cool, but whenever we wanted a break or got too warm we would go jump into the ocean and splash around for a minute to cool off, then resume our hike! It is the ultimate temperature control while hiking. Then, there was the scenery- it was so tropical, tons of palm trees and huge sprawling trees, vines and bushes, and it was right along the beach. Costa Rica is hands down the most beautiful place I have ever been and I cannot even begin to fully describe just how wonderful it is.
The river dumping into the ocean, going right through the trail in Cahuita National Park
So, scenery- check, amazing temperatures- check, and the wildlife?- double check! Almost as soon as we got into the park we started seeing monkeys! There were tons of them playing in the trees. We found a little path veering from the main path that took us out to a grove of trees where one little monkey was playing and eating. He was jumping from tree to tree and must have known there were people taking his picture since he was being a total ham- getting closer, flashing his little face at us, chomping on some food and generally being adorable. He got really close too, about 15 ft away from us at one point! At first we were amazed by all the monkeys we saw, but as we went along and realized how many there were we got a little tired of them. Just kidding! It’s impossible to get sick of monkeys! At one point we were watching some frolic in a nearby tree, not knowing that there was one sitting right above our heads until he threw a large nut that dropped down right between us, missing both of our heads by mere inches!! From then on, we tried to keep one eye on the trail and one on the trees above us.
We also saw tons of birds, lizards and crabs- we even saw a hermit crab wearing a bottle cap as his shell! We also saw our first Costa Rica snake (although I am sure he is not the first one that we passed). We came upon a man taking pictures of something in a tree right above the trail. It was a thin, yellow and green snake sitting up there looking like part of the tree. It definitely freaked me out and I had to walk directly underneath it to keep hiking. Yuck. Snake aside, it was a beautiful hike and I loved being able to pop off the trail and into the ocean whenever we wanted.
Cahuita itself was wonderful, it was very tiny, but it was the quintessential beach town. We stayed in a tiny cabin complete with mosquito netting around the bed and an outdoor kitchen- the place was really incredible. It was owned by a man from Germany and his wife who was from Portugal who had settled in Cahuita almost 20 years ago. We had a screen on one window, but the other was open, out hosts told us to make sure we closed the window at night, for 2 reasons: 1) If we left the lights off with the window open, bats would come in, but the mosquitoes would stay out. 2) if we turned the lights on with the window open, the bats would stay away, but the mosquitoes would come. Our cabina was 200 meters from the black, volcanic sands of the Playa Negra beach and 800 meters to the tiny town center. The roads are dirt but lined with palm trees and the beach is almost always in sight. Being right on the Caribbean gives Cahuita a different vibe than the rest of the places we have been here. If it is possible, Cahuita is even more laid back than the rest of Costa Rica. Bikes seem to be the most popular mode of transportation, but they were not necessary for us as we were already so close to everything.
The restaurants lining the Main Street- also the only paved street- are all open air restaurants with giant patios. Almost anywhere we went in town we could hear reggae music, and Bob Marley posters were everywhere. After our hike/swim we stopped for lunch and to watch part of the Brazil/Columbia game. It was such an amazing feeling to be eating lunch just yards from the ocean, still sandy and damp from our swim and watching the World Cup, it was one of those moments of complete happiness and of realizing how lucky we are to be doing this and just how amazing the world is. We got up early the next day and went down to the beach where there is a little outdoor beach gym with weights, a weight bench, parallel bars and a pull-up bar. We went and did an early morning workout and walked back along the beach. It was our last day in Costa Rica so we wanted to enjoy it.
After breakfast we hopped on a bus to Sixaola. Sixaola is a border town between Costa Rica and Panama. Buses will not take you over the border, only to the border, then you walk across a rickety old bridge- we had to watch our step closely as many of the boards were loose. It was a totally crazy border town. From the border we took a shuttle to Almirante where we got on a water taxi to Bocas del Toro.
Border crossing into Panama
Reflections so far:
What I have liked best….
Katy: Meeting so many interesting, fun people who love traveling- and then figuring out how they keep traveling. Getting to practice my Spanish. The beach in Cahuita was incredible and seeing monkeys as close as we did was unbelievable. Really getting to know Monteverde and experiencing the pura vida lifestyle was such a refreshing change of pace from what I was used to.
Nick: The ocean! So nice to get to the beach and the Caribbean vibe was a much welcomed change. Ocean breezes are the best! Also, no bus loads of high school kids in Cahuita like we saw daily in Monteverde – very nice. I love meeting fellow long term and frequent travelers and hearing about how they balance travel and work.
What I have found to be frustrating….
Katy: when my Spanish is inadequate and i realize just how much I don’t know yet. When we were in La Fortuna, I asked the cab driver for a restaurant recommendation just to make conversation while we were on our way back to our hostel. He thought I wanted to go to a restaurant right then, so he changed course and took us to a restaurant. I had a terrible time explaining that I just wanted his recommendation and we wanted to go to our hostel. I got super flustered, since I had just been patting myself on the back for another great Spanish conversation, and couldn’t think of any of the right words. Oh, and the bugs, I have pretty much been eaten alive and between Cahuita and Bocas del Toro I am terrified of getting Dengue fever or Malaria- especially because I am such a tasty treat that not even the high deet bug spray keeps the mosquitoes away.
Nick: Bugs. Bugs are the worst. Lots of mosquitoes in Cahuita. I don’t care for the humidity either. Nothing dries in Monteverde and that sucks when you only have 4 shirts!
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