Paradise Found

La pura vida en Puerto Viejo
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Now I never did like beaches or ocean or sand.  Why go here then?  My wife does like all of this.  I must say, though, that I now love beaches, ocean and sand.  Puerto Viejo is paradise.  No matter what I say here, I will never do it justice.

Our reserved hotel was Cariblue.  I was very disappointed.  For the price and the online description, I guess I expected more.  They are bungalows (read: very small rooms) with a king bed and an overhead fan.  The pool is ok and the restaurant is overpriced and not that great.  We left after 1 hour.  Luckily we found La Isla Inn!  I can not say enough good about this place.

Fishing boats in Manzanillo
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One of our goals on this trip was to go to Punta Mona, after seeing Edible Adventures (quite a rep in town you've got, Stephen).  Anyone who has not seen this show should go to puntamona.org and check out the clip - these guys have it all right!  Unfortunately, we didn't make it.  Next time, for sure.

The first morning after our arrival we drove south to Manzanillo (10ish km).  We parked at the soda and walked the beach to the point (about 2km).  We picked shells (then threw them back) and took pictures for 3 hours of sheer heaven.  We saw a local fishing in the ocean along a little river coming from the jungle.  The river (a trickle some may say) was colored red by the tannins from the jungle.  It was an amazingly serene and beautiful scene.  He let me take a few pictures as he fished, then he headed back to town with his lunch.

La Punta Mona - it's this boat or a long jungle hike...
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At the southern point of the beach there was a low tide pathway that allowed me to round the rock.  I found what might possibly be the most perfect secluded little stretch of sand I have ever seen.  This area was about 50m long and only 5m deep at most.  There was a 10m cliff with jungle behind me.  I found that "deserted island" I have always wanted.

I mentioned that I never liked the beach or the ocean - well, Manzanillo changed me.  I swam for almost a half hour in the calm, clear waters.  I would have happily stayed there forever.  It was getting warm by then, and we still had a bit of a walk to the car, so we headed out.  We took our time getting back, but we did have to go - horseback riding was next.

Secluded, quiet and beautiful
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At about 3:30 we met up with Raul for horseback riding.  Raul was one very cool Rasta.  Dreads all the way down his back, and a very cool demeanor, Raul led us to the stable.  There were three horses, and three only, no tour company here - very cool!  We rode quite a way down Playa Negra, all the way to the river.  Along the way, my wife the "expert" rider was almost thrown into the surf.  She had a hard time controlling her horse.  Mine (Moro) on the other hand, was very calm and easy to ride.  Raul and I got quite a kick out of seeing my wife flail up and down the beach.  She kept saying that her horse was crazy, Raul and I agreed that it was not the horse, but the rider.

We hung out at the river for a bit then headed back along a jungle trail.  Along the way, Raul was able to point out a number of different animals and plants.  I have no idea how he could have seen the sloth and the tamandua up in the trees, but he found them.  My wife, having switched horses from the "crazy" one, took Raul's.  As I expected, this one went crazy too.  Again, Raul and I agreed that it had to be the rider.  She took off at a gallop, and we didn't see her again for about 30 minutes.  Along the way, Raul and I discussed the growth of the area, real estate and what the most important things in life really are.  After finding my wife, getting the horses back and heading for our room, we realized that this really was a special tour.  Turns out Raul doesn't do this much, he only works by reference.  Apparently, he was contacted by our hotel (I totally forgot her name now) and told about us.  We had no set time limits, he said, "let's just go for a ride and see what happens."  This was awesome!  Thanks Raul.

Nights are early here for us.  We had the best camarones con arroz ever cooked.  This was from the little hotel kitchen, too.  A few beers later, and we were out.

Up with the animals!  If it has not been mentioned before, I will do so now.  In Costa Rica, you wake up when all the other animals decide.  Birds, monkeys, it doesn't really matter.  Since we had no timepiece with us throughout this whole trip, and none of the hotel rooms have either, I am not sure what time I was awoken.  It was early, I am sure.  The time just after sunrise is amazing on the beach.  No trucks, nobody at the beach, just peace.  My wife finally strolled out, we had breakfast, then we were ready for the day's adventure - snorkeling.

After almost an hour of picking up others, paying for the trip and driving some more, we finally got to the boat.  We went out off the Cahuita coast still in the park for our first dive.  Carlos (the Amazing Carlos) told us what we needed to know, warned us to not be afraid of the barracudas, then disappeared into the sea.  We were all able to follow him as soon as we realized that he was the one with the bright orange lifevest trailing behind him, but the barracudas were still on my mind.

It turns out, for me at least, snorkeling is kind of tough.  I gave up on the snorkel part almost immediately and just did it the old fashioned way - holding my breath.  We were out for about 45 minutes, having seen plenty of fish (no barracudas)and quite a bit of coral.  It was time to head to our next dive spot.  Before getting there, we had to drop off two people on the beach, one of them was getting seasick.  The second spot was much more fun for me.  I learned how to use the snorkel and was able to keep my mask pretty dry.  The most fun was diving down 3 or 4 meters to swim amonst the fish.  We stayed out for almost an hour this time, then headed to Punta Cahuita for lunch.

There was already a boatload of people (5 or so) on the beach as we pulled up, so the monkey onslaught was not a surprise for our group.  There are a bunch of capuchin monkeys just waiting to steal whatever you have that may (or may not) be edible.  These guys are hilarious, but serious about getting their lunch.