Pura Vida, with a price tag
Trip Start
May 07, 2009
1
26
Trip End
Sep 04, 2009
Cahuita, Province of Limon, Costa Rica
Sunday, May 10, 2009
After our exhausting wait at Frankfurt airport(s) we had an exhausting 9 hour flight to the Dominican Republic, a 2 hour wait, and another 3 hours of crampy goodness before arriving in the Promised Land, or in this case, Costa Rica.
We got in about 6:30am, a quick taxi to the hostel, and we were told we'd have a 4 hour wait before the room was ready because people were still sleeping in it. Fair enough I suppose. In past tense would that be I supposed? Hmm
While we were waiting we went for breakfast around the corner at a 'soda' (cheap no frills café) where we had eggs, juice and 'pinto' (rice cooked with beans and onion) which was both hearty and nutritious, and cheap, coming in at about 3 dollars each.
We walked to the Market where we enjoyed some fine Costa Rican coffee, wandered through the stalls and wandered like jetlagged zombies back to the hostel to wait for our room to be vacated. We were so out of if that day that we got some subway at about 2pm and slept for 13 hours until around 3am when I awoke to a flaming bag of garbage in the gutter on the street corner outside our room. Interesting. I dozed for another hour or so and then got up to read the guidebook and Ben Elton's recent book 'Blind Faith' - I implore anyone who checks their facebook or myspace pages more than once a day to read this book, there's a chance it might change your outlook on such things, like it did mine.
That morning we left to sample some more eggs and pinto at another local soda, this time it was about 2 dollars each but not as good in my opinion. I'd been feeling a bit ill since I was on the plane, where I noted that I was suffering 3 of the possible 6 swine flue symptoms outlined on the card issued to us before we disembarked. I didn't have a blocked or runny nose though, so I didn't think too much of it, and one mustn't get too caught up in fear mongering instigated by the media. But I still had have been feeling dizzy, weak and all my joints and muscles have been very sore, so I took it easy that day as well, having just a few drinks with some of the other guys at the hostel, while Milli slept.
Yesterday we left San Jose for Cahuita, on the Caribbean coast, known for its hippy laid back vibe and afro Caribbean community, possible due to the fact that all the locals are immigrants from the Caribbean, Jamaica mainly. It had been advertised as not for everyone and certainly not paradise, and not on the 'Gringo Trail' so I thought I would love it. Unfortunately Cahuita is also on the 'Stuck-up Wanker Backpacker Trail'© (yes, I have coined and copy written that phrase) and I really don't like it at all. I've been to some amazing places where both the locals and tourists are so friendly and easy going (Koh Lanta) and I've been to some places where everyone (especially 'lifers'... Those that have been around for at least a month and view the place as their own backyard, getting extremely pissed off that you are in their line of sight and possibly breathing the same air as them... often found in dank dorm rooms) could not be any less pleased that you are there, and use rudeness and unfriendliness to show you just how much they wish you weren't there.
Also Cahuita is FULL of faltpackers© (Faux alternative backpackers... you know the type... want to go to somewhere different but then once they're there, are internally terrified that that perhaps one of the local rasta's will rape them or some such nonsense, so they walk around not talking to ANYONE and just glaring at you and blowing smoke in your face), and the town is a bit seedy so we'll leave tomorrow for Puerto Viejo, maybe we'll win that gamble. Such is travel I suppose.
oh if you want to see what city or country we are in, check out my google calendar , if you're going to be in the same place, and you want to have a beer or something, send me a message
Milli says:
So the flight we finally boarded was looooong and I was stuck in the middle of the plane in the middle row in the middle seat of that row. The suckiest place in the world. Shane and I were so tired we slept instead of eating dinner but I couldn't sleep much and ended up watching Mamma Mia and The Darjeeling Limited while Shane got a lot of good sleep. Getting out in the Dominican Republic we then sat for two hours and got back in the plane. Excitement plus. We finally arrived and as Shane said we had to wait for our freaking room to be ready. Really the worst news to hear (apart from the hotel has burnt down). I was so out of it I commented that the town seemed all shut up and strange but Shane advised me it was only 7am so nothing is open much yet! Ahem.
Walking around the town itself is a little run down but mainly nothing special to comment on. Most places had bars on windows which indicated some seediness but the people themselves seemed nice. It had a lot of American fast food restaurants like Denny's, Subway, Pizza Hut (RESTAURANTS!) and Taco Bell. We went to the market which was quite cool, had a great coffee at a café and realised we were at quite a disadvantage with our meagre Spanish. We couldn't know any less really. Take away our 'Hola' and its back to mime. Ah well, we will really use those Spanish lessons we get in three weeks at the Ecuador hostel!
We were so happy to get good cheap food and while I still enjoy my eggs and pinto, Shane is happy to try an omelette when they come up. Not paying 50 dollars for a meal like in Italy makes us very happy - jovial even...hehe
So nothing much in San Jose but we knew we didn't have much of an agenda there and it was more to get over jet lag (and flu like symptoms that weren't). The thing with travel is that you spend lots of time sitting in air conditioned buildings, walking with heavy bags, surrounded by random people and often on no sleep with strange flight times and long flights. So its natural to feel tired, heavy, get a sore throat and feel dizzy. And we found that a good nights sleep fixes that. It's a shame its hard to tell the difference between rundown and swine flu or Malaria. Such are the joys of travel.
So we took the local bus to our first beach stop, Cahuita, on the Caribbean waters. 6 dollars instead of 30 for the tourist bus, though half of the locals bus were tourists too. We passed through the mountains that were a pretty backdrop at one end of San Jose, with thick rainforest and strips of cloud hanging round the peaks. There were heaps of banana plantations, and other fields that I was not sure of - probably coffee, sugar etc. I also noticed a tonne of trucks going past and also just sitting by the side of the road - big semi trailers. Then I noticed heaps of containers from these trucks stacked on sites beside the road, so many. I wondered whether they were coming from freight ships coming from the Panama canal or if they were from north or south America coming overland. Lots of wondering. ☺
A huge truck went past our bus carrying part of a mammoth tree trunk which was upsetting. I'm not sure if it had died naturally or not but it would have been thousands of years old so I truly hope it wasn't illegal logging.
It was a struggle and my legs were aching from the lack of movement as I was sitting behind an American who WOULD NOT SHUT UP (though that didn't affect my legs, it was more she had her chair leaning back...at 10.30am for fucks sake) so it was a long ride. Getting to the coast there was a definite change in the air - and not just more salty thank you smarty pants people.
We hurriedly got off when a sign said Cahuita but then realised the main stop was a kilometre away and a local had got off before....as we had. So we walked in the humid HOT with sweat not dripping but running and cascading down like a waterfall, with an actual freaking VULTURE (not kidding) circling above us, until we got to the centre of town and saw other tourists from our bus just getting off. Bah.
Our hostel was nice but nothing special, a huge room we didn't need but we were so tired we didn't want to wait for a smaller one to be cleaned. Nice view of the beach and the national park rainforest that was just nearby. Unfortunately the town was a little seedy and the people (both tourists and locals) were a bit cold/rude. Again it was a little rundown with lots of empty lots and buildings that looked like squatters lived in them. (Later found out there were people living there). But there were also a lot of nice bars and restaurants, and hammock clad guest houses that reminded me of South East Asia. It was nice to get to a beach and unwind. The prices are more than in San Jose so we need to budget a bit still.
We went for a walk in the rainforest but saw no sloths. Not happy.
There are an amazing amount of tropical vegetation and quirky animals around though, it is best known as a country for that.
We moved to another guest house that was slightly nicer and friendlier and went for a walk to the frog garden I had seen a sign for. We walked down a street and realised it was not that simple, following more signs we went this way and that and came upon a tree with pink fruit that was being eaten by lots of monkeys. We stopped and that was when some of them began to climb down so we darted off.
Finally arriving at the place we found it closed. @$^@#$%. So we had to return back past the monkeys and at this point there was a terrible howling from further in the rainforest. I'd say howler monkeys as an obvious but we couldn't see the offending animal so who knows. We got back to civilisation and had a good meal that ended up being freaking expensive. Damn taxes on top of it all! I tried the Costa Rican speciality 'Rondon' which is like French Boulliabasse of seafood but with coconut milk broth. I later read the name came from the English 'Run Down' which meant the run down of all the leftovers be they seafood or meats and putting them all together. It was good but rustic in that there were many shells and legs and fins to pull out. We saw squirrels eating coconuts in the trees, and dogs almost humping - the male really gave it a go by basically ghosting her but she was pretty NOT up for it..
That evening there was another massive storm, I really have never heard such cracks of thunder and the rain poured down endlessly. And it did not abate the next morning so we were drenched walking to the bus to go to Puerto Viejo.
