Puerto Viejo and the Caribbean Coast

Like I noted in my previous post, it's easier to take some sort of tourist shuttle from one place to another in Costa Rice since they are so readily available and the locals will steer you that way more often than tell you how to take public transportation. But just because you take the expensive route, it doesn't have to be boring or ordinary. There is a company that will pick you up in one of six different cities, take you to a central location, the Pacuare River, for a day (or two) of rafting, and then drop you off at the end of the day at anyone of the same six cities. So to travel from the mountains in the north to the the eastern Caribbean coast, Cammi and I signed up for a day of white water rafting.

We climbed into a van at the crack of dawn (0530 hrs) for a three hour drive to the hub for Explorades. When we arrived, there was a hearty breakfast waiting for us and a place to lock our bags up for the day. Filled with tasty food, we piled back into a van and drove to the start point for the day. Cammi and I were in a raft with four new graduates from North Carolina that had somehow managed to score a six month gig working and living in San Jose, Costa Rica. We were both insanely jealous.

The day was spent, chatting, getting in water fights, getting grounded on some rocks, and going through some pretty cool rapids. There was one raft that didn't make it through a class 4 rapid and wrapped around a giant boulder (all the passengers were dumped into the river, but everyone was okay). We watched as all the guides from all the rafts paddled or swam back up stream to help pull the raft back into the flowing water. It was a neat sight to view and showed great teamwork.

The end of the trip was cool as well because there was an old train bridge about 60 feet above the river were a crazy 10 year old was jumping off. I give this kid major props. He would scramble up the hill, crawl out to center of the bridge, and just leap. It was cool to watch and something I would be terrified to do (remember I couldn't even jump off of the 30 platform for the Tarzan swing when there were two ropes tethered to me).

At the end of the day, we were dropped in the main part of Puerto Viejo and found a cute little place to stay. We were originally headed to Chuita (about 16 km from Puerto Viejo), but the company doesn't drop you there because it's too small. Stacey had told us that Chuita was smaller, but that it was also nice since it wasn't majorly touristy and you'd be able to get an idea of what true Costa Rican Caribbean life was like. There was also a Nature Preserve there that was supposed to be amazing. So we didn't make it to our primary destination, but the touristy Caribbean town was an okay substitute.

Puerto Viejo is located right on the Caribbean Sea and you can rent bikes and ride out along the coast all the way to Panama or back North to Puerto Limon. We meet an Aussie named Nicole on the ride back from rafting, who was staying in town and the three of us hung out for day. Nicole had originally come to Costa Rica with the intent of visiting a bunch of places, but fell in love with the coast and spent her whole vacation there (with the exception of the day on the rapids).

The best part about this area is that there is an animal rescue center (Jaguar Rescue Center - named after the one jaguar that they had who unfortunately passed away the week they opened their doors) that gave tours. It was started by a couple of biologists that had moved to the area to retire. When word got around that there were biologists living in the region, they started dropping off sick animals on their doorstep. The couple couldn't leave the animals to die nor stop the townspeople from bringing them more, so they opened a rescue and rehabilitation center and it's been a giant success. The best part; they have a baby sloth that we got to see!!!!!! We'd been trying to see a sloth forever and regardless of all the assurances that they're everywhere, we'd yet to see one. At the center, there was a volunteer that was walking around with the infant and let you take pictures of him. I even managed a shot with his eyes open.

In Spanish, sloths are called Oso Perezoso, which translates to Lazy Bear. This name pretty much fits the creatures. They are slow moving and spend most of their days sleeping in the trees. Although, to be fair, it takes a sloth a month to digest one meal and they only poop once a week. I'm sure that would make any creature lazy. At the Center, there were two other sloths in addition to the infant. We got to see the two juveniles at "climbing school". Here the volunteers were trying to teach the sloths to climb into trees and be normal. There was one female that was failing miserably. She was crawling on the ground clinging to one branch on the ground level, reaching for another at the same level, and then deciding that it was nap time. It was so damn cute.

At the Center, we also got to go into the monkey play area and got to have them climb all over us. That was awesome, even though the one Capuchin bit me. I was told that that was normal for that type of monkey.

Overall, another highlight of the trip.

For the rest of our time in Puerto Viejo, we played in the water and ate too much food. There was a breakfast place call Bread and Chocolate that made amazing breakfasts, coffees, and deserts. Bill, a retiree that was spending three months trying to find himself again after 48 years of work, treated us to anecdotes and breakfast. He was an interesting and kind person.

On the advice of Nicole, Cammi and I set out for Bocas del Toro, Panama the next morning. Nicole told us that the beaches there were phenomenal and showed us these amazing photographs of tiki huts, green and blue waters, and sandy beaches. Since it was so close and the pictures were so enticing, we headed that way.