La pura vida es una frasa all of the Costa Ricans know and use all the time. If they hold the door open for you and you say ¨Thanks¨they come back with ¨Pura Vida¨. Sometimetimes instead of saying goodnight, they say ¨¨pura vida¨. Everything is pura vida. They are an incredibly nice and happy group of folks, and last weekend I discovered one of the reasons why.
Costa Rica is amazing beautiful. Last weekend a group of us went to Cahuita. Now Cahuita is a small town on the Carribean side of the country. From San Jose, it´s about 4 hours. Since we wanted to make the most of our time out of the city, we took the 6 am bus and so we all arrived via taxi to the station. Now, based on my previous post, you may have learned that buses and I are not the best of friends. While I did not get lost this time. The bus was STIFLING hot. Emma and I could not for the life of us figure out how to open the windows. I believe it was the windows fault, not our lack of strength. AND this was my first time on the crazy roads of Costa Rica on a bus. I have now learned the invaluableness of Dramamine. Luckily, after 3 hours we stopped for a bhathroom break, and changed buses to one with functioning windows. unfortunately, one of the women on the bus lost a bag. Not sure if it was stolen or not. I have learned to always keep my bag with me.
Ok, a little about Cahuita. It´s population is mostly made up from descendents of slaves brought from the islands to work in Costa Rica. It has a very reggea feel. Cahuita, however, did go through a perdiod of violence, and hence became a bit of a ghost town. During that time Puerto Viajo, the neighboring town, build up its tourist base. Now Cauhita is fine, and hence from the head start of Puerto Viejo, has a different touristy feel. Yes there are shops and tourists, but it all feels like a community, and we´re were all family. There was a carinival in celebration of the people of Cahuita, and locals mixed with tourists, and you didn´t know where one ended and the other began. There were a ton of places to stay, but often they were wedged between houses. Our ¨hotel¨bordered the water, and was something our of a movie (pictures to come). Hammocks were everywhere, and the point was to relax.
And relax we did. First, at Playa Negra, where the sand is black. I have learned that black sand is not my favorite. At lunch, when a woman (American, who came to visit and stayed and currently has a cute daughter) told us that the better beach was on the other side. And she was correct. The beach bordered National Park, and the juxtaposition of beach and jungle was breathtaking. The water was goregous and warm. Oh and sometimes quite rough. It´s been a bit since a wave has caused me to somersault. But that I did. I still may have sand in places one definately does not want sand. There was also a trail in the jungle that followed the beach. I saw loads of animals. Howler monkeys scared the daylights out of me. White faced monkeys jumped from tree to tree. And after walking for a bit, found secluded areas reminicent of Pirates of the Carribean. For a town the size of Cahuita (2 paved roads....) I didn´t find the time to do the whole trail. But what I saw was amazing. (OK just realized that I don´t know how to check the spelling of this in English. Please forgive anything spelled incorrectly.)
Other highlights included a canopy tour, where we ziplined from platform to platofrm above the jungle. It was pretty tame and I´m looking forward to Sandra coming to visit so we can do one a bit more adventurous. Alice and I also went on a choloate tour. More on that later...
That´s all for now! Pura Vida
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