Travelling latin america, a little statistic

loading...

Cabinas Riverside, Cahuita

The location from Cabinas Riverside is superb, just one minute walk from the national park entrance and one block away from the main drag. There is also a chines supermarket just around the corner.
I liked the laidback vibe of this place, with the garden and the hammocks. You can see and hear the wildelife, it's like staying at the national park. Cabinas Riverside hase double rooms for 23$ and rooms with kitchen for 25$. We stayed at the apartment on top with a huge kitchen, living room, eating area and two bedrooms, a balcony and a terrace with a hammock and great wifi for 30$ a night. It was great - like a home away from home.

Along the carribean coast, Cahuita & Puerto Viejo (02.11.2013 - 08.11.2013)

From Tortuguero we took a boat which runs down to Puerto Limon and then a little shuttle to Cahuita. After wandering around we found a nice place just next to the cabinas I stayed around 6 years ago. They seemed abandoned and the owner of our place told us it has been like this since a couple of years. Seems a shame.

In Cahuita we didn't do much besides chilling in our nice apartment or on the beach next to the national park ;) Having our own kitchen again was great! We only planned to stay two nights but in the end we spent five nights there.

From Cahuita we took a local bus down south to Puerto Viejo. On the way Minion almost fell out of the bus! A brave man jumped to his rescue and could grab him by his ankle. Shocking moments for everyone!
In Puerto Viejo we wandered around but ended up with a shabby shack, so we left again the next day!

Tortugero (31.10.2013 - 01.11.2013)

After two days in the big city we headed by public bus to La Pavona to catch the boat to Tortuguero. This small village in the middle of a huge national park can only be reached by boat or airplane. On the fantastic ride through the jungle we have seen river turtles, a crocodile, plenty of different birds and beautiful flora.
The round 700 citizens live primarily from the ecotourism around the national park. The park has a rich biological diversity and is one of the most important places for the green turtles in the caribbean. Once reached adulthood they come back every year to lay their eggs, one the same beach they were born.
We were lucky enough to see two days in a row how around 40 green baby-turtles made their way out of the nest into the ocean! You can see that spectacle before sunrise or after sunset, when the black volcano sand is not to hot anymore.
In our opinion it is way better to see the baby-turtles than to make the organised tour at night were you can see how the big ones lay their eggs. From 6pm to 6am the park is closed and you only can go in with a guide.

Also a recommended thing to do in Tortuguero is a canoe tour. But don't book a tour with one of the motor boats, you can see and especially hear much more with the other ones! Also important ask around, the prices are very different and ask if the park ticket (10$) is included.

By boat into Costa-Rica (29.10.2013 - 31.10.2013)

We had decided to leave Nicaragua by crossing the huge Lago de Nicaragua, 40 times as big as lake constance between Germany and Switzerland.

In the early afternoon we boarded the ferry and just 15 hours later, we arrived in San Carlos on the other side. During the ride we had a clear view of the surrounding volcanos, the sunset and sunrise. Definitely a great way to head into Costa-Rica! The boat stopped three times to load and unload goods in the middle of the night. But we had our comfy sun chairs and even got some sleep. 

After hanging around for 4 hours in San Carlos we could get our passports stamped and board the little river boat which would take us upstream into Costa-Rica. The journey upriver was dotted by trees laden with birds, little houses/shacks, howler monkeys in the trees and the odd turtle slipping back into the muddy river. In Costa-Rica we caught a bus and a miserable hot 4 hour ride later we ended up in Ciduad Quesada, which everybody calls San Carlos. There seem to be only about 30 different town names in all of central america... Another 2 hour ride, express this time, we arrived in San Jose. 

A refreshing shower later we splurged on the argentinean restaurant next to our Hostal Van Gogh. A wonderful tenderloin to forget all the deep fried pollo, rice and beans, tacos and all the other maize based things. Central america isn't a place you visit for it's food...

After a healthy breakfast cooked by our host we headed of to visit the different parques and plazas. We even did some shopping: I have now two pair of shorts again, the other reeked so bad I couldn't wear them anymore ^^. 

Of course there was time to stop and have a cold Imperial, it has been a while since the last ;)