Limón

This weekend my mom came to San José and we went to Limón, a province on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica to visit 3 places: Cahuita, Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo. On our way there we took a really fun pit stop, white water rafting in the Pacuare river.

The Pacuare river rafting started with a 5:30 AM shuttle bus that took us two hours from San José into the mountains. We ate breakfast at the raft company’s site, changed into swimsuits and shorts, and took a very bumpy bus ride down to the start of the river. Before we could get into the raft, our guide gave us a quick run down of the risks and what to do if we fell out of the raft. At this point I was a little nervous! I had never done something like this before and I wasn’t confident I could keep calm if I fell out.

Nevertheless, we started rowing. It was hard at first and I thought, “how am I going to do this for three to four hours?” Still, I was determined to row as hard as I could and do right by my raft team so we wouldn’t capsize or get trapped in the rapids.

The first rapids had us all screaming, mostly with excitement and only a little in fear, and our guide had to give us a little lecture on making sure we could hear his instructions over the rapids. With each group of rapids we went through, it got less scary. The intensity of the rapids did go up as we went down the river, but there were only two times I was afraid that I might fall out.

After the last rapids, we got to swim a long length of the river. The cool water soothed my sore muscles and I didn’t have to work hard at all, held up by my life jacket. It was pure bliss, looking up to see waterfalls that ended in the river and surrounded by rainforest. One of the highlights on our way out of the river was seeing a bunch of local kids having their own fun in the river, doing flips off of an old train bridge and swinging off a rope into the water.

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At the end of the river we got back onto the bus, ate lunch, and headed to Cahuita. On our way there we passed miles of banana plants and saw a gorgeous sunset.

In the morning we ate breakfast at our hotel before heading to the Cahuita National Park. The owner of the hotel made us gallo pinto (rice and beans) and eggs with toast.

After breakfast we walked the few blocks to the National Park. On our way there, a tour guide pointed out a sloth hanging out by the entrance.

From there we walked into the park and hiked the first half of the trail, up to Cahuita point. The trail was beautiful and right along the beach so we could feel the breeze. We saw lots of animals: blue crabs, capuchin and howler monkeys, a raccoon trying to crack open a coconut, and a lots of little lizards.

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When we got to Cahuita point we decided to go on a short snorkeling tour on a little motor boat. It was raining a little, but not too much when we left the shore. Out in the water we saw lots of fish in the coral reefs, but then it started raining harder and we had to go back to the beach. I was a little scared while we rode the boat back in, because halfway there the motor stopped and took a few tries to get started up again. At that point we could barely see the shore through the rain that was coming down hard. But we made it back, and after about fifteen minutes our tour guide was able to give us a ride back to the start of the trail. It was raining lightly but we got a great view of the coastline.

After that we took a taxi to Puerto Viejo and found our airbnb. It was close to town and in the middle of a lot of green.

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We went into town for dinner and between the three of us had lobster, fish, ceviche, and tostones (fried plantains)

The next day we went into Manzanillo, which is a tiny town south of Puerto Viejo. We had been hoping to go on a tour to swim with dolphins there but because of the rain in the morning the ocean was too bumpy for the boat. Still, we had a nice afternoon there. An old friend of my mom showed us around the town and the wildlife and marine refuge it’s inside. We ate an empanada-like food called “Patí” and walked up to Miss May Point, where we could see off a cliff to the ocean below and the beaches on either side. I loved watching the huge waves crash into the rocks and feeling the mist from them a few second later.

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We got back to Puerto Viejo around four and were hungry so we decided to go for a local Italian place we had seen the day before. My mom said she’d heard the Italian food in Puerto Viejo was good because there are a lot of Italian expatriates there. We had pizza and it was very good! Full of pizza, we rented some bikes to get back to the house.

On our last day in Limón we didn’t do much because it rained most of the morning, but we did stop by one last beach on the way to return our bike rentals.

We took a five hour bus ride back to San José, on which I did all of my homework that I had been assigned for that weekend.

I have so many great memories from this trip, from the peace of drifting down the river to the magic of spotting the monkeys in the trees above us. Costa Rica’s natural beauty continues to amaze me and I hope to see even more in the months to come.