For our final destination in Costa Rica we spent a few days in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, not far from the border with Panamá and on the coast. A traffic accident blocked our way until the driver back tracked around it but hey, at least the accident didn’t involve us, makes a nice change!
Embracing the Caribbean way of life we rented bicycles for a day and ventured out of village up to
Punta Uva. Peta, Monique and I went a little further to check out Manzanillo beach as well including a few hills to test out our legs on our gear-less, beach cruiser rust buckets for bikes. On the return to Punta Uva we were rewarded with a sighting of a howler monkey in a tree by the road so we can tick him off our wildlife-spotting list. The rest of the afternoon passed in peacefulness with a quick dip in the surf, passing out on the sand and spying on timid crabs ducking in and out of their holes to shift sand and avoid capture. And a beer. Of course.
A big draw card of Puerto Viejo for some of us was a gorgeous cafe three doors down from our hotel called Bread and Chocolate. Serving awesome coffee, food and brownies, they made a fortune out of us I think we should own shares by now. Just like Wild Cherries cafe in Truckee,
USA, some cafes just stick in your memory.
Another feature of some of the clubs in town is a rotating ladies night with free drinks for ladies, and then lots of guys who like the idea of lots of drunk ladies that they don’t have to buy drinks for. Slightly immoral, advantageous, opportunist? Maybe. Effective? Yep. I enjoyed at least four mojitos of vastly different alcohol content each time due to the mass production and free-pour method. I say at least four as that’s how many I remember asking for. Mas o minas. Calling it a night and stepping outside I once again found myself holding a sleeping puppy in my arms. I must have looked smitten as a local stranger took a pic on his phone and then emailed it to me. Smitten or smashed, perhaps both.
Peta, Monique and I visited the Jaguar Rescue Centre the following day, seeing not one single jaguar. It’s only called the Jaguar centre in honour of the first rescue animal, a jaguar cub. These days it is a recuperation and rest home to a couple of toucans, a margay cat, snakes, deer that lick your hands, hawks, owls, squirrels, caimans, frogs and several monkeys and sloths on their way to being reintroduced into the wild. Animals get me every time. Baby animals even moreso. Baby animals up close, sitting on your arm or licking your hand…there are no words. Sloths may look a little weird but baby sloths have dopey, rasta smiles and big brown eyes as they lumber about at a constant pace that could race a snail backwards. Monkeys can have sorrowful eyes, sad frowns and furrowed brow even while huddled into the crook of your neck or arm and then swing past on a rope and snatch your glasses away in an instant. They’re also very quick to make a move for the exit when you try to leave them behind. Each day they’re let out to the forest to make their own way in the world, once they’re fit and healthy. If they want to come back the next day, they know where to go. It’s kind of like a halfway house or day-release facility. And it’s working so far.
Being female we tried our hand at this thing called retail therapy in the many souvenir shops lining the “main street”…more like the widest sandy path…and recoiled at the prices. $40 for a cotton sun dress is a bit of a joke that isn’t funny. I had to laugh, even the vendor said it was expensive. So I’m still wearing the same clothes I’ve been in constantly for the past four months. Here’s hoping Panamá does a better job.
