Old Port of Talamanca

On the drive from our stopover over to the east coast we had another flat tire - now the second one, but no wonder given the Costa Rican roads. The tire was changed in no time, after all we are in practice 😉. Afterwards, we arrived at our cute little house in Hone Creek in the evening without any further problems, which is a small town between Puerto Viejo de Talamanca and Cahuita on the Caribbean coast. Our accommodation was really a dream and we felt right at home.

Our landlady recommended a small “workshop” where we could have the tire repaired for a small thaler. That also went quickly and we were able to jet on to Puerto Viejo to have a relaxed look at the town and the beach. And the Caribbean coast lived up to its name, there was a completely different atmosphere than in the west. There were souvenirs everywhere with Jamaican colors and Bob Marley's face on them. Musically, it also reminded Jana of her vacation in Jamaica a few years ago, except that it smelled a little less like marijuana here 😄. In the evening we cooked something delicious in our own kitchen and ended the day relaxing.

The next day in the morning we drove to the “Jaguar Rescue Center” in Puerto Viejo, a rescue center for wild animals. The history of the name is quite funny, because although there are many animals here, the facility has never hosted a jaguar. It was founded by two biologists from Spain and Italy and when word got around in the small town and the surrounding area, people brought over all sorts of injured or orphaned wild animals. One of the first was a baby ocelot that people thought was a jaguar and that the biologists jazzed up. So the rumor quickly spread that the two professionals were looking after a jaguar - even though they assured everyone that it was an ocelot. The name was born and continues to this day. There is still no jaguar, but there are two ocelots. Similar to the WFFT in Thailand, attempts are made to release the animals back into the wild as quickly as possible after treatment, but for some this is no longer possible. Regular guests include sloths, for example, who are electrocuted every day because unfortunately most power lines in Costa Rica are uninsulated. The Rescue Center is also getting involved and installing more and more insulation in the pipes. The center is financed entirely by donations and the twice-daily tours. We took a tour in German and learned the stories of the animals that can no longer be released into the wild. Some are too badly injured, others are too used to people. The animals that can be released into the wild are shielded and cannot be seen by visitors. The tour was really great and we had the impression that animal welfare was being promoted here in a highly professional manner. There were also some wild animals sitting in the trees all around, such as howler monkeys, iguanas and sloths. Donations are welcome here, as unfortunately there are no financial subsidies from the government - even though we generally think that Costa Rica does a lot for its environment and wildlife!

Afterwards we drove to the small beach in Manzanillo, but we didn't go swimming there either - the waves here on the Atlantic are pretty wild!

The following day we drove to Cahuita, a tiny sleepy village north of Puerto Viejo. There is a cool national park here that runs along the coast through the jungle. We saw our friends from the monkey mafia again, the cheeky capuchin monkeys, but this time they didn't threaten us any further 😜. Afterwards we had to cross a small river, where we got the Unterbux wet. After another stretch along the beaches and through another river, this time not so deep, we arrived at Punta de Cahuita. There was a small shelter where a few people took a break and cut open a pineapple. And where there is something to eat, the monkeys are usually not far away. There was rustling everywhere in the bushes and many little capuchin monkeys were swinging from branch to branch. But our real highlight was the first raccoon we saw here. Oh my god they were cute! We also learned that they can apparently climb pretty well; after a few minutes on the ground, the little raccoon took refuge up a pretty high palm tree. On the further way we saw a mother raccoon with her super fluffy baby, which was incredibly cute. Afterwards we passed the highly poisonous coral viper, which we had met the day before in the rescue center and about which we had been warned. Normally they leave before you see them, but this one stayed in sight for a long time. Antivenom against snakes is produced in Costa Rica itself - incidentally, the only country in the world besides Australia! - but of course we still kept our distance. In the end, the path took us through denser forest again away from the coast and we came out of Punta Vargas sweating wet and pretty flat. From there we took a taxi back to our car in Cahuita, where we had a well-deserved lunch. In the afternoon we discovered the super beautiful beach “Playa Negra”, which gets its name from the jet-black sand.

We spent the next morning at Playa Negra again, where we had our first real swim in moderately high waves. The sand looked really cool! At lunchtime we left our sweet accommodation and made our way to San José, where we dropped off our car in the evening.

Tomorrow we'll go by bus and boat to Tortuguero in the north-east.