Day 10 to 14, Caribbean coast, Azania Bungalows

3.5 hours, with the last one along the coast. Passing through Puerto Limón, a port city with many trucks, containers, and a large container port. Containers and banana plantations line both sides of the road as far as the eye can see.

The view of the beach doesn't quite resemble the Caribbean. When we arrived at our accommodation, we had to wait for another 30 minutes as our house wasn't ready yet. We used the time to have a coffee by the pool.

Our room was a small cottage with a double bed and two single beds, one of which was accessible via a ladder. There are no conventional windows here. The windows are made of wooden grilles with mosquito nets. Two fans provide a slight breeze. There is no air conditioning here. The rooms are very clean and cozy. Breakfast was very good and brought to the table.

There was a hammock hanging on the wooden terrace, which we enjoyed using. The service and the food are very good, and I would recommend this hotel anytime.

The beach here is very clean, but there are no lounge chairs. Due to the time of our visit, the beach wasn't crowded, only a few surfers took advantage of the quite intense waves to have fun.

Otherwise, this corner has a touch of reggae and the Caribbean, even though it is heavily geared towards tourism.

In total, we stayed here for 4 nights. One afternoon it was rainy, but that's not a big deal.

We rented two bikes for a day and rode to Manzanillo and Puerto Viejo. That was really great. There are many cyclists here, and they have the right of way in traffic. Our bikes didn't have gears or lights, which might not be the safest thing at night. But no bike has lights here, so what's the point.

In the evenings, we always had good meals in various bars. The cocktails during happy hour, which, by the way, lasts all day, are excellent.

You can relax a bit here with the temperature at 30 degrees, but it would be a bit boring for a longer stay.

It was noticeable that there were many German-speaking tourists here. The English of the Costa Ricans is very good everywhere.

After 4 nights, we had our long trip ahead towards the Pacific coast, and we started at 9 with a stop at Quetzal Paradiso Lodge at an altitude of 2700 meters.