Puerto Viejo - Rain, Bicycles, and Kayaks in the Jungle

Somehow I had imagined the Caribbean coast a little differently: white beaches, palm trees, and above all sunshine! There were palm trees and the beaches were at least partially white, but the sun was a problem... But let's start from the beginning.

From San José, I took a bus to Puerto Viejo. Everything went surprisingly well. On the bus, there was an American Frenchwoman (or the other way around) and an Italian sitting next to me. I listened to their conversation for two hours, which was very entertaining because they were discussing some topics that also concerned me. After two hours, I decided to let them know that I had been following their conversation and just joined in. It turned out to be a very good idea because I got along very well with the American woman and would do a lot with her in the next few days and even meet a fellow traveler for Panama through her, but that's another story...

In Puerto Viejo, I checked into my hostel first. It was tiny, with a dormitory, two private rooms, and some tents in the garden. The kitchen and showers were outdoors. It was right on the beach, although you couldn't go swimming there - but it was still very beautiful and I was happy with my choice. However, I spent the evening in Alix's hostel, or rather the bar underneath.

By the way, Alix is a yoga teacher, so I got two days of free personal yoga lessons. After yoga and breakfast, we decided to rent bicycles and ride to Manzanillo National Park. It was more exhausting than expected because there were a few meters of altitude to overcome - and that without gears and on not so well-maintained bicycles. We were lucky with the rain at first, as it didn't start raining until we reached our destination and could find shelter in a restaurant. However, the hiking trail into the park was closed because it was too muddy. So we had to turn around.

On the way back, we stopped at a café with an attached chocolate factory. There were no factory tours anymore, but we met Katie, a Canadian, and then continued as a group of three.

The next day, the three of us set off again by bike to a spot where we could kayak into the jungle on a river. However, it started raining so heavily on the way that Alix turned back and the two of us continued. When we arrived at 'Sloth Point' in Punta Uva, we were soaking wet (fortunately it was warm). But we saw several sloths right away. We rented kayaks and off we went into the rainforest.

Thanks to the rain, we were almost alone on the small river. It was quite nice, but the further we went into the rainforest, the more uneasy I became and tried not to imagine what was living in the water and bushes... But apart from a few turtles and sloths, we didn't see anything else.

A forest can be really impressive! There wasn't really any current, which made paddling easy and gave us enough time to enjoy the nature around us. I'm really glad we set off despite the rain!

Back in Puerto Viejo, we treated ourselves to a warm coffee and a delicious dinner. But that was already my last day in Puerto Viejo and in Costa Rica. The next morning, I wanted to leave early by bus for the Panamanian border.