Day 91-92 Cahuita

We decided to have a big travel day and make it from Montezuma on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica up to the Caribbean coast in one day. After many buses and a few hours waiting in a bus station in San Jose we made it to our next stop, a small little beach town called Cahuita.

We arrived at night and were told by the hostel owner to just grab a taxi for a few dollars. That sounds easy except that taxi´s don´t really exist here and a few of the locals that were offering to take us in their ´taxi´ were completely wasted and stumbling around. In the process of looking for some transport we came across a lovely Swiss couple that had a car and were travelling around with their two young kids. They must have felt sorry for us as they offered us a ride which we very gratefully took. We arrived at our hostel which was right on the beach with beautiful gardens surrounding it and a few natural pools where the sea came in.

The next morning we headed out to check out Playa Negra, another black sand beach but one that was known for being the cleanest in the area. It did not disappoint. This was a real beach. No rocks just a very long and pristine black sand beach with beautiful big palm and tropical trees behind it. The water was beautiful and warm and there were a few waves around too.

After some beach time we walked the couple of kilometres into town along the dirt roads and went straight to a restaurant called Judith´s that was known for its Caribbean food, especially the Jerk Chicken. We were the only ones there to start and the food took over an hour to come out but that is because it was all cooked fresh. The grilled fish was amazing and the spices of the Jerk chicken were a welcome change to our palate, it was a great meal and worth the wait.

The town consisted of one main road with some really cool restaurants and bars, some snorkelling and boat tour company´s and many chilled out ´Rasta´ locals around.

There was a national park that you could walk through that backed onto the beach as well as many day trips around the area available. We had almost had enough jungle and rainforest by then so we were pretty happy to just chill about the beach. We hired a board for the afternoon and headed back to Playa Negra. The waves were nice and gentle for me to get back into it and fun to play around in. I then left Brendan to head up the beach alittle more and catch the bigger sets coming through. We had such an awesome afternoon on the beach, the sun still wasn´t really shinning but at least it wasn´t raining.

After our surf we got ready to head out into town for some cocktails and more great Caribbean food. We got a recommendation from one of the locals and found ourselves in a restaurant that had 2 for 1 cocktails and a great menu. After a few pina-coladas it was time for some food. This meal was by far one of the best we have had in Costa Rica and even Central America so is worth mentioning. Brendan ordered a ´Rondon´ which is like a spicy seafood stew in coconut sauce that comes with rice and veggies on the side. The flavour was AMAZING and like nothing we had ever had before.

Even though we had alot of rain while in Cahuita we really loved it. It wasn´t too touristy, the beaches were great, the little town with its strong Caribbean feel was fun and just the general surroundings were awesome.

We got to the bus station ready to go to Punta Uva, another beach town a little further towards the border of Panama but realised we had missed the bus we wanted and would have to wait a few more hours. We looked at the board and saw that we could get a bus in 20 minutes and go straight across to Panama from here and make it to Bocas del Toro, our first stop in Panama. We looked at each other, looked at the board and decided to flip a coin. We were heading to Bocas del Toro.