Costa Rica 2019 Day 13 - Cahuita: National Park

I slept in a little today...instead of getting to the national park early like 6am, I aimed for 8:30am instead.  Along the way was the Sunday Cahuita Farmers Market.  It is very small, with less than 10 vendors, but a good stop for fresh veggies and fruits.  I knew I would be at the national park and beach for a while and needed some sort of lunch substitute, so I picked up a sweet baked good and a slice of "pizza".  I didn't have proper breakfast that morning because the Airbnb host was not awake yet, so I also ordered breakfast at a shop here.  But, total confusion with the language barrier..I was pointing to the sign in English, thinking I would get gallo with chorizo, avocado, other toppings.  But then I received the gallo (tortilla) only with chorizo.  Ah well, still good.

The extra market stop meant arriving at the national park around 9am instead, and wow how insanely busy.  There were many locals with coolers.  One group ahead of me had more than 15 people.  After the registration table where you donate an entrance fee, the trail (the only one) starts.  I again got sandwiched between one large group so it wasn't very quiet of a walk to start. Eventually there was some separation.

Quiet section of the trail.  Easy, flat, clean.

Lots of Capuchin monkeys here, and they are clearly used to people.  This is the only time I've seen Capuchin monkeys that come up close to you as if they want to interact (perhaps steal?).  I also saw five sloths!  Including one mama + baby.  All of them were actually awake / I could see their faces.  One was super cute and ambitious, it kept reaching for a far away branch that clearly was too far away, but it never gave up!  I hope it didn't use up a lot of its energy trying...

   

Friends: Capuchins + raccoon

Baby + mom sloth!

The trail is interrupted because of Playa Blanca, after which it was much less busy.  Almost all the locals head to to beach for the day.

Along the way to Punta Cahuita

While it is only about half of the entire trail, I decided to turn around Punta Cahuita, which is only 3.5km from the start.  It was rocky / shell-filled here, without much of a beach or viewpoint.  It wouldn't be a good spot for beach-relaxing for the day, so I turned around for a sandy, shady spot on Playa Blanca instead.  On the way, I bumped into the woman from London who I met last night. She joined me on the beach later.

Punta Cahuita

It was great to just relax in the shade and splash in the warm water. I usually don't do much in the water since I am solo and have my stuff with me, so this was nice to have a little freedom with someone else watching my things.

Ah...relaxing and splashing in the warm waters.

We started packing up a little after 3pm.  The park and beach close at 4pm, which I thought was early, but you could tell the waves were getting larger and stronger.

Had some delicious gelato at the shop right in front of the park.  The business owner must do really well, her place always has a line.

Popular gelato in front of the National Park

Now it was around 4:30pm, and I was sticky from all the sunscreen and deet, and just wanted to shower.  The woman from London watches a lot of American football, and it was Superbowl day, so we agreed to grab dinner later on and find a spot to watch part of the game.

Dinner was at Soda Kawe.  Had a casada dish with chicken, with a coconut sauce. Delicious!  The passion fruit smoothie was so refreshing too.  Should have been drinking more smoothies during this trip!

While there were a handful of places playing the game, we settled on Ricky's bar.  Boring game, hated the Patriots.  At least I got to chat and didn't completely waste my time.

Got to sleep much later than usual this trip. Tomorrow is my last day in Cahuita!