Bungalows Malu Cahuita

... two level three rapids and finally a level four. I find that whenever you do something for the first time that is out of your comfort zone it gives you a feeling in the pit of your stomach.  It can only be described as the thought, 'what did I just get myself into.’ The rapids up until then were exciting and I was wondering what exactly he meant by "paddle ************’t stop"… is this going to be bad? But off we went with no turning back ...

... to be a taxi boat with some tourists there too. I asked if he would sell me some water, which he didn't have, but he gave me a few cupfuls of water from a bottle he had instead. <br>oooh was I thankful. That got me through my trek to the north entrance of the park, and I swear I thought I was gonna die! Big lessen learned - NEVER leave home for any trail hike without your water!<br><br>The rest of the way through the trail, I put my camera away - I had been carrying it in my hand until ...

... didn't want to wait for a smaller one to be cleaned. Nice view of the beach and the national park rainforest that was just nearby. Unfortunately the town was a little seedy and the people (both tourists and locals) were a bit cold/rude. Again it was a little rundown with lots of empty lots and buildings that looked like squatters lived in them. (Later found out there were people living there). But there were also a lot of nice bars and restaurants, and hammock clad ...

... found us, as if they were waiting. How fun. We took a stroll on the beach, it was truly beautiful and only 5:45 a.m. The sunrise, shells that had washed up overnight and "our dogs" following us made it the perfect start to our first morning in Puerto Viejo. Socks walks along, sniffs in the small holes the crabs dig when the waves wash them up and dig, dig, digs, she tries to find the crab. I don't know that she was ever successful. When ...

... landslips they have had around here. There are a lot of lost bananas near the road and river. Sixaola is awash with mud and a pure 1 horse border crossing town. We negotiate the crossing over a ramshackle river bridge with a defunct railway line, I assume its a land only crossing till a lorry squezzes through and over. We have to buy a bus ticket out of Panama to get in as I´ve only got a ticket out of Coata Rica but we make it into ...

... and walked into town. As the day seemed to be nice, I rented a bicycle and rode the dirt rode past my hotel and on the coast. It's sunny but hot and very humid. The breeze from riding the bicycle felt very nice. The storms have just wrecked the beaches. There is driftwood and assorted leaves all over them and they are talking about the cleanup everywhere I go. The roads are a wreck as well, with huge potholes from the 3 weeks of ...

... in Costa Rica. We went on a 14 mile long bike ride ( iI don't think I've ever ridden a bike that far), and played at a beach. We were very apprehensive to get back into the ocean after Bocas, but found a very busy beach with lifeguards and stayed in very shallow water. The time in Puerto was relaxed and much needed.

... more frequent and there were more tramps and junkies begging us for money. When an American drove past and called out of his Chevrolet window "you guys are in the wrong place!", we became a little anxious and hot footed it back towards the hostel. Thankfully, we didn`t have any problems and ended up just going in the Colombian restaurant nextdoor to our hostel which, aside from the cockroaches, was nice enough! An in depth discussion/debate ...

... beach to lay her eggs about 75 feet away. From that distance she's only visible during the brief flashes of lightning illumnating the beach. We get to walk up in groups of two and see her digging and laying her eggs up close. Volunteers take measurements, see if she's tagged, and collect the eggs for the nursery. The egg laying process takes an hour or so. Then the leatherback attempts to cover and disguise the pit. When she does this, we all ...

... one way to jump in the ocean when we got to the last beach we went into the supper market and bought some food for a picnic. On the way back we stoped at one beach not reccommended for swimming as the waves are insane... I´ve never seen waves so big in my life they were 15 to 20 feet easy.. there was a life gaurd there and we could go in to one area... I´ll tell you I´ve never been scared of water in my life.. but ...