Day 14 - Bus ride back to San Jose

Woke up early and did some last minute packing. The bus came at about 7:15am and we were on our way to San Jose after stopping in PV and then again in Chauita. We also had a 10 minute rest stop in Limon.



The bus is definitely the way we will travel again to PV – fast and cheap. After we got to the Caribbean bus Terminal we quickly fond a taxi who took us to Orquideas Inn. We were ready for lunch so we headed to the bar and had some great nachos which we washed woth with some Imperials and margaritas. After thet we took a dip in the pool. The water was really cold after we had been used to swimming in the warm Caribbean sea so we went down to the Jacuzzi and relaxed for the next 20 minutes or so. After going back to our room and showering and relaxing a bit we headed back to the bar for some more drinks and to play some cards. After a while it was getting close to Kat’s bed time so we had a delicious steak dinner. It seemed like the food at Orquideas has improved significantly since our last visits. I’m thinking they must have gotten new chef. Kat went to bed early and I stayed in the bar for a few more hours before hitting the sack to get some sleep since out ride to the airport was pickling up at 5:30am

Day 12 - Cahuita

We went to Cahuita again amd ate a yummy lunch at Restaurante LeFey. The beach was great with gentle waves and good swimming. After taking the 5pm bus back to Puerto Viejo we walked home and then hit El Dorado for 2x1 drinks and then a dinner of Good pasta and carribean chicken at Amimodo.

Day 9 - Cahuita

We saw Joe Montana's son again today laying sleeping in an empty vendor's stall alongside the road. Clearly he has no money and no friends. I'm wondering what his story is...

Today we took the public bus to Cahuita. It was 500 colones each way, purchase tickets at building with the bars across from bus stop in town. The bus ride was interesting - there is a driver who also collects fares and another guy who checks people's tickets. It seems somewhat redundant but I guess having another guy there keeps the driver from pocketing any $$ and creates another job. Cahuita was pretty dead, most restaurants were closed (as was on our visit there last year). We ended up eating some lunch at Restaurante National Park.



Entering the park visitors are asked to sign a guest book and make a contribution. Looking at the guest book it seemed that the average contribution was 1000 colones ($2) per person. We gave them a $5 bill and were given a receipt. We walked about 300 meters up the beach and found a nice spot under a tree on Playa Blanca which is a picture perfect stretch of beach. The water was gentle and warm - the best swimming we've had so far! Unfortunately, after about 1.5 hours we heard thunder in the distance and some dark clouds moving in.




We walked back to the bus station to get tickets back to PV. I got stuck in line behind a few school girls who ended up purchasing tickets for all 20 of their schoolmates. The bus arrived a bit later and we were back in PV and got home just as it began to rain. It continued to rain pretty hard the rest of the night so we fixed ourselves some sandwiches at home. At one point the power went out but fortunately we had some candles