We left the capital heading to Tortuguero National Park but the park (and our hotel) is only accessible by boat or plane. By the time we figured out what to do safely with the car for 2 nights we realized we had missed the last boat and would loose another day trying to get back so we opted to cancel our booking and head straight to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast near the Panama border. The drive took a few hours and we arrived around noon. Our room wasn’t ready so we set out to explore the town and grab lunch. After only two hours we knew we found our spot. The small, walkable town had everything we needed from beaches and good food to national parks and a laid back backpacker vibe. There are no western businesses like restaurants or hotels here. While walking around town we came across a private bungalow along the beach with a private pool for less than the place we booked for one night so we booked it for the rest of the week and plan to settle in and enjoy the atmosphere. There is even a gym 50 meters up the road.
Day 2 : We woke up and went for a jog then dropped off some laundry, switched to our new bungalow and rented bicycles. The only plan we had was to find a few beaches and taste some local food. We attempted to sample some empanadas from a vendor on the beach and we ended up with some rather interesting brownies. After 4 hours of beach hopping on bikes we decided to stop for food before heading back. Our bungalow patio has been very entertaining. We have a bird nest in a tree outside our patio door with 3 baby birds. Every five minutes like clockwork the mother shows up with food and the 3 babies heads pop up. After that show we were behind our room on the trail and we saw a baby monkey fall out of a tree from over 50 feet up. When he hit the ground we didn’t know if we should go check on him or wait to see what the adult monkeys in the tree did. They didn’t come down to help him and after a few minutes the little guy got up and limped back up into the tree obviously hurt. We were told later that the adults won’t come help the babies. If the baby is too hurt to get up or is dead they just leave it there.
