Red Frog to Costa Rica and back

PHOTO ALBUM —>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/8LpZNtp4ZvXmWsrGA

Monkey encounters along our trails

On our walks around Red Frog, we had some very, cool monkey encounters. This usually happens when we walk with Jungla and Yvette as Jungla knows when the monkeys are close before we even hear a rustle in the trees.

She runs to greet them, they jump the branches to get just above or near her, they shake the branches, bark at her, bare their teeth, act crazy and then turn to us and look embarrassed.

Another walk, we were on a jungle track passing through an area with huge bamboo. The monkeys there were mainly family groups, mothers with babies. They were peacefully passing by, they glanced at us and seemed to assess us, then carried on their way.

New visa for us:- Costa Rica

As we are not from “a friendly nation” we have to re-up our passports, that is leave Panama to renew our visas every 3 months.

Our choice this time around was Costa Rica, the Caribbean coast. We opted for Puerto Viejo, (Old Port), de Talamanca. It’s known for the Salsa Brava surf breaking and beaches like black-sand Playa Negra.

We booked our tickets for the Carribe shuttle, packed a small bag and set off from the marina in Filo’s water taxi at 7:30 on a Monday morning.

The next water taxi left Bocas at 8:30, it was a nice, smooth ride over to Almirante on the mainland. Almirante is a grungy, town that acts as the main port for the export of bananas, Chiquita mainly.

In Almirante we transferred to a small bus and set off for the border. After leaving the town you find practically nothing but massive banana fields/plantations as far as the eye can see.

The next town we came to was Changuinola. It is a much bigger town, but just as grungy and sad looking.

Next stop was the border which was a whole new experience for us. We left the bus with our back packs and bag and walked a short way to immigration. There we went though the process of getting our exit stamps.

We paid a lady at a table $4.00 customs fee and were ready to cross. Crossing the border involved walking across a bridge to the other side. On the other side we again lined up and did the whole passport entry into Costa Rica. It was really quick and easy.

Our new driver showed us onto the bus and we were off. Our first stop was at a very nice hotel, Banana Azul.

There we stopped for a while so our driver could get one of the other passengers sorted out with further transport to San Jose. Meanwhile we walked around the grounds and were impressed with what we saw…..

Then we were off to our hotel: Sea Tower Hotel.

Arriving at the hotel we found out it was in fact only10:30 am, Costa Rica is an hour behind in time, well it was too early to check in! Check in was 3:00pm. Fortunately they let us leave our bag, but John had to keep the back pack with our passports and valuables. Off we went to explore for 5 hours. (Pass time and hope to have fun).

Our first stop was to a cafe where we enjoyed a mid morning snack and drink. For me this was a chocolate croissant and a chocolate drink, made from the local coca, John did the coffee. Afterwards we headed 1st in the easterly direction along the shore, trying to keep to the shade whenever possible.

The beaches along this shoreline were yellow, sand, beaches with rocky, reef nearly right up to the shoreline.

We would walk along, get to a nice shady spot, and sit on a log looking out to sea. We went quite a ways and were then ready to turn around and find somewhere for lunch.

Back in Puerto Vieja we strolled the streets and found there to be a Caribbean cultural atmosphere. Apparently, Puerto Viejo is influenced by a mixture of Afro-Caribbean, Costa Rican, BriBri indigenous, and Europeans!

Luckily we found a grocery store that had an air conditioned cafeteria attached. Yep, we were both incredibly hot and needed some cool refreshments and cool air. There we managed to spend an hour getting us closer to check in time, while we discussed our plans. We decided that the best plan was to rent some sort of vehicle for transportation as it was incredibly hot and just not practical to try and bike or walk.

Finally, it was time to check in. Our room was on the second floor of the Sea Towers hotel, a very plain room, but comfortable. We had found Jamaican patties for sale on our wanders around and they became our dinner.

Day 2

We were treated to a very good breakfast and then set off for the car hire John had researched. It bragged to be a no nonsense basic car hire…. Adobe Car hire. There a friendly, fellow let us a brand, new, red, car. It did take John a bit of a lesson and practice to get the hang of the car as absolutely everything was different compared to cars he had driven before. We hadn’t even heard of this type of car – some sort of Chinese model.

Gandoca Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge

Our destination that day was Gandoca Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge, which boasted a National Park, lovely beaches and views. The refuge protects 5,303 hectares of ocean front, jungle and mangroves that provide important habitat for many species of endangered wildlife and flora.

It is also the end of the road. On the drive there we passed several large, popular beaches and small settlements.

We arrived, parked and set off into the park. Our walk took us to a lovely, vista and passed many pretty beaches.

Next we walked along a jungle pathway through to another look-out. Again it was an attractive view.

By this stage we were both saturated in sweat, and our water was nearly finished, so back to the car we headed. We were finding Costa Rica hotter than Panama.

Playa Cocles and Playa Chiquita

On our drive back to Punta Viaja we turned off at the tracks that led to the beaches and enjoyed the views. There are Playa Cocles and Playa Chiquita both are well-known for their postcard perfect yellowish white sand beaches that are backed by shady palm trees.

I was particularly happy to spot an unusual water bird stalking crabs behind the beach. It was a Bare-Throated Tiger-Heron, and said to be uncommon.

Our lunch stop was a very nice roadside cafe where again across the road was a lovely view of the coastline.

Playa Negro

After lunch we drove a ways in the other direction and had a look at the black sand beach Playa Negro. It was really a mix of black, brown and yellow sands, very different from the beaches we were used to seeing.

Day 3 Limon

Today we were headed towards Limon, about 40 miles away on the coast. I’d read that Limon is home to the Afro-Costa Rican community. Part of the community traces its roots to Italian, Jamaican and Chinese laborers who worked on a late nineteenth-century railroad project that connected San Jose to Puerto Limon.

The drive there was along a main road which was very quiet, passing many banana plantations and crossing many narrow bridges, over small rivers.

The system, or procedure with these narrow bridges was that one side or the other had to cede…..ceda el paso….as in give way. It wasn’t always clear who had to cede, ceda El Paso, so, sometimes it was almost like playing chicken. We tended to cede as we were driving a brand new rented car.

When we were going along the coastal road we stopped so I could walk across the wilds and onto the beach for a photo. These beaches were all dark sands, more or less black. And, darn hot! Pipping hot! The sea rolled ashore for as far as one could see…. There were many, many, coconut palms along these stretches. Local folks had little stands set up to sell their coconut oil.

Before we reach Limon we passed a wide open stretch which we guessed rightly was a small airport. I was surprised to learn international flights do land there a few times a week.

Further along we came to what looked like a very new port for container shipping. To us it looked like the area was developing. Then, sure enough a small cruise ship was in Limon harbour.

Once we parked, which proved easy as few restrictions seemed to be in place, we set off for a walk around.

We walked into the park, ….. which was very nice with tall palms and a few commemorative plaques and statues.

Next we headed down a few roadways, passing shops and businesses. All quite busy with people and traffic.

We rounded up and walked along a sea wall, ending up back at the park. Limon is best described a quiet Carribean, bright, colourful, friendly, clean and tidy.

We bought a savory pastry and drink for lunch, drove around a bit more, the left Limon.

We stopped for lunch at a roadside lay-by near the shore, ate lunch, then went for a walk along the beach.

We actually didn’t walk too far as walking on that “black” sand cooks your feet and legs. The scenery was very blue, sky, sea, and reflections of blue on the wet sands.

Driving back we again took any turn offs towards the coast we found. These turnoffs all took us to shoreside dirt tracks which ran between some lovely properties and the shoreline. Once again we parked and did a short beach walk, finding the beach similar to previous.

However on our final stop we were next to Cahuita beach and park. The park was created in 1970 to protect endangered coral reefs and the forest behind the beach. Here the sand was white, what a difference.

Our final stop that day was at an Indian curry restaurant for a take out curry for dinner.

Our last full day Day 4

We had our lovely red car to return by 10:00am. That left us with the rest of the day to fill. For the morning we enjoyed walking the streets of Puerto Viejo.

We hadn’t really paid much attention to the village. So we walked along looking at the gaily painted shops. I bought a few lovely sarongs and thought about others.

The architecture is very Caribbean we thought …..

Once the heat of the morning blazed down we found a very nice Italian ice-cream shop.

There we both enjoyed a 2 scoop delicious ice-cream. That was our lunch.

After more wandering we returned to our hotel to read, 1st buying Patties for an easy dinner. Plus they were amazingly good, spicy, Jamaican patties!

Back to Red Frog and fun dinner

Next morning we had our return journey. Our bus picked us up from our hotel, we drove to the border and repeated the crossing, but this time into Panama.