Going to the Costa Ricas Caribbean side is one of the best decisions we've made on our travels. It is like another world in comparison with Santa Teresa and the west coast of the country. We fell in love with the Caribbean coast straight away when we arrived to the little village Cahuita. This is where you'll get reggae music and reggae nights, nice beaches, amazing wildlife, lots of chocolate tastings and amazing food. A vegan doesn't have to be hungry around here. Almost all sodas (the local restaurants) and food places in general serve coconut rice, grilled veggies and veggies in coconut milk sauces, smoothies with coconut milk or blended with your choice of fruit and water. Yes, I found this to be the heaven of Costa Rica.
As I mentioned, Cahuita is a small village and most people come here for a day to visit the national park. It's also a great place for snorkelling, as it has a huge coral reef surrounding it. We visited during low season, which meant lower prices for accommodation than usual, but we think that it is still cheaper than Puerto Viejo next door. It is so tiny that there is only one main street with a few restaurants and bars, and there weren't many tourists around.
We stayed at a lovely guesthouse called Cabinas Cahuita. It is a family business and the man in charge is hilarious! We had some funny chats with him and his mates that were hanging around sometimes. Being in Cahuita and the heat made it almost mandatory to have an AC, so we were very thankful that our room had one. We even had our own hammock and tiny beach outside our room!
Unfortunately there aren't any vegan or vegetarian restaurants in Cahuita, but one does not have to be hungry around here anyway with some choices in the few restaurants around. Since we had access to a kitchen, we continued to cook our basic meals there most of the times but went out for breakfast to one of the sodas in the mornings. Ever since spending time at Planet Costa Rica, I am addicted to having that big fruit plate in the morning, even though the ones I've ordered from the sodas here are usually like 1/4 of the size we were served at the farm..
Both days we spent in Cahutia, we spent in the national park after breakfast. It is such a great national park if you want to be sure to see some wildlife! I think this national park is way better than Manuel Antonio, because this one simply doesn't feel commercialised yet.
We only had a 3 minute walk to get from our accommodation to here, and it is just off the main road. From this entrance they don't charge any fees either, they just happily receive whatever donation you are happy to give.
We saw many monkeys, cool and scary insects, racoon, and thanks to a local man who must have the best eye sight - two sloths being lazy up in the trees!
Even if it gets really, really hot walking around and trying to spot animals it doesn't matter, because in here we found the most gorgeous beach to have a break and a much needed swim in the silent ocean. After our first day here, we went straight to the supermarket to buy some swim goggles, because we realised there is lots to see under the water here.
Besides visiting the national park, one can go and visit the animal rescue center Tree of Life, but unfortunately for us, it was shut for the low season. It looks really cool though and they even have volunteer opportunities!
To entertain ourselves in the afternoon we went to Coco Restaurant for some happy hour coconut drinks and had some seriously tasty Patacones. I will miss these fried plantain patties so so so much when we leave. They are lush and they are almost in every restaurant you'll find around here, usually served with guacamole or refried beans. Yum!
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