costa rica - carribean

carribean - day 2-5
march 10 - 13

the carribean was kind of like how you see it in post cards. palm trees hanging over the beach, beautiful beaches, the whole shabang. we drove very far south, almost into panama to get away from the gringos. almost everybody down there speak english and spanish because so many of the people are from other islands. its a very rasta sort of place. we stay between puerto viejo de talamanca and manzanillo, which is the furthest south you can drive.



postcard



the beach was almost deserted and goes on for several miles




water proof camera case =)








our guide book stated there was a nice 5km hike where the road ends to another beach. it did not state that the majority of this hike was through ankle to knee deep mud.




the first part took us past some scluded beaches. there are no further pictures of the hike because the mud would have annihilated the camera. we arrived and would have had to turn around immediated to still have enough daylight to hike back. luckily we got a ride from a couple of panamanians.




in full gear.



arnaud



francois








we did a bunch of body surfing and boogie boarding



crashing waves



a few seconds later the wave broke




half a second later the wave broke



francois with this mai tai and cuba libre




erin




it was happy hour so we all had the same drinks







we ate dinner at the cabinas were we were staying and got phenomenal fish. its served with patacones (fried plantain) and gallo-pinto (rice and beans which, on the carribean side, are cooked in coconut milk).



typical place in puerto viejo de talamanca







taking notes from the monkeys



antes



despues




packing up