Costa Rica 2013

Saturday2ndNovember

Arriving in Cahuita, we check into a room at "Secret Garden".

This small village on the edge of the natural park has everything needed to welcome tourists: bars, restaurants, hostels, small shops, etc.

Sunday3rdNovember

The hammock in front of the room as usual

The hotel lives up to its name, there's a small flower garden right in front.

And above, a swarm of large birds of prey is forming...

That won't stop us from exploring Cahuita Natural Park, but first we need to eat, very easy here, there's no shortage of restaurants...

The restaurant where we have breakfast

Let's go for the park visit, here's the entrance

The park runs along the entire beach

First inhabitant of the park, the masked-eyed carnivore: the raccoon (procyon lotor). Very daring, it doesn't fear humans at all. It totally ignores us, its only concern is finding a bag full of food...

The next inhabitant is more discreet, it's a multicolored squirrel (sciurus variegatoides)

This is the capuchin monkey (cebus capucinus), also very interested in any food within reach...

Then, surprise, someone points 3 meters above our heads to a bright yellow viper wisely resting on its tree bark... This small reptile is a Schlegel's viper (bothriechis schlegelii), it's not the most dangerous of snakes but it's better not to provoke it!  

These two mealy amazons (amazona farinosa) are much more friendly to us!

Lizards are also everywhere

But very quickly, you'll realize that here you are on the land of the Halloween crab (gecarcinus quadratus)!

We could very well have called it Blue Crab, its color is so characteristic and unusual for us French people... They live in burrows they've dug near the beach.

The Suarez River ends its course here.

An unusual curiosity in such a place, an old oil well from 1910...

Halloween crabs galore!

Leaf-cutter ants cross the path. Really strong!

A large orb-weaver, more precisely a nephila clavipes. If you look closely, it has feather-like legs...  

A little further on, another orb-weaver with feathered legs...

A ginger flower (zingiber officinale) and its ant...

A capuchin, still and always on the lookout.

In its hands, it has a noni (morinda citrifolia) also called dog apple.

A quick glance to the left to admire the magnificent Caribbean Sea

A short video of the sea part of the park

Royal terns (thalasseus maximus)

You'll need an expert's eye and take your time to see them, but it will be worth it. It's the sloth, in this case the brown-throated sloth (bradypus variegatus) and its 3 enormous claws.

"The brown-throated sloth does not ruminate, and as a result, its digestion is very slow. It therefore only defecates approximately once every ten days, which forces it to return to the ground. It thus loses almost 30% of its weight when relieving itself." © Wikipedia  

With this other native, you won't risk a stiff neck. Just look on the ground and you'll surely find various hermit crabs strolling around.

The end of the trail is approaching. We've heard them but haven't seen them yet. We're looking for the cries that seem to be getting closer and finally, there they are, come to cast an eye on their primate cousins so skilled at standing upright.

It's a male, yes it is, look closely  

These are black howler monkeys (alouatta caraya).

On the left, a male. On the right, a female.

A pink banana tree (musa velutina)

At the end of the trail, it's possible to return by bus. Anyway, the park is about to close, so it's perfect for us!

In the bus returning to Cahuita

And to end the day, we try this small "soda" on the outskirts of Cahuita village. A "soda" is the name given to small, inexpensive bars/restaurants found on almost every street or road corner.

On the owner's advice, I take this succulent breaded fish.