Friends in low places

After a late breakfast, we checked out of our perfect little cabina and caught the noon bus south for the short trip to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. This is a small (larger than Cahuita), laid back Caribbean town, full of rastas and reggae. And also perfect beaches of course. After some walking around in the humidity, we found a little cabina right on the beach, with perfect views from the door leading out to the water. Not the nicest cabina, but the location made it worth it. We headed directly down to the water for a swim before walking around town, trying to find a cheaper place for a late lunch. We settled on some expensive but delicious tacos at a small soda. Since it was low tide, we walked around the exposed (dead) coral to see what we could find in the many tide pools. We saw lots of crabs, some small fish, lots of muscles and a really cool eel, which was most likely poisonous.

We swam for the rest of the afternoon before heading back to our hotel for a shower. While Nige was under the tap, a little friend crawled out from the drain. It was a crab! He hopped around for the rest of his shower, trying not to get a pinch on the toe. We enjoyed some beer and cocktails on our porch overlooking the ocean and played some cards. We ate a "carnival-style" dinner from a few random huts set up along the road: some freshly fried chicken, a few grilled pork kebabs served with a fresh tortilla, and a hot dog from the German guy's Frankfurter stand. We tried to give the deep-fried bananas served with the chicken to a few of the many dogs wandering around, but even they wouldn't eat them.