Cahuita, Costa Rica

Dreadlocked Costa Rica


Welcome to Cahuita
Verdant and colorful billboard promotes a series of businesses and attractions of Praia Negra de Cahuita.
Cahuita Point
Aerial view of the Cahuita Peninsula, the most popular section of the park of the same name.
twilight at 2
Couple share the end-of-day beauty of Round Rock Beach.
Almost Private Caribbean
Visitor at the entrance to PN Cahuita
Plaza Cahuita
Scene from the life of the central square of the pueblo de Cahuita.
Anchoring for Leisure
Owner of a tour boat, anchored in Punta Cahuita in the homonymous national park.
Hermit on Pilgrimage
A hermit walks along a long fallen trunk of PN Cahuita.
bodyboarder
Scene from the life of the central square of the pueblo de Cahuita.
Raccoon (mapache)
Guaxini in search of snacks approaches the beach of PN Cahuita.
coconut only
Coconut palm on a coral sand in Punta Cahuita.
Pelican Squad
Pelicans in formation fly over PN Cahuita.
good head game
Couple trains football on the dark sandy beach of Playa Negra.
Caribbean view
Couple enjoys the rough Caribbean Sea as night falls over Cahuita.
bathing football
A resident of Cahuita on a break from her beach soccer training.
Traveling through Central America, we explore a Costa Rican coastline as much as the Caribbean. In Cahuita, Pura Vida is inspired by an eccentric faith in Jah and a maddening devotion to cannabis.

Even under the scorching mid-afternoon sun, the walk along the dense coconut forest and successive dips in the Caribbean Sea gave us an intense tropical rejoicing.

We were prepared to extend it for several kilometers were it not for that place, without any dispute, one of the most sedatives on the face of the Earth, had surprises in store for us.

As is common all along the coast of Costa Rica, both the Pacific and the Caribbean, we could hear the expansive howling of howler monkeys.

Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, howler monkey

One of Cahuita's many howler monkeys justifies the name out loud.

From time to time, we spotted one or two more curious specimens hanging from the treetops.

It wouldn't be the first time – in this same Central American tour – that one of these furry primates would try to assault us.

Accordingly, we left our clothes and backpacks at the water's edge.

Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, Capuchin monkey

Capuchin monkey interrupts traffic on a bridge on the PN Cahuita.

We approached a river named Suárez and its confluence with a stream they called Kelly.

The rains had been sparse in the past few weeks.

The flow remained barred by the high edge of the sand near a small mouth.

We skirted the small muddy pool. We prepare to enter the even wilder domain of Cahuita National Park when a gust of bloodthirsty mosquitoes attacks us mercilessly.

In affliction, we ran off, let go of what we were carrying and headed for the most obvious refuge from the sea.

Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, bathing in the Caribbean Sea

Visitor at the entrance to PN Cahuita

Mosquitoes abandon the chase. They leave us, on the surface of the skin, a destruction, barely visible at once, but which spread with each beat of the racing hearts.

We felt the irritation spread. With no idea of ​​how serious it could become, we decided to cut short the return to the village.

By the end of that afternoon, the inevitable drools had turned to a vast itchy redness.

A Rasta Healer

We come across a native armed with a machete that recognizes the misfortune so common in white-skinned visitors. Talk here, talk there, entices us with a quick relief from suffering.

"I see they caught you well, those bastards!" he throws at us in greeting. The guy has the typical cavernous voice ragga that resonates through the Caribbean domains that European settlers once populated with slaves. “Don't you dare scratch. If you like, I'll explain to you how you can get rid of it.”

Despite the somewhat suspicious look of the interlocutor with long dreadlocks and dark glasses, we are willing to hear what he has to divulge. “Alright, I save you. Just tell me how much you think I deserve for the good deed and I'll deal with you now”.

The discomfort of the itch, the uncertainty that we might be dealing with both an opportunistic charlatan and a providential healer, makes us even more uncomfortable.

Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, bodyboarder

Bodyboarder leaves the Caribbean Sea off Cahuita.

And it is in this precariousness of spirit that we decided to put our faith in the cavernous and somewhat hallucinated speech of the Afro-Caribbean. We gave him 4000 colones (about €6) for his hand and we were left to see where he was taking us.

The man kisses the half-curled notes in a mixture of gratitude and superstition. Take five or six steps and pull a bunch of herbs from the opposite side of the road. “Forget the pharmacies there. I assure you that this is the best medicine!”. Soon, he is quick to exemplify the treatment.

Group the herbs into a convenient small piece. Pick a coconut from a lower coconut tree.

Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, terrace overlooking the Caribbean Sea, coconut tree only

Coconut palm on a coral sand in Punta Cahuita.

Cut it in half in a single blow of the machete. Then, wet the sap with coconut water, squeeze it with all your strength and spread the reinforced sap over your arms and shoulders. “That's all you have to do.

I'll catch you some more so you can repeat. You don't always have to mix coconut water, tap water will also do. They'll see how it disappears in an instant.”

After a few minutes, the softening effect of the mezinha was already obvious. We were unreservedly grateful for that sorcerer's thunderous but effective intervention.

The Chinese Minority and the Indian and Afro Origins of Cahuita

We returned to the family inn where we had stayed. We went back out to do some occasional shopping in one of the grocery stores that dotted the dirt road that was the center of the village.

Welcome to Cahuita

Verdant and colorful billboard promotes a series of businesses and attractions of Praia Negra de Cahuita.

We entered three of them in search of refrigerated products.

We soon realized that all those cluttered businesses belonged to Chinese families that the villagers got used to calling simply “The Chinese”.

Another minority that, despite being more elusive, resists once formed the exclusive population of this region.

The pre-Columbian inhabitants of Cahuita and surroundings were the Bribrí and Cabécar Indians. Today, more or less acculturated communities subsist on two or three of the few indigenous reservations in Central America.

It is a given that Christopher Columbus even anchored in the vicinity of Puerto Limón.

Faced with the insurmountable density of the Caribbean jungle, both he and subsequent Hispanic discoverers chose to explore the area from the Pacific Ocean.

Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, boat in Punta Cahuita

Owner of a tour boat, anchored in Punta Cahuita in the homonymous national park.

For this reason, the Indians remained isolated until almost the turn of the 1870th century. Around XNUMX, Minor Keath, an American businessman, took over the construction of a railway between the capital San José and Puerto Limón.

Its purpose was to transport the coffee produced in the central valleys of Costa Rica to Europe.

Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean,

Aerial view of the Cahuita Peninsula, the most popular stretch of the eponymous park.

The Growing of Coffee and Bananas and the Introduction of Slaves in the Caribbean of Costa Rica

Thousands of new settlers were recruited from the West Indies, particularly Jamaica, and the China, charged with carrying out the project. Many of them succumbed to work accidents, malaria, yellow fever, dysentery and a whole panoply of other tropical diseases.

Once the railroad was completed, competition from other stops in the export of coffee and the reduced number of passengers made the line commercially unviable.

Until the tycoon launched into banana production. He did it in such a way that he soon took over the American market for that fruit.

The Afro-Cahuitensians we come across and with whom we live are the descendants of the labor force of these initiatives, who have long been held back in the region by poverty and natural isolation.

Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, by quad bike

Friends walk along the unpaved road along Playa Negra.

Another day passes. We give ourselves to new walks.

An Afro-Rastafarian Football

We explored the volcanic beach Negra and neighboring Blanca. We follow the Perezoso river trail facing the wide coral reef that surrounds Punta Cahuita.

We also ventured through Playa Vargas. There, faced with the rapid sunset, we reversed gears.

We return to the heart of the village with an unplanned passage through a grass in front of Playa Negra where a football match is about to start.

We installed ourselves next to an expectant third team and got our legs back.

the core of Bob Marleys footballers are torn between smoking marijuana and pretending to warm up for the match.

Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, terrace overlooking the Caribbean Sea, head game

Couple trains football on the dark sandy beach of Playa Negra.

Nor do they resist approaching outsiders. With us starting the conversation, they end up showing a strong pride in their remote origins.

“Here in Cahuita, we are all Smiths. One of them is even more extroverted than the rest.

Long before all these stories about the railroad and bananas, an Afro-Caribbean hunter named Will Smith who lived in the Bocas del Toro (now Panama) area followed the migration of the turtles.

He ended up settling here with his family and a few others. That's why there are so many businesses around here called anything Smith. It's not just that the name is popular.

Well, it's us playing. This weed made me want to tear them apart."

Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, terrace overlooking the Caribbean Sea, football player

A resident of Cahuita on a break from her beach soccer training.

 

PN Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Costa Rica's Little-Big National Park

The reasons for the under 28 are well known national parks Costa Ricans have become the most popular. The fauna and flora of PN Manuel António proliferate in a tiny and eccentric patch of jungle. As if that wasn't enough, it is limited to four of the best typical beaches.
Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica

The Flooded Costa Rica of Tortuguero

The Caribbean Sea and the basins of several rivers bathe the northeast of the Tica nation, one of the wettest and richest areas in flora and fauna in Central America. Named after the green turtles nest in its black sands, Tortuguero stretches inland for 312 km.2 of stunning aquatic jungle.
Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica

Tortuguero: From the Flooded Jungle to the Caribbean Sea

After two days of impasse due to torrential rain, we set out to discover the Tortuguero National Park. Channel after channel, we marvel at the natural richness and exuberance of this Costa Rican fluvial marine ecosystem.
miravalles, Costa Rica

The volcano that Miravalles

At 2023 meters, the Miravalles stands out in northern Costa Rica, high above a range of pairs that includes La Giganta, Tenório, Espiritu Santo, Santa Maria, Rincón de La Vieja and Orosi. Inactive with respect to eruptions, it feeds a prolific geothermal field that warms the lives of Costa Ricans in its shadow.
Caño Negro, Costa Rica

A Life of Angling among the Wildlife

One of the most important wetlands in Costa Rica and the world, Caño Negro dazzles for its exuberant ecosystem. Not only. Remote, isolated by rivers, swamps and poor roads, its inhabitants have found in fishing a means on board to strengthen the bonds of their community.
Montezuma, Costa Rica

Back to the Tropical Arms of Montezuma

It's been 18 years since we were dazzled by this one of Costa Rica's blessed coastlines. Just two months ago, we found him again. As cozy as we had known it.

Amberris Caye, Belize

Belize's Playground

Madonna sang it as La Isla Bonita and reinforced the motto. Today, neither hurricanes nor political strife discourage VIP and wealthy vacationers from enjoying this tropical getaway.

south of Belize

The Strange Life in the Black Caribbean Sun

On the way to Guatemala, we see how the proscribed existence of the Garifuna people, descendants of African slaves and Arawak Indians, contrasts with that of several much more airy bathing areas.

Lake Cocibolca, Nicaragua

sea, sweet sea

Indigenous Nicaraguans treated the largest lake in Central America as Cocibolca. On the volcanic island of Ometepe, we realized why the term the Spaniards converted to Mar Dulce made perfect sense.

Guadalupe, French Antilles

Guadeloupe: A Delicious Caribbean, in Counter-Butterfly Effect

Guadeloupe is shaped like a moth. A trip around this Antille is enough to understand why the population is governed by the motto Pas Ni Problem and raises the minimum of waves, despite the many setbacks.
Henri Pittier NP, Venezuela

PN Henri Pittier: between the Caribbean Sea and the Cordillera da Costa

In 1917, botanist Henri Pittier became fond of the jungle of Venezuela's sea mountains. Visitors to the national park that this Swiss created there are, today, more than they ever wanted
Corn Islands - Islas del Maíz , Nicaragua

pure caribbean

Perfect tropical settings and genuine local life are the only luxuries available in the so-called Corn Islands or Corn Islands, an archipelago lost in the Central American confines of the Caribbean Sea.
Monteverde, Costa Rica

The Ecological Refuge the Quakers Bequeathed the World

Disillusioned with the US military propensity, a group of 44 Quakers migrated to Costa Rica, the nation that had abolished the army. Farmers, cattle raisers, became conservationists. They made possible one of the most revered natural strongholds in Central America.
Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica

A Night at the Nursery of Tortuguero

The name of the Tortuguero region has an obvious and ancient reason. Turtles from the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea have long flocked to the black sand beaches of its narrow coastline to spawn. On one of the nights we spent in Tortuguero we watched their frenzied births.
Fogón de Lola Costa Rica

The Costa Rica Flavour of El Fogón de Lola

As the name suggests, the Fogón de Lola de Guapiles serves dishes prepared on the stove and in the oven, according to Costa Rican family tradition. In particular, Tia Lola's.
Cahuita, Costa Rica

An Adult Return to Cahuita

During a backpacking tour of Costa Rica in 2003, the Caribbean warmth of Cahuita delights us. In 2021, after 18 years, we return. In addition to an expected, but contained modernization and hispanization of the town, little else had changed.
Gandoca-Manzanillo (Wildlife Refuge), Costa Rica

The Caribbean Hideaway of Gandoca-Manzanillo

At the bottom of its southeastern coast, on the outskirts of Panama, the “Tica” nation protects a patch of jungle, swamps and the Caribbean Sea. As well as a providential wildlife refuge, Gandoca-Manzanillo is a stunning tropical Eden.
Tenorio Volcano National Park, Costa Rica

The River That Mirrors the Costa Rica Sky

Until 2018, much of the slopes of the Tenorio volcano (1916m) remained inaccessible and unknown. That year, the construction of a steep road paved the way to the station creak from El Pilón. From the current entrance, we complete almost 9km of lush vegetation along the Celeste River, its waterfalls, lagoons and thermal springs.
Believers greet each other in the Bukhara region.
City
Bukhara, Uzbequistan

Among the Minarets of Old Turkestan

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bukhara has developed for at least two thousand years as an essential commercial, cultural and religious hub in Central Asia. It was Buddhist and then Muslim. It was part of the great Arab empire and that of Genghis Khan, the Turko-Mongol kingdoms and the Soviet Union, until it settled in the still young and peculiar Uzbekistan.
Skipper of one of the bangkas at Raymen Beach Resort during a break from sailing
Beach
Islands Guimaras  e  Ave Maria, Philippines

Towards Ave Maria Island, in a Philippines full of Grace

Discovering the Western Visayas archipelago, we set aside a day to travel from Iloilo along the northwest coast of Guimaras. The beach tour along one of the Philippines’ countless pristine coastlines ends on the stunning Ave Maria Island.
Lion, Elephants, PN Hwange, Zimbabwe
safari
PN Hwange, Zimbabwe

The Legacy of the Late Cecil Lion

On July 1, 2015, Walter Palmer, a dentist and trophy hunter from Minnesota killed Cecil, Zimbabwe's most famous lion. The slaughter generated a viral wave of outrage. As we saw in PN Hwange, nearly two years later, Cecil's descendants thrive.
Annapurna Circuit, Manang to Yak-kharka
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna 10th Circuit: Manang to Yak Kharka, Nepal

On the way to the Annapurnas Even Higher Lands

After an acclimatization break in the near-urban civilization of Manang (3519 m), we made progress again in the ascent to the zenith of Thorong La (5416 m). On that day, we reached the hamlet of Yak Kharka, at 4018 m, a good starting point for the camps at the base of the great canyon.
Alaskan Lumberjack Show Competition, Ketchikan, Alaska, USA
Architecture & Design
Ketchikan, Alaska

Here begins Alaska

The reality goes unnoticed in most of the world, but there are two Alaskas. In urban terms, the state is inaugurated in the south of its hidden frying pan handle, a strip of land separated from the contiguous USA along the west coast of Canada. Ketchikan, is the southernmost of Alaskan cities, its Rain Capital and the Salmon Capital of the World.
Era Susi towed by dog, Oulanka, Finland
Aventura
PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
Miyajima Island, Shinto and Buddhism, Japan, Gateway to a Holy Island
Ceremonies and Festivities
Miyajima, Japan

Shintoism and Buddhism with the Tide

Visitors to the Tori of Itsukushima admire one of the three most revered scenery in Japan. On the island of Miyajima, Japanese religiosity blends with Nature and is renewed with the flow of the Seto Inland Sea.
Gray roofs, Lijiang, Yunnan, China
Cities
Lijiang, China

A Gray City but Little

Seen from afar, its vast houses are dreary, but Lijiang's centuries-old sidewalks and canals are more folkloric than ever. This city once shone as the grandiose capital of the Naxi people. Today, floods of Chinese visitors who fight for the quasi-theme park it have become take it by storm.
Beverage Machines, Japan
Lunch time
Japan

The Beverage Machines Empire

There are more than 5 million ultra-tech light boxes spread across the country and many more exuberant cans and bottles of appealing drinks. The Japanese have long since stopped resisting them.
Easter in Helsinki, Finland, iKids in Seurassari
Culture
Helsinki, Finland

The Pagan Passover of Seurasaari

In Helsinki, Holy Saturday is also celebrated in a Gentile way. Hundreds of families gather on an offshore island, around lit fires to chase away evil spirits, witches and trolls
Spectator, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, Australia
Sport
Melbourne, Australia

The Football the Australians Rule

Although played since 1841, Australian Football has only conquered part of the big island. Internationalization has never gone beyond paper, held back by competition from rugby and classical football.
Traveling
unmissable roads

Great Routes, Great Trips

With pompous names or mere road codes, certain roads run through really sublime scenarios. From Road 66 to the Great Ocean Road, they are all unmissable adventures behind the wheel.
Karanga ethnic musicians join the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
Ethnic
Great ZimbabweZimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe, Little Bira Dance

Karanga natives of the KwaNemamwa village display traditional Bira dances to privileged visitors to the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. the most iconic place in Zimbabwe, the one who, after the decree of colonial Rhodesia's independence, inspired the name of the new and problematic nation.  
View of Fa Island, Tonga, Last Polynesian Monarchy
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

Exotic Signs of Life

Candia, Tooth of Buddha, Ceylon, lake
History
Kandy, Sri Lanka

The Dental Root of Sinhalese Buddhism

Located in the mountainous heart of Sri Lanka, at the end of the XNUMXth century, Kandy became the capital of the last kingdom of old Ceylon and resisted successive colonial conquest attempts. The city also preserved and exhibited a sacred tooth of the Buddha and, thus, became Ceylon's Buddhist center.
The small lighthouse at Kallur, highlighted in the capricious northern relief of the island of Kalsoy.
Islands
Kalsoy, Faroe Islands

A Lighthouse at the End of the Faroese World

Kalsoy is one of the most isolated islands in the Faroe archipelago. Also known as “the flute” due to its long shape and the many tunnels that serve it, a mere 75 inhabitants inhabit it. Much less than the outsiders who visit it every year, attracted by the boreal wonder of its Kallur lighthouse.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Winter White
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
On the Crime and Punishment trail, St. Petersburg, Russia, Vladimirskaya
Literature
Saint Petersburg, Russia

On the Trail of "Crime and Punishment"

In St. Petersburg, we cannot resist investigating the inspiration for the base characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's most famous novel: his own pities and the miseries of certain fellow citizens.
Armenian Church, Sevanavank Peninsula, Lake Sevan, Armenia
Nature
lake sevan, Armenia

The Bittersweet Caucasus Lake

Enclosed between mountains at 1900 meters high, considered a natural and historical treasure of Armenia, Lake Sevan has never been treated as such. The level and quality of its water has deteriorated for decades and a recent invasion of algae drains the life that subsists in it.
Girl plays with leaves on the shore of the Great Lake at Catherine Palace
Autumn
Saint Petersburg, Russia

Golden Days Before the Storm

Aside from the political and military events precipitated by Russia, from mid-September onwards, autumn takes over the country. In previous years, when visiting Saint Petersburg, we witnessed how the cultural and northern capital was covered in a resplendent yellow-orange. A dazzling light that hardly matches the political and military gloom that had spread in the meantime.
Argentinean flag on the Perito Moreno-Argentina lake-glacier
Natural Parks
Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina

The Resisting Glacier

Warming is supposedly global, but not everywhere. In Patagonia, some rivers of ice resist. From time to time, the advance of the Perito Moreno causes landslides that bring Argentina to a halt.
Jerusalem God, Israel, Golden City
UNESCO World Heritage
Jerusalem, Israel

Closer to God

Three thousand years of history as mystical as it is troubled come to life in Jerusalem. Worshiped by Christians, Jews and Muslims, this city radiates controversy but attracts believers from all over the world.
Earp brothers look-alikes and friend Doc Holliday in Tombstone, USA
Characters
tombstone, USA

Tombstone: the City Too Hard to Die

Silver veins discovered at the end of the XNUMXth century made Tombstone a prosperous and conflictive mining center on the frontier of the United States to Mexico. Lawrence Kasdan, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner and other Hollywood directors and actors made famous the Earp brothers and the bloodthirsty duel of “OK Corral”. The Tombstone, which, over time, has claimed so many lives, is about to last.
Mangrove between Ibo and Quirimba Island-Mozambique
Beaches
Ibo Island a Quirimba IslandMozambique

Ibo to Quirimba with the Tide

For centuries, the natives have traveled in and out of the mangrove between the island of Ibo and Quirimba, in the time that the overwhelming return trip from the Indian Ocean grants them. Discovering the region, intrigued by the eccentricity of the route, we follow its amphibious steps.
Ulugh Beg, Astronomer, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, A Space Marriage
Religion
Samarkand, Uzbekistan

The Astronomer Sultan

The grandson of one of the great conquerors of Central Asia, Ulugh Beg, preferred the sciences. In 1428, he built a space observatory in Samarkand. His studies of the stars led him to name a crater on the Moon.
End of the World Train, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
On Rails
Ushuaia, Argentina

Last Station: End of the World

Until 1947, the Tren del Fin del Mundo made countless trips for the inmates of the Ushuaia prison to cut firewood. Today, passengers are different, but no other train goes further south.
In elevator kimono, Osaka, Japan
Society
Osaka, Japan

In the Company of Mayu

Japanese nightlife is a multi-faceted, multi-billion business. In Osaka, an enigmatic couchsurfing hostess welcomes us, somewhere between the geisha and the luxury escort.
Ditching, Alaska Fashion Life, Talkeetna
Daily life
Talkeetna, Alaska

Talkeetna's Alaska-Style Life

Once a mere mining outpost, Talkeetna rejuvenated in 1950 to serve Mt. McKinley climbers. The town is by far the most alternative and most captivating town between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
Aerial view of Malolotja waterfalls.
Wildlife
Malolotja Nature Reserve, eSwatini

Malolotja: the River, the waterfalls and the Grandiose Nature Reserve

A mere 32km northeast of the capital Mbabane, close to the border with South Africa, we ascend into the rugged, showy highlands of eSwatini. The Malolotja River flows there as the waterfalls of the same name, the highest in the Kingdom. Herds of zebras and antelopes roam the surrounding pastures and forests, in one of the most biodiverse reserves in southern Africa.  
Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii Wrinkles
Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

Hawaii's Dazzling Wrinkles

Kauai is the greenest and rainiest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is also the oldest. As we explore its Napalo Coast by land, sea and air, we are amazed to see how the passage of millennia has only favored it.