Caribbean Beaches, Cloud Forests & Mountain Highlands

From San Jose we headed to the quiet town of Cahuita, on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. We snorkeled around the coral reefs there but the visibility wasn't great and we were teamed up with about 30 high school students on spring break, so it wasn't the best excursion we've been on... however, we can't complain as it sure beats studying/working (sorry Mawer!). It also gave me another opportunity to test out my waterproof camera, which I've been loving... hehehe

After Cahuita we tried to find a specific hostel at Punta Uva beach but got completely lost on the bus and ended up walking around the middle of nowhere with all our gear in tow until we could catch a taxi. We spent a night in Puerto Viejo instead and decided it was time to head for the Panama border the next day - first stop being the beautiful islands of Bocas del Toro. We first spent time on Isla Colon where a highlight for us was Starfish beach at Bocas del Drago; the ocean floor was littered with big, red starfish and the beach had the feeling of being on a deserted island:

Then we spent a few days being beach bums on Isla Bastimentos, near Red Frog Beach. It was also stunning and relaxing, except when a big wave snuck up on me and stole my sunnies!

After sunning ourselves for a few days we headed inland to a place called the Lost & Found Lodge (owned by two Canadians!). It is located on the side of a mountain in the Fortuna Cloud Forest - quite literally, it is in the clouds. Here was the sunset view when we first arrived, after a semi-grueling hike to get there:

We completed their 'Treasure Hunt' which is basically a 5 hour hike with a purpose - find clues, solve riddles and win rum. There was a pretty awesome lookout at the end as well:

We played a lot of jenga & foosball, had our share of Balboa cervezas and met some great people from all over the world before moving on to the town of Boquete - 'a small town on the Caldera River, in the green mountain highlands of Panama'.

We accomplished quite a lot here over the span of five days, starting with a tour of a small coffee plantation in the highlands called Finca La Milagrosa. Our guide was fantastic and we learned a lot about coffee production from harvesting the 'cherries' to roasting the perfect beans. Mr. Tito, who has run the plantation for the past 30 years, has won numerous awards for his 'Gesha' and 'Pacamara' beans - we sampled (splurged on) the Pacamara coffee at a local cafe today for $7/cup!!! yum!

 

There was an orchid festival in town and the Panama finals for men's fastpitch - the best of both worlds for me (flowers) and Jody (baseball)! There also just happened to be a botanical garden en route to the baseball diamonds :) 

 

We discovered yet another waterfall, Cascada San Ramon, not without much effort involving hiking, bad directions, rain and finally, figuring out that we could just take a $4 cab ride!

 Tomorrow we're off to the Pacific island of Boca Brava however it's been great spending a week inland & at a higher altitude to cool off a bit. We have another 8 days in Panama before our sailing trip leaves for Colombia through the San Blas Islands - we're excited!