Cahuita to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, 15 miles

Believe it or not, the cops pulled us over again driving the 15 miles between Cahuita and Puerto Viejo. They are basically the same place, only one was very little village, and the other more like a tourist trap. PV has many more restaurants and too many hotels. The Lonely Planet book lists like 20, all about the same, and all about $20 bucks.

We had a recommendation from Gareth and Esther, kindred spirits we met in La Paz (there blog is under links), but despite our best efforts and 5 miles of cruising up and down the streets of PV, we couldn’t find it. We settled for a big spacious room that the only thing amie wasn’t happy about was it “smells to clean.”

Rastamen were offering us the “best ganja” at every corner which got annoying fast. Lots of lazy dread lock homeboys sleeping in trees, selling bob Marley t-shirts, and hollering at American and Euro gringas looking for a fling (and it appears many are taking them up on it!). We walked the town pretty quick, searched for the surf (there was none) then decide to just sit on the beach and relax.

Immediately after entering the water, our feet were swarmed by 2-3” long fish. The water is crystal clear, so we could see them very well. It was neat to see them, and how brave they were as they didn’t move when we moved our feet. The novelty wore off as soon as they started to nibble!

Getting out of the water we felt a different kind of bite. Sand flies or “no-see-ums” (we can’t figure out which is which) were sucking our blood! So in order to relax in peace we had to find the spot where it was too shallow for the fish to get us, yet still be submersed to avoid the sandflies. Too make our day at the beach even less appealing, we were hounded by a Labrador that was obsessed with playing fetch, but wouldn’t retrieve unless the stick was thrown the appropriate distance, not too far or not too close. He also liked to eat coral. We decided enough of this after about 20 minutes and headed back to our room.

Amie had a bit of a stomach ache that quickly progressed into full blown food poisoning/stomach flu. Unfortunately she was on the toilet and holding a bucket from about 7pm to midnight, at which point she refused to leave the bathroom and laid down on the floor. I had out the travel health book that Pele got us and was reading up on what could cause this and what I could do to help. Unfortunately, her symptoms matched perfectly those listed for malaria: Fever, Chills, Vomiting, Diarrhea, muscle/joint aches… Our first aid kit doesn’t have a thermometer, so I was guessing on the fever part as her skin was on fire. To make matters more tense we were out of water. This town gets pretty shady when the sun goes down, and so I hit the streets with caution. About a mile down I found a bar that was open and got some water and inquired about a doctor. The rasta dude bartender said he was a doctor, but I didn’t want his medicine.

Back at the room, the scene was the same: amie curled up half asleep on the bathroom floor. The book said that if malaria is suspected its important to get to a doctor within 24hours of symptoms onset. I figured first thing in the morning I could strap her to the bike and ride to the nearest town if there was indeed no doctor here. This was a rough night for both of us…

Yes...relax...that's all they do here

Dis coco kass one dolla mon

Who need ganja?

The three of us