Day 10

This is our last night in Cahuita and we´re very sad. Last night we just came in to town and had some really good pizza at Corleone´s then called it an early night and went home. We were in bed by 9 again so we could get up early and go snorkeling.

Kathy was feeling much better this morning so we finally got to go on our snorkel trip. We´ve snorkeled quite a bit so we are a bit jaded when it comes to finding good spots. Cahuita is only one of two living coral reefs in Costa Rica and according to Pattie at La Piscina, 80% of it is already dead. It´s very sad. The living coral we did see was very nice, but you could tell instantly that it wasn´t very healthy. Apparently the run off from the banana plantations is the major culprit leading to the decline of the reefs. But, Costa Rica is reluctant to do anything about it. Even though tourism is their major money maker, the banana companies are all owned by the same monopoly that owns the cell phone company and electric company here. So it isn´t in their best interest to change their ways.

There were some really cool things to see nonetheless. We saw some really big schools of fish that let us just swim right through them. There were also some HUGE brain corals that must have taken millions of years to get that size. The highlight of the tour was a huge stingray that Kathy found. It was about 5 feet wide and just spent it´s time floating around until it found a nice spot to dig into the ground and eat. Shortly thereafter it floated away off into the great beyond.

After the snorkeling trip we decided to skip the walk back through Cahuita National Park and instead headed back to the hotel where we napped in the hammocks. We were awakened by a giant iguana eating in the tree nearby and sat there watching it for a long time.

Now, after napping we are back in the main town center of Cahuita and are waiting to go eat at what Lonely Planet says is the best seafood restaurant in town. After that, who knows, we may just get crazy and go watch Iron Man at the movie theater slash restaurant next door. Hopefully that nap will help us stay up past 9pm tonight.

Tomorrow, we unfortunately have to head back to San Jose where we will spend the night in order to catch our 6am flight back home on Monday morning. We aren´t looking forward to going to San Jose so we´re planning on catch the late bus back tomorrow so we can stay here in Cahuita as long as possible.

This will likely be our last post unless something spectacular happens tomorrow. So thank you to all who have tagged along with us during our Costa Rican adventure. See you back in the States!