We were up at first light and on the road at 5:45. In the early morning we made great time to San Jose, dodging potholes and stopping for a quick breakfast of toast and blackberry juice at a soda.On the one good stretch of road we really cruised, but most of the roads here are so pot-holed you are constantly on edge, dodging here and there. Portions of the roadside are pristine; all tall grass with horses grazing and clouds in the valley below. Other parts are trashy, chairs and sofas dumped, bags of trash busted open and scattered, piles of building materials and junked cars stripped and rusted in the trees.
Through San Jose, past tall glass buildings, expensive stores, a tin-shack slum that crowded and climbed a hillside, satellite dishes sticking out of the leaky roof tops.
We took Rt. 32 out of San Jose, up through Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo, a misty rain forest on the side of a volcano. Waterfalls crashed down the steep cliffs, right at the road’s edge, recent mudslides covered half a lane, fallen trees were either a jumbled mess right next to the road, or had been cut and rolled out of the way.
Down out of the mountain, onto the flats, over the Rio Jesus Maria. We stopped for gas and a quick snack. So far we have topped up with gas once, total cost of $46. Not bad for all the driving we have done.
The road straightened out and we were cruising through banana groves, miles and miles of broad-leafed trees with blue plastic wrapped around the clumps of bananas. Trucks pulling Dole and Chiquita and other refrigerated trailer units were hauling towards the port at Limon and back out into the groves. After the banana groves we went through an area like a city, but the high-rise “buildings” were made of acres of stacked container units, just waiting to be loaded and shipped.
At Limon we turned along the coast and headed south, driving along the high surf; the road straight, flanked by simple huts on stilts and more banana groves. It was so humid the air was almost foggy in the distance.
It took us nine hours total to get to Punta Uva, south of Limon, south of Cahuita and Puerto Viejo. So south we are almost in Panama. There is one village 4 km south of us called Manzanillo, and it is the end of the road.
We are staying at the Korrigan Lodge. What a great find this turns out to be. I mean, we are obviously in the rain forest, but this place emphasizes and enhances the experience. There are four little huts (we are in Koad, alone in the very back of the property) around a central open-air eating and gathering hut. The hut is octagonal shaped, with a large, walk-in shower and bed with mosquito-net canopy. A screened French door opens to an efficient patio with hammock, table, bench and stool. The furniture and porch railings and walls are all wood, bamboo, rope and rustic browns. Set in the middle of the rain forest, it really “feels” like a forest hut.
We had just enough time to make a run to the Swiss-owned super, just 3 km away, to get some wine. It turns out to be a decent, but again not great, wine. But better than before.
We walked around the corner from Korrigan, to a little Italian soda called Bamboocha. We had bruschetta, with a sort of salsa influence, for the start. I had pasta, spaghetti with meat sauce, and we split a typical Caribbean meal of coconut shrimp with yummy yucca chips, malanga (taro?) which was a blueish starchy sort of root, and plantain done like corn meal cake. It was a pretty good meal overall.