La Pura Vida in Puerto Limòn, Costa Rica

Puerto Limòn was one of my favorite stops during our MSC Cruise. Known as the land of Sloths, bananas and coffee I should have know even before docking into the port that this day was going to be a good one!

“First things first!” we thought and we went off to explore the city center. It’s a very small town that you can easily cover on foot in just a few short hours. First we walked through the busy shopping streets and then we headed into the more residential area. Do not expect to find your trusted chain stores here. It’s more a mix of electronics stores, Moped vendors and a good amount of food stalls (Honestly, the food here looks so GOOD!). The residential area was my favorite to walk around because of all the beautiful colors and details of the houses. PS: If you look a little close in the trees you might actually spot a sloth already!

In the afternoon we had another excursion planned. Again, the majority of the family chose a Monkey Watch BUT this time there was high chances of spotting Alligators and Caymen too. I don’t know why people get so excited about meeting animals that are known to want to eat you, but okay, I went along!

The bus took us into the Costa Rican rainforest to a boat station. At the station we were given some freshly picked Costa Rican bananas before got put into river boats. We glided through the magnificent forest while I tried to fight away as many exotic mosquitos as I could. It wasn’t long before our guide spotted the first Cayman and everyone on the boat went wild and crazy. Then later we came across a baby crocodile that quickly ran back into the water when the Italian ladies in the back of our boat started screaming that they couldn’t see him. The friendly British sir in the front seat exchanged some very expressive faces with me, haha. On our way back to the boat station our guide suddenly steered the boat into the reed. There they were: Howler Monkeys. Although I highly believe the Italian ladies were more primitive in their behavior than the primates in the trees above us, it was pretty fun to see them swing around high up in the trees. During our tour we also saw some birds and had two rare sightings of nighttime birds that were casually sitting on the river banks at midday.

After the boat tour a bus brought us to a railroad for a Caribbean train ride through the rainforest. On our way there the bus stopped abruptly and as I looked out the window to see what was happening I saw a monkey glide by just centimeters outside the bus. There was a whole group of Howler Monkeys hanging out in a small tree next to the street. Imagine driving through your neighborhood and seeing that? The bus couldn’t turn around and we had passed the tree before it could come to a full stop so we drove on (and the Italian Nonne were not happy about that!). The train ride was not as joyful as I thought it would be. There are big construction works going on all along the rail road because the province is working on expanding the port of Limòn and therefor much of the surrounding forest is either damaged or chopped.

On our way back the bus took a Detour through the country to show us the banana plants, but we nearly missed our boat because of it! Overall it was a very exhaustive day and I looking forward to virgin strawberry daiquiris in my cabin while waiting for the food court to open. Good days, good days.