We crossed the border from Nicaragua by foot as the sun was going down. We had a brief discussion with the sleepy border guards and then waited for the public bus.
Immediately it was evident we were no longer in Nicaragua. The buses were more modern the roads were smoothly paved, people had to wear masks in indoor spaces. When we got to the small village not far from our auberge, the Cabaas Castillo, we descended from the bus and started walking the the hike with our big bags.
We didnt have to walk for very much longer until someone stopped for us in an sedan and offered us a ride. We gladly accepted. As they dropped us off, they gave us their phone numbers and said if we needed anything, just to ask them.
Cabaas Castillo is a large property with small cabaas, camp sites and a restaurant on a large property with nature walking trails and a restaurant. It was began by a couple something like twenty years ago. We felt like we were in the laps of luxury when we arrived, although we had planned on hanging our hammocks between
the trees, and hoping for no rain. We were greeted by the male counterpart and his two big German Shepherds. After hanging up our hammocks, we decided to order dinner, a fabulously affair with some sort of steaky meat. A very familiarity after 6 weeks of
The next morning the breakfast was equally lavish, with real butter, homemade marmelades, homemade goat yogurt from the goats on site, cheese, eggs, rice and beans. We were in heaven. They also growed a medicinal plant, the Moringa tree, and offered a herbal tea for breakfast. Walking around the nature trails, we could see iguanas, spider monkeys and the like. We could even wash our clothes in a washing machine!
After a couple of nights there, we got back on our way towards the main road, planning on heading towards the beach. We decided from Liberia to head to the closest beach that we could get to by public transport, which was Playa Panama.
We initially wanted to stay at a campsite near the beach, but after inspection, we were not thrilled with the facilities since we had no shade, no trees and were right be the
road. We headed to the beach and found plenty of trees to hang up our hammocks, so we decided to try that out for a night.
Playa Panama is situated on the calm waters, almost like a bay. There are virtually no waves and therefore no surfers at all. Most people are tourists from abroad staying in nearby hotels or for a day trip. The sand and water are clean, there are people on We had heard from other backpackers that putting up your hammock on the beach in Costa Rica was doable, and we felt OK trying it out at Playa Panama.
Once night fell, we put our big packs in our hammocks safely zipped up in mosquito nets. We then kept our valuables in our pouches and headed out to the local chic restaurant. We were happy to treat ourselves to shrimp cocktail and vegan tartar with splendid cocktails. It was a funny contrast to sleeping in a hammock.
We actually slept pretty well, although the ants feasted our on feet right below our hammocks, and we suffered a bit from those critters. We saw some early morning runners go by, and
one man from Canada stopped to talk to us. He asked if we were staying there on the beach, and didnt seem to phased. He said that when he got married many decades ago, he treated himself and his wife to a trip around the world for 2 years. He said that he was now retired and had been told Costa Rica was the place to come.
We decided to walk along the coast to the next beaches, with the goal of getting to Playa Hermosa. We again brought all of our valuables with us and left our bags in the hammocks protected by the mosquito nets. We made it to Playa Hermosa, climbing the rocks and enjoying the small beaches along the way. We realized that was our friend, and that we would definitely return by the road.
Playa Hermosa was even more touristy than Playa Panama.
