With two weeks to fill between housesits, Jim and I headed for Costa Rica, the land of Pura Vida – pure life. I visited a tiny part of the country 13 years ago but now we can explore together.

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Costa Rica is small enough that from the mountains you can see both the east coast – Caribbean Sea – and the west coast – the Atlantic Ocean. Most tourists head for the “discovered” west coast where homes prices easily reach over $1 million. We start with “authentic” east coast. With a large Afro-Caribbean population, electricity did not reach this area until 1976.

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With the 4-block town of Cahuita as our base for 4 days, we ventured to the Cahuita National Park. It is a dense swampy forest that spills out onto the beach. Birds and animals are plentiful but hard to spot.

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Enter Carlos, a lifelong resident of the Cahuita. He is an official park guide who has an abundance of local knowledge and fabulous eyesight. For two hours, we walked the park’s only trail with him. Carlos was able to effortlessly spot animals which were difficult for us to see even with the aid of his laser pointer.

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Carlos also told us about the medicinal properties of plants and other creatures of the forest. I could cure my asthma with the termites. Jim could help his knees by applying a paste made from certain plant. And everyone could improve their health by consuming juice from the noni plant – mother of all natural medicines.

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We had planned to walk the entire 5 miles of the trail but in the 2 hours we spent with Carlos, we only covered 1 mile. During that time, with Carlos’s help, we saw a caiman (a type of alligator), capuchin monkeys, bats, sloths, turtles and iguanas. After parting with Carlos, we were only able to see a baby raccoon, and he was right in the middle of the path – not too hard to spot. So, the next time you take a walk on the wild side, get a local guide. You will definitely see more.