Back up the Pacific coast

 I do have photos of that gorgeous middle of nowhere, but my camera and computer are having issues with each other - they don't always talk to each other, sometimes they take half an hour or more to connect with each other, and I'm tired of their emotional problems.  When the photos show up, I'll add them.  Until then, I'm going on without their petulant attitudes.

 We left Puerto Jimenez, heading back north - and came to one of the chocolate farms.  We decided, on a whim, to go in and see what's up.  Turns out that they DO have the chocolate tours, we were given wrong information by the tour company (who, apparently, had been stiffing the farm the tour fees, so that the farm severed the relationship - and now, to retaliate, the tour company tells people the farm is closed).  Anyway, a very nice young Austrian and her Tican husband run the farm (or finca in Tican Spanish), and they have tours at 9 AM and 2 PM. 

Of course, it was about 9:30 or 10 AM, and they didn't have a full tour that day.  The woman talked to us for a while, we shared chocolate stories, and we bought some chocolate cake (which wasn't as good as our chocolate decadence at the wedding, and we shared the recipe with her via email) and other goodies.  The husband and their little boy came back, and the little boy, Noah, was one of the most gorgeous little kids I've ever seen.  Seriously beautiful.  Richard was ready to pack up this child and take him home.

Anyway, we walked around a little, and somehow got all turned around and couldn't find our car - although we eventually managed to find our way back, via the cacao bean drying shed.  They had beautiful plants all around, like a public garden or something.  And it is true that monkeys really like cacao beans, and eat them whenever they can.

We drove on, with periodic stops, working our way up the coast.  It started raining by late afternoon, and so even though we hadn't gotten as far as we had hoped, we found a nice little hotel (or cabinas) and we're settled in for the night.  We're outside the town of Uvita - I think uva means "grape" so I don't know if Uvita is "little grape" or possible "sea grape" since we're near the shore.  We're on Highway 34, which seems to be the coastal truck route.  But we have a nice little room with two beds pushed together, cable TV, wifi, a hot shower, and breakfast down the road.  Name of Cabinas El Gato - the owner has green eyes, as a child everyone called him El Gato.  Seriously!

Have I mentioned the wonderful fruit smoothies here?  Fruit, ice, water, sugar - that's it!  Papaya smoothie!    

We'll see how far we get tomorrow.