The American Dream of Retirement
Cahuita is on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, a country where Americans have flocked in recent years for an affordable American dream of retirement. It was an interesting town. Its main street was four blocks long, lined with restaurants that had no walls. No need for walls, the weather is pleasant year-round. Most of the eateries had concrete floors, but we had a delicious traditional Costa Rican lunch at one with a dirt floor. A family made a living there serving guests at one table perched unevenly among tree roots and at one bar with six stools in front of it.
Fauna and Flora of the Americas
The atmosphere of Cahuita was exotic to me. One dead tree on Main Street played daily host to a dozen vultures.
The vulture tree
I had my first experience with howler monkeys. Pre-dawn, these tiny creatures howl like giant vampires lusting to sink their teeth into human flesh. I learned from the proprietor of our hotel that the monkeys resent human intrusion into their territory and take every opportunity to poop on cars or on people's beach towels left outdoors over railings.
Like the fauna, the flora was exotic.
I don't know its name, but I love it.
The Caribbean coast near Cahuita is the site of national forest that stretches to the horizon.
Our hotel proprietor, Marie-Claude, had a pet parrot that she worried about. He was only half-wild -- he spent nights in the hotel in his cage with his food box. He flew around freely during the day but couldn't be relied on to fend for himself in the wild. He could say hello in English, French, Spanish and Dutch. When we laughed at his antics, he laughed back at us, which made us laugh harder, and him harder, on and on...
