The Emmo Trail

Hiking in Gandoca-Manzanillo National Park near Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica , was one of the highlights of our time on the Caribbean coast. On our fourth morning in Puerto Viejo, we headed east for the short 35 minute drive to the national park , hoping for an easy jungle hike, quiet beaches, and a chance to spot wildlife along the way. We followed the main road out of Puerto Viejo when, just on the edge of town, traffic suddenly slowed. A quad bike had stopped in the road, just in front of us. A motorbike pulled up alongside, and a couple of locals jumped off to chat to the quadders. In the UK, this would almost certainly have resulted in angry toots, and hand gestures. But here… well… Pura Vida! After a few moments, one of the bikers bent down and picked something up from the road. To our absolute delight, it was a sloth. A real, wild, cute as you like sloth. The biker carefully scampered across the road and delivered the little fella safely to the other side. It was a genuinely jo...

On day three in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica we treated ourselves to a fairly pricey Jungle Adventure Quad Biking tour. My tiny brain let me down; I saw the tour cost $120 and completely forgot it was per person. So, $360 later, it was booked. Ouch! We met our tour guide, Manfred, an indigenous Costa Rican who's family owns a farm and a large part of the jungle around Puerto Viejo. We hopped on our quad bikes, Archer sat on the back of mine, and after a quick tutorial, we were told we’d be riding on the road for about 10 minutes before reaching the farm. The plan was to take it slow, around 25–30 kph, no rush. Off we jerked onto the road, but soon got the hang of the thumb throttle. “This is amazing!” came the shout from over my shoulder. Archer was in his element. After a few minutes, we veered off the main road onto a dirt track. A little while later, we stopped in a clearing. Manfred jumped off his quad and explained that we were now on his family’s farm. They farm only what they...

We’ve made our way to Puerto Viejo, on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. It’s an amazingly beautiful, chilled-out town hugged by the Caribbean Sea. The main road follows the ocean and is lined with bars and restaurants of all sizes and styles, including "Soda's", small, local eateries. Take a slow walk along the beach or the road and you’re sure to find somewhere that suits your taste. On day two in Puerto Viejo, we set off for the Bribri waterfall. We jumped in the car and set off for the waterfall trail car park , which is about a twenty minute drive from where we’re staying (although a good ten minutes of that is spent navigating the dirt track back to the main road). Drive about 3.5km down Route 36 off the main Route 256 where you'll see a very subtle dirt road cut back on the left, this leads to the car park. You can book a tour for this and similar waterfalls through companies like Mystery Jungle , but on this occation we decided to go it alone.  ( We used Myste...