Well, I am going to abbreviate most of Costa Rica. We went rafting and the upshot is, the US rivers are much more fun. It was pretty though. Lisa was sick for the otherwise fine time we spent overnighting on the river. We went on to Tortuguerro and woke up very early to see a sole green turtle baby (just hatched) make it's way to the ocean. It will be back, to lay eggs on this same remote beach, in about 35 years. Amazing. We went to Aranal and visited the expensive but fun Tabacon Hot Springs. It was really like paradise, but with throngs of people. Still, we had a great time. Finally to Monteverde's cloud forest, which seemed beautiful, but we had very little time. Listened to some real rough Acid rock, and did a zip Line through the forest canopy. WHEEEE! OK, now for the meat of the story...
Corcovado. This was an amazing, and remote, part of Costa Rica. We took a small plane from San Jose to a town on the Oso Peninsula. We then hired a 4WD taxi for a short trip distance wise, however it took 2.5 hours due to the automobile sized potholes and condition of the dirt road. The road was just beautiful, endless countryside with views of Panama, grazing animals, pigs, chickens, and even a snake! We were dropped off near an airstrip where we loaded our backpacks into an ox-cart, rolled up our pants, and crossed the first of many rivers. It was another 45 minutes on foot to our tent camp.
We arrived to find the lodge really well done. There were 16 tents, each with two nice cots with cotton sheets, freshly picked flowers, and a couple of candles...jungle electricity. Though our tents were all within 50 ft of the ocean, we couldn't go swimming. These waves were very rough with many riptides. Several years ago, they lost a party of 3, so we found other things to do, quickly.
We settled in, and went for a hike up to an 80 foot "platform" they have created to look for wildlife. We only saw some birds, mackaws to be exact (you know, Chloe's favorite comfort food when Mom and Dad are away). We too had a delicious dinner, played a game of chess by headlamps, and then turned in. The following morning we were ready to make our hike into the corcovado national park. Our destination in the park was called "salsipuedes" which in English means "Leave if you can". The hike is in the jungle, but the trail travels along the Pacific coastline, so at any point you can kick yourself out onto the beach to get a better view of the amazing birds picking almonds out of the trees that line it.
We began our hike, and immediately encountered a gang of white faced monkeys hunting for food and cracking nuts on tree branches. Actually, there was no shortage of wildlife. We saw LOTS of different kinds of birds, esp. mckaws, cawatis, spider monkeys, and fortunately we only had to smell the Peccaries, which if encountered, charge and bite. We were advised to climb a tree if we saw them. If you're 2 feet off the ground, you're safe, which means one of three things: 1) Peccaries are lazy, 2) Peccaries are very short, or 3) Peccaries don't exist, but the locals really get a kick out of seeing all the white people hanging onto trees with panic-stricken expressions.
OK, they do exist.
In fact, these things have "treed" sevaral hikers in the past, as they travel in herds of 2-200. First, you smell them (a delicate mixture of cow manure and wet underwear), then you hear their large fang like teeth clacking together. You can imagine how our hearts were pounding (Alan says he wasn't afraid, but then, he smelled worse than they did, so he was safer)!!!! About 2-3 hours into our hike, violent rain began, and we were brought back to a not-too-distant memory of Tikal. We were already quite wet, as we had to forge about 4-5 rivers along this hike, so we figured "what the heck?" Well, the rain had slowed us down quite a bit, and by the time we reached the point of salsipuedes, the tide had come in, and we quickly learned where this point got it's name. Once a particular part of the trail is crossed, and the tide comes in, one is "pinned" in. Ocean (remember riptides?) on one side, large caves to the left and right, jungle in the back. The only way out is through a path that runs along the jungle to the other side of the cave. This is the most desireable way, however my husband, Indiana Jones, had his own ideas. He instead chose to cling to the edge of the cave with the Pacific slamming against rocks below. Well, I was unable to change his mind about this, so I kissed him goodbye, and made my way to the trail to wait for him on the other side. Luckily for both of us, he made it out. Now, we are petitioning to change history, and the name of this forbidden point to "gringostupido". We continued our exit along the "trail", which at this point is more like a running river, arriving "home" sopping wet.
Once we arrived "home" we converted our tent into a laundry line/mash unit. Since our feet got wet walking, we had nasty blisters, and our clothes, well.......
The next morning got off to a jump-start. My pants were crawling with ants, however I found this out only AFTER I had put them on my body. YIKES! LIfe in Corcovado was just wonderful. Not a lot to do, not a lot of tourists, and very, very remote and beatiful. We concluded our lovely stay by walking back to our drop off site, and taking a collectivo for 2 hours back to our airstrip. This was an adventure in itself. It cost us each about 3 us dollars, and was worth every penny. One sits in the back of a pickup truck covered by a tarp overhead. Alan and I were in the front, just over the cab, and got to take all of the bugs and dirt face on! It was really hilarious, these pickups are missing headlights, have old tires, and questionable brakes and shocks. Well those things are for fancy people from up north, eh?!! Amazingly, these guys manage without, and drive these roads 3X day, so know where all of the trouble spots are. They stop occasionally to pick up and drop off, and at one time we had 9 people with bags in tow in the back. Can you say CLAMPITT? A Jed-eye afternoon. Funny enough though, it was a perfect end to this adventure.
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