Archive for the 'Costa Rica' Category

Los Patos Ranger Station, Parque Nacional Corcovado, Costa Rica, 2004-05-16

In my rush and excitement to get to the river before high tide, I took off running in what was altogether despite what I could have easily figured out with a map the wrong direction. The wrong direction is a very hilly direction and my backpack was a very heavy backpack to be taking in the wrong direction. When I got to the end of the wrong direction and the staff at the hippy looking hotel told me I had to go all the way back down to find the right direction I was, well, really unhappy. Luckily I at least figured out that I could follow a river down to the right trail – which I now remembered was on the beach – and that saved me a little bit of backtracking. Also luckily I didn`t have to wait for the tide to subside to cross the next river because I arrived well after noon thanks to my genius little detour.

I did manage to get to Sirena before nightfall after about 7 hours of hiking on spectacularly pretty beaches. It does sound nice, but hiking on sand is quite difficult, trails are a lot easier I promise. Sirena was as beautiful as promised, set at one end of a grassy airstrip with the ocean at the other.

Last night, my second night at Sirena it sure did rain like crazy. During the night I was safe and dry, but I can`t make that claim about the 17km of trail today to get inland to Los Patos, many portions of which I would describe flatteringly as swampy and/or disparringly as small lakes. To be fair, so would I describe most of the forest. It was a little bit slow going at first, and then I saw a rather huge snake cross my path. With it`s head already under the roots of a tree there was still at least two meters left of its body. While it WAS moving rapidly away from me, it still scared the bujeezus outa me. A subsequent look on a laminated “Fauna of Costa Rica” sheet told me it was most like a Bushmaster or something like that. I figured that a snake so big didn`t need to be poisonous, but the sheet told me otherwise. At least it didn`t offer me any apples.

Mm… apples…

Canned tuna almost tastes like fresh apples if you close your eyes and squeeze your nose. Right?

Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica, 2004-05-13

When choosing between a too heavy bag and even the slightest chance of getting hungry, the choice is obvious. Since I`ve got to carry all my food for my 4 day hike, it`ll be one of those heavy at the beginning light at the end hikes. Luckily for my sense of adventure, not only will my first day be heavy, but I`m going to practically have to run the first 10km of the 20km beach trail. OK, I don`t have to, but if I can`t make it to the first river by 10:00am, the tide will be too high and I`ll have to wait untill noon before I can cross again. From there I continue to La Sirena Ranger Station, which I`ve been told is is amazing and beautiful so I should camp there in my rented tent at least 2 nights. I`m excited for my adventure. I`ve read that this park is supposed to be “almost eden” although I don`t remember anything about sharks and crocodiles in Eden. Nonetheless, I`m ready to try and live up to my name and give it a go. And that`s kinda funny seeing as how when I went to make my reservation to camp, the officer who took that reservation specifically warned me not to touch the snakes…

Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica, 2004-05-12

This trip has taken on an entirely new dimension. I now know when and where it will end. I have 1 day less than 1 month to be at the airport in Caracas, Venezuela.

I think I can make it.

`Course I can. I have to. Then I guess it doesn`t matter what I think.

San José, Costa Rica, 2004-05-11

I`ve only walked about a mile or so of this rich city and I`ve already counted six McDonald`s. If you squinted your eyes a little it could almost be a North American city. Except for maybe how early in the night everything gets closed and the streets get creepy. I think it was only about 10:00 when I walked back from the internet, and all the shops were closed except for a few dark bars. In front of one of which, when I passed, I was approached by a pretty young lady who demanded “mil Colones.” I`m not sure what she wanted it for, but considering the legality of certain things here and her mode of dress… still, 1,000 Colones is only about US$2.50. Maybe she just wanted it as a present, like the kid who pointed at the sign of the hostel I was seeking and then demanded “¡mil colones!”

“¿Para que?”

“¡Para mí! Yo soy gerencia. Me paga y vamos.”

Thanks, kid, I think I`d rather just ring the door bell.

La Fortuna, Costa Rica, 2004-05-08

The glossy brochures, of which there are many here, offer a tour at US$33 to take you up and down a river that sounds an awful lot like the one I took from San Carlos, Nicaragua, to Los Chiles, Costa Rica, for about US$6. Of course, I had quite a bit of waiting to do. 5 hours in San Carlos just to get my passport stamped. Another hour just to go 15km (that was the pretty river trip though – I saw some mighty fine crocses).

My impression of Costa Rica is that is it in relative terms extremely well-off. Average people drive new cars, there’s no one wearing random hand-me-down shirts from the Salvation Army. I haven’t seen one restaurant with a dirt floor. Best of all, the bus that pulled in to take me away from Los Chiles was not only not an ex-school bus, but it was a brand new A/C double-decker! The level of wealth and development reminds me quite a bit of southern Brazil, actually.

Still, no matter how hard you try, this is still Central America. It took about 2 hours for one mentally impaired immigration officer to process about 20 people ahead of me in line, while at one point 5-count-them-5 other employees sat around doing absolutely nothing. Later, to make up for the wowness of the first bus, my second bus was old and crowded, and got the famous flat tire in the middle of nowhere right as it started to rain.

In the bus’s defense, it does start to rain about every ten minutes here this time of year.