Monteverde

The beauty never ceases here in Costa Rica; just when you thought you had seen the most beautiful place, another one is just around the corner. Monteverde was another favorite area for us. We are actually staying in Santa Elena, a triangular shaped, cute little town. Our hostel is full of travelers we have seen in other cities; the backpacker world is very small. Our first night here we decided, after a month of hanging with other people or cooking in hostel kitchens, it was time for a decent night out. So we headed out for our date to Morpho's Restaurant (named for the beautiful butterfly found here). It was great! The fish was delicious and the atmosphere was perfect. We met up with some friends afterwards and then called it a night.

We woke up early and caught a shuttle to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. And wow, the forest is accurately named! It was so cool; the trees were filled with an intense cloud layer that made for a damp, serene feeling. It was so quiet in the forest; it had a very majestic feel. We kept taking pictures, but they can't capture the vastness of it all. The weather here is also very different; we were in long sleeve shirts and pants, finally a cold breeze! And we did luck out with a completely sunny morning.

We hiked to a point at the top of the reserve that should overlook the valley all the way to Lake Arenal...the clouds were of course in the way. But this point was right on the continental divide, so it was definitely cool. It was so windy at the top and the clouds were going so fast; we totally enjoyed "the view." Who knew there could be so many shades of green? The wildlife is different in Monteverde, this was much more of a birding area. The resplendent quetzal remains unseen, but we may have better luck elsewhere. (that is the real name of the gorgeous bird that is difficult to spot in Costa Rica)

We were craving some mexican food and we were finally at a hostel with a decent kitchen (ie: it had a toaster oven) so we went to the store for dinner makings. We decided to feast on deluxe nachos; its amazing what you miss from home. We played cards and tried to avoid the ever-present psuedo-hippies. But seriously on that note, we love hostel-life, but slowing banging on the conga drum for hours and hours just isn't that cool, no matter how long your dreads are. I mention this only because we were kept awake for many hours last night :)

So this morning was our big day at Selvatura Park and the Canopy Tour! At first I was a little nervous...zipping high above the canopy at 45 mph with nothing to slow you down...but wow is it fun! Again we had a girl get all suited up and then refuse to do the runs; boy did she miss out! We ran through 15 ziplines all through and over a great jungle. In typical CR fashion, it was pouring rain! It added to the 'I think I might die' mentality and gave us a complete drenching. In the middle of the tour was the Tarzan Swing, which was like bungee jumping in a swing...you free fall then catch your line tight after a few seconds. There was NO way I was about to do that, my heart was pumping enough, but Brian said was game. It was hilarious! As soon as he jumped, we heard a brief explicative and then I think he realized he was enjoying it. I got some great shots of our Tarzan. The last ziplines were a lot of fun; they were so high we were flying into clouds and had no idea what was on the other side...way cool!

After our soaking we needed a hot shower and some clean laundry, so we headed back to the hostel. We avoided our Stage 5 Clinger by resting most of the afternoon and enjoying our books. That night we went to the Monteverde Frog Pond and with our admission received a guided tour. The whole thing was pitch black, but our guide could spot anything with his light. We saw all kinds of toads and frogs; 3 pairs were mating. The female has to carry the male on her back for weeks before they fertilize the eggs in either the water or on land. We saw the poison dart frogs, blue jeans, green and black, etc. Way cool! We could see them calling to eachother and their vocal sacks inflating. We saw the Gaudy Frog's eggs on the leaf of a plant and the tadpoles in the water below. They were putting on quite a show. We're going to go back tomorrow and take pictures in the daylight, it was so cool.

We love the pura vida life style here and definitely needed a break! We're not ready to go back yet, luckily we have 2 more weeks!

Rio Toro

As you might have noticed from previous posts, Brian and I (emphasis on Brian) loved our white water rafting trip down the Rio Pacuare. One just wasn't enough from the white water capital of the world. We wanted more rapids and more excitement, so we headed for the Rio Toro! It was a class IV river with 25 consectuive rapids (much different than the Pacuare that had about 5 minutes rest in between the rapids). During the safety talk one lady got so scared she cried and refused to go on the river...not us, we were ready! Brian earned the top spot at the front of the boat again, and I moved up to middle. We had so much fun hitting the rapids! This river is dam controlled and today they only let out about half the power that is allowable to raft on, so it was a little low, but good nonetheless. There were many boulders that would come out of nowhere and many times we had to maneuver our boat around them. One of the guys was the first casualty of the river...our first man-overboard experience. We grabbed his jacket and hauled him back in the boat...no harm done. About an hour later we were right in the middle of a set of class IV rapids when we slammed into a huge rock and I was catapulted into the river! It all happened so fast...the boat went one way down the rapids and I went another! My life jacket and helmet had me safe and sound through the rapids and the safety kayaker came over so I could crab on to his boat. He towed me forward to our boat and Brian pulled me back in. My swim was no problem, just proves how rough this river was. When it was all over we had lost another girl in the river, again rescued without issue. The river was great, a definite adrenaline experience; just what we wanted!

Pura Vida!

Wow! We have had quite a time here in La Fortuna; definitely one of the best parts of the trip. La Fortuna is the town at the base of Volcan Arenal, the most active volcano in Central America. We arrived Friday afternoon and found a quaint, little hostel called Gringo Pete's. Its great, $4pp, what a deal. We had to ask a Tico where the volcano was because it was raining and we couldn't see anything through the clouds. But we thought, what the heck, if we're here, we're going to try every night to see an eruption. That night we went with some other hostel-folks to go see the lava flows (its best to view at night). Our guide told us some history of the volcano that was pretty interesting: before 1968 it was a dormant volcano with a conical shape and the crater on the top. When it erupted it actually erupted from a smaller crater down on the side and over the years has built up itself, to where now that crater is higher than the original one. Anyway, we were not so lucky this night...let's just say that after an hour and a half of staring at clouds in the night sky, we had to give up. Our guide told us we could come back for free the next night for another chance.

So Saturday we woke up and took the bus to Arenal National Park. We hiked through the jungle around the volcano and came to the old lava fields. It was so cool! Arenal's lava flows aren't exactly like Hawaii, it spits large boulders. It was great to climb all over them, good thing they were nice and cool by now! We were also able to climb to an overlook of Lake Arenal; it was beautiful. We were so lucky that it wasn't raining (for once)! We continued hiking to a river and then continued to the mirador...where you're supposed to be able to take great pictures of the volcano. We were able to see more of the cone than we had ever seen before, but those pesky clouds just wouldn't move from the crater.

We continued our volcano day with an afternoon in the Baldi Thermae (hot springs!) It was great, the water was so warm and relaxing. It was hard to believe the volcano had created all the warmth. We chilled out all afternoon, read our books, and played in the waterfalls. That night was our return trip to attempt to see lava. Our guide had told us about this great restuarant right by the lava lookout. So we figured, at least we'll get a good meal even if we miss out on the flows. Well that was an understatement! We both got steaks as big as plates and covered in mushrooms for $8! The white plastic chairs were definitely a disguise for this gem of a place. Finally Costa Rica has come through with a good meal. Little did we know the best part of the night was yet to come...

I guess we had just ordered when I heard a bunch of yells...suddenly Arenal had come alive! The restaurant went black and we hurried out to get a better look. The whole top was blowing red hot lava! My words will not be able to describe the feeling of watching a volcano erupt just kilometers away, it was amazing! The lava rocks would tumble down the side and burst with more sparks into smaller rocks. Imagine one of those fireworks that bursts, floats, and then the smaller parts burst again. Our guide said this one of the best eruptions they had had in a while, we felt so lucky to have seen it. The best part was...Arenal wasn't finished. The volcano kept spitting lava all night. What a beautiful sight! And all of this over the best steak dinner we've had in weeks. Our volcano day couldn't have ended on a better note.

Tortuguero

Tortuguero here we come! We were so excited to go up to the land without cars. Everyone has raved about the park and we definitely weren´t going to miss out on the turtles. When we arrived back in Limon from Cahuita we filled up on cash and again manuevered to find our bus to Moin. We got a group together to take a boat to Tortuguero and we were actually pretty lucky we got it. It was 1 in the afternoon and most of the boats were already gone...we learned. Our group was 2 other med students from Ohio State and a German couple; we gave our money to the captain and he said we had to wait an hour to leave. We rested and got some water (man our packs are heavy!) and then started to realize what we had just done. Six of us had just given $25 each to a man with no official uniform (unless you count his marijuana hat) and he told us to come back later for a supposed ride up the canals. Well lady luck was on our side and the man was good to his word...we left at 2.

The canals were amazing! I imagine the Amazon river to be similar...lined with trees and full of wildlife. Our captain stopped off for gas and the boys on the boat stopped for beers...it would be a long boat ride, might as well make it fun. Captain Ganja (as we named him) grabbed one for himself as well. So you´re getting the picture...pura vida right? We did see another sloth in the trees, more howler monkeys, and lots of beautiful birds. The 3 hour ride turned into 4 (our boat was being passed like we were there for a nature tour) and we arrived in Tortuguero village at sunset. So to orient you, most of the wealthy folks stay at a fancy, all-inclusive lodge somewhere up the canal...and the village is more for backpackers...just our style. We had a little trouble finding a cheap yet not horrible place to stay, but finally found a place to take off our packs. The 2 med students wanted to go in on a set of tours for the next day, so we secured our plans for the park and headed off to eat.

Everyone had recommended Miss Miriam´s as, again, some of the best creole in town. We were served family style, jerk chicken, rice, black beans, cabbage salad and fried plantains...yum! We headed back to a cool place with a big screen TV and pool tables...and right on the canal. It was great to watch the boats go back and forth. Oh and nothing here is allowed to be on the beach, the lights disturb the turtles. Thank goodness they made it a national park, you know us humans would immediately tear down the trees and put up big hotels (sorry thats just the tree hugger in me). But really, this place was so "tranquilo"...clean air and lush green rainforest cut through with tons of canals and rivers...it was breathtaking.

So you might be seeing a pattern here...we woke up the next morning for our wildlife searching canoe trip...and yes it started to rain. In a moment of brillance, we all had left our raincoats at the cabina...and we got poured on! Our guide wasn´t about to turn back and possibly loose out on his pay, so we proceeded to get drenched for 2 1/2 hours. The wildlife were probably laughing at us, but they definitely were no where to be seen. The rich folk in their fancy lodge powered boats were given complimentary ponchos...they too were laughing at us. Brian and I huddled together for warmth and sang ¨every little thing´s gonna be alright¨ in honor of the local hero. We were able to see 2 Caiman´s hiding under some mangroves, very cool.

Our turtle hike was set to begin at 10pm with our same guide. The park does not allow people on the beach without guides and only allows 200 people a night...a great idea. Well as the deal drift continued here in CR...we were greeted by our ¨guides¨- his cousin and her wife. They didn´t speak any english, which was fine because we were able to understand them...but wasn´t exactly the experience guide we were expecting, oh well. The moon was completely covered by the clouds and the beach was rouring loud. The hike was really cool, our guides are only allowed red flashlights to be turned on occasionally, so it was really dark.

They found some tracks headed up towards land, obviously a turtle had come up from sea. The tracks look like a huge tractor had come through, they were a lot bigger than I expected. You could tell the sweet girl had used her flippers to make her way ashore and left quite a path. You cannot disturb the turtles while they are preparing the nest, they will go back to sea. However, once they start laying, they enter a trance and you can go behind them and watch. For us, this turtle´s job was complete and she already returned to sea. We walked on. Luckily we found another set of tracks, we waited for the digging of the nest to be complete and our guides signalled it was time to come take a look. The turtle was huge! She looked beautiful in the whole in the sand and she definitely had worked hard on her nest. She went on to lay over 45 eggs (volunteers were on hand to make sure no one disturbed her). The whole process was amazingly natural and almost moving. We felt so fortunate to be in her presence, it was one of the coolest things we´ve ever seen.

So it turns out we had a good showing that night. We passed another turtle finishing her camoflauging of her nest, so we saw 2 turtles in the end. During peak season, our guide told us that 3,000 turtles come ashore in a night in a 3 km distance...thats one per meter! What a sight it must be! However, we felt lucky enough to had seen 2 of the only 3 turtles that laid that night. I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone!

The next morning we decided we didn´t want to leave yet, so we rented a double kayak and headed back to see the nature around us. Brian was a pro paddler despite the not so great kayak. We were able to get into the little creeks and had trees surrounding us, the light was coming through in little cracks, it was fantastic. We headed back and realized it was Wednesday (its really hard to keep track of days much less dates) and that the US game and the Italy game were tomorrow. We had to get somewhere where we could watch it. We hurdily packed up our stuff and got a 3pm boat through Cariari...or so we thought. The shadyness about deals continued, no matter how many questions you ask, I swear you don´t find out you didn´t get a full answer until later.

We got on this boat and spead through the rivers, Brian loved every minute of it. But then only about 45 minutes into what we knew was a 3 hour journey, the captain said, get off here. We sat around for another half hour and figured out a bus was going to come. It finally did, and then the driver asked us for our tickets...well we had given them to the captain of the boat. After a few times of coming back and forth, and us thinking we were just going to have to pay again, it was worked out. So this made us realize that we were in the middle of NO-where and we were obviously somewhat well-off tourists with huge packs and probably cash. There were many times when we thought they might rob us, leave us, or at least hassle us...but luckily not. So I say this not to make anyone think that Ticos are out to get you or that it is unsafe here, but rather to give you a more honest version of what is really happening on our travels.

So we make it through the very bumpy back roads to Cariari and realize we have just missed the last bus to San Jose. So we board a bus for Guapiles and hope that there is a bus still going to San Jose. We jumped off at 7:02 in Guapiles and ran up to a bus; it was the 7:00 bound for San Jose. They hassled us but let us on the bus. Brian had to sit next to a crazy man who kept talking about his veins and was probably an IV drug user. We were both starving and it was definitely dark. So when we arrived at the bus station in San Jose, as is typical, you get swarmed by people asking you if you need a taxi. We knew enough that there are official and definitely not-so-official taxis here, and lucked into getting a nice driver from the real taxi service. He brought us to our hostel and it was like a home away from home. Free internet, free coffee, and a caesar salad on the menu! I almost cried :) We slept great, got some laundry done, and now we´re ready for more adventure.

Cahuita

Well the Caribbean side of Costa Rica was definitely beautiful...but the beaches were different than we were expecting. No margaritas on a big, sandy beach, but nonetheless we´re definitely glad we didn´t pass up the place. Our spanish teachers told us that going to the Caribbean would be like going to a different country; this we knew and was originally why we left it off our list. When we left Orosi, we took a bus to Cartago, from Cartago to San Jose, and then caught a bus to Limon. Only certain bus routes originate in a station, so finding your bus stop can be tricky. We immediately were glad we had spent 2 weeks brushing up on our spanish. Limon is a dirty, port town, but sufficed for our afternoon of World Cup watching. The US played really hard, but unfortunately the Italians were fouling harder. After 2 red cards, we were doomed. FIFA and the rest of the futbol community world wide probably don´t want the US to advance; so they made sure we couldn´t.

So we boarded a bus for Cahuita and enjoyed the sea breeze the whole way. We arrived in a 2-street by 1-street town where Bob Marley is God. Literally. We heard about the Jamaican atmosphere of the Caribbean...but wow. Everyone wore red, yellow and green and you couldn´t walk a foot without seeing a Bob Marley shirt or painting. We walked around and attempted to bargain for a good room. No one here is Tico as we know it, the population is mostly black. We immediately got the vibe that tourists weren´t as embraced here as other parts of Costa Rica. That night we quickly realized we didn´t feel as comfortable there. There were lots of street poeple, strung out on drugs and begging for money. However, that night, while sitting and enjoying our Pilsen´s, a nice Australian/New Zealand couple asked if they could join us. We love meeting other travelers and hearing about their experiences. They had both lived for a few years in London and had travelled quite a bit. We ate at Miss Edith´s, supposed to be the best Creole food in town...it wasn´t bad. Again our search for decent food in CR remains incomplete.

We decided to meet up with them for our day in Cahuita National Park the next morning. Lonely Planet had recommended a cafe for the best breakfast in town, and wow they weren´t kidding. The fruit stuffed crepes were enough to send a person to heaven...eating healthy in CR can be difficult to say the least. We rummaged through a Super to find anything that could be brought for lunch; some nuts and pringles would have to do...no pre-packaged food here. Our hike paid off immediately though; sitting in the trees were 5 howler monkeys! We pushed on, for we had an 8km hike ahead of us to get to the beach. The forest was beautiful! We were on a hunt for the hard to spot, because of their lack of movement, sloth! As we trucked along I was scanning the trees for any inconsistencies, and I won the prize! A sloth was curled up for a nap in the crux of a huge tree! We kept hiking further and our friends must have never seen lizards before because man were they fascinated with the little guys. Later we came across a whole pack of white faced monkeys and were able to get some great shots! One was not happy with us loitering around and through a coconut at Brian! Another wanted to see if we had any food (a clear sign that this park is heavily travelled by people, unlike Corcovado) and was stalking us. Later we were blessed with another sloth sighting!

We finally got around the point to the sandy, black beach side...but like I said it wasn´t quite like we expected. No one was there, which was fine, but there wasn´t much sand to make room for any towels. We picked a decent spot and had our lunch. Brian and Adam played out in the surf and convinced me it would be fun...I tried my best to hang with the waves but a huge one got the best of me. Brian picked me up and carried me to shore...I was done with the crazy surf for now. We hiked out of the park and caught a bus back into town.

So that night we met up with our friends again, grabbed a bite to eat, and went to the local bar for more story swapping. Again we realized ¨we weren´t in Kansas anymore¨... it was only 7pm but the sun had set an hour before and the night people were out again. There was a lady cooking fresh, steak shish kabobs on the corner and we wanted to see if they were any good. After being swarmed by people asking us to by them some, we finally got one, and it was pretty good. After talking with Adam and Stevie we decided that we wanted to go snorkeling in the morning...lets see what the Caribbean has to offer.

Well as luck would have it in the rainy season...we woke up to rain. We went anyway and were able to see some pretty good schools of fish. We even saw a shark as soon as we jumped in the water! The visibility wasn´t great however, and our guides decided to stop guiding. We called it a day after an hour and a half and headed back to pack up.

So Cahuita was an interesting experience (and as we heard, Puerto Viejo is just the same). I´m glad we went to the Caribbean even though it was like being in a different world. It would be like going to Texas and not visiting Austin because it was so different.

Moving On

Our final week at spanish school has now come to an end. We´ve learned a lot about spanish and the Tico culture. Orosi was a great little town for our time at school, but we´re very excited about travelling to more beautiful places. This week was the traditional students vs. teachers soccer game and it was a blast! It was 5 on 5 indoor soccer and Brian was definitely the star! I wasn´t too bad myself; our team won 13-7. One of our class days we had a field trip, so to speak. We went with our other fellow students and teachers to a local coffee manufacturing plant. We donned helmets and received the full tour. That night we ate at the best seafood place in a 30km radius. They catch the fish out of the river behind the place, grill it up, and literally serve you the whole thing. On weekends there is a line of people who come as far away as San Jose for the fish. All of this for $3, we love it here.

Another day, after talking to fellow hostelers, we decided to hike Tapanti National Park, only 20 minutes away. Tapanti has beautiful cliffs, mountains, rivers and forests. It was gorgeous! The air is so clean here, its amazing. We only had until 1:00 before we had to get back for school, so we were hikers on a mission. Brian thought we could cover every trail in that amount of time. To make a long story short...we did! We did however make an absolutely fatal mistake; we forgot our insect repellant. We were swarmed with mosquitos on each trail which meant we couldn´t stop walking; if we stopped we would get bit. So we truly hiked the park in record time. Our only moment of peace was in the middle of the river on a huge rock with our feet in the very cold water and no mosquitos to be found! It was great, we will probably never forget that place. In the end we covered 13km in 3 1/2 hours...and that isn´t on flat ground. The waterfalls, flowers and the expanse of the wilderness made it all worth it.

Locos!

This past weekend was a great diversity of adventure. On Saturday we had to venture into Cartago to find an ATM that would let us access our money (mucho importante!). The ¨big¨ city was interesting, lots of stores...but not like in the U.S. There were people everywhere, it was a little chaotic. I got a Tico Futbol shirt to adorn during the rest of the Cup. We couldn´t for the life of us find a restaurant, so back to little Orosi where you can see your options standing in one spot :) That night some new hostelers arrived...these were 2 boys from Belgium. They were very nice and joined us for dinner. Its been so interesting to hear about peoples lives who take so much time off to travel. One guy had been away since January and is thinking of moving to Argentina now. We quickly learned that speaking politics to Europeans is not a good idea-bottom line-they hate Americans. We attempted to calm their emotions and explain some things but in the end there´s no use. They were very amiable despite their views of our country; the learning experiences never cease here.

Sunday we took a 2 hour bus ride to Turrialba-the unofficial white water capitol of Costa Rica! We were set to run the Pacuare with Locos Tours! We have been so excited about this trip-the Pacuare is the most talked about River in Costa Rica...and now we know why! In our raft were 6 people and a definitely Loco Guide! The river has NO buildings, homes, etc built up on it. The whole time we were rafting through a virgin canyon, it was breathtaking! We dropped 1,000 feet during our 4 hour trip down the river...meaning the rapids were flowing! Brian received the honor of the front seat (because of his strength) and I was assigned the back of the boat (because of my weight, or lack there of). Brian would hit the rapids head on and receive a wall of water in the face! We all got soaked but luckily no one went over board! Our guide was great, he would take the ¨hard line¨on the rapids so we could get the extra exciting part. We are soooo sore today though! Our bodies got knocked around and of course the paddling was strenuous. We loved every minute of it though and we really want to find the money to run another one of the great rivers of Costa Rica!

La Primera Semana En Orosi

Well so far we have completed our first week of spanish school at the Montaña Linda Escuela de Lenguajes in Orosi (outside Cartago). We spend 3 hours a day with our own private tudor and then we have homework each night; both of us have been impressed with the teachers. We are staying at the hostel and meeting lots of interesting people. It rains pretty much every afternoon (sometimes it holds off until evening) and into the night. We are awoken each morning my an incessant rooster that apparently thinks we should be up too. Orosi has one main street, the town is really small. Every town in Costa Rica centers around the soccer field and Orosi is no exception! Pretty much no tourists come here, so there are few restaurants. We cook in the hostel some and eat out some; we have many ´friends´who know us in town now and we´re learning how many things you can cook in a pot on the stove (our only device available). And it goes without saying that the best thing about Costa Rica just might be the freshness of the coffee! Starbucks just can´t compare!

One day last week we took a hike to a beautiful set of waterfalls that are actually on a man´s private property. For a (very) small fee, he lets you hike up to them...it was gorgeous! Whats unbelievable about Costa Rica is that places, like this area of falls, would be national parks in the U.S., but here there are so many, its just some mans property :) This particular man is named Nano and he´s quite an interesting character. He lives in a shack basically and has a small coffee farm. He showed us all of his future plans for his house, tried to sell us some 4 week old kittens, and then took us to an overlook of Orosi. Ticos truly are the nicest people we´ve ever met! Another day we went with some other students from the school to some botanical gardens outside Paraiso...learning the bus system (or lack there of) has been interesting too.

The big story of last week was the opening match in the World Cup! Costa Rica vs. Germany (the home country for you non-soccer fans)...Costa Rica was insane! The whole country had off work and school! The bank had a sign on it that said closed until 12:30! We met some friends at the only local bar with TVs and enjoyed the experience of a country truly obsessed with the sport. Whenever the Ticos would score, the bar would erupt with commotion and dancing and the bartender would put the national anthem on the stereo full blast! Oe oe oe oe Tiiiicccoos Tiiicccooos!! It was so much fun...despite the loss.

Dios Mio!

*Disclaimer: This might be more detail than you wanted, but this blog is also our diary, so read what you want! Also, the internet here is so slow that we can´t upload pictures...restated, be thankful I can´t upload the 76 pictures I took in Corcovado!

So much has happened over the last few days, I think we left off at kayaking. We took a sunset tour with another couple through the mangroves and it was beautiful! We had to squeeze our kayaks through little spaces and we even endured the typical afternoon monsoon! The adventures in Osa were just beginning...

That night we had dinner with Osa Mike - our guide for the next three days. Picture Crocodile Dundee but with a british accent instead. This guy even carried a machette! He told us stories about Corcovado and scared me so much I completely lost my appetite! So the next morning we left Puerto Jimenez for Carate on a 2 hour 'colectivo taxi' - this again was another sight to see! Its basically a pickup truck with bars above and around the bed with two benches on either side - basically a death mobile. But it was really interesting to see the culture more up close - ticos are hilarious and notoriously friendly!

Our mission today was to make it to the Sirena Ranger Station 22 kilometers inside the Corcovado - should be about an 8 hour hike. There were places just inside the park that many tourists go to see monkeys, etc...not us...we were doing the full monty! Picture going to Yosemite and only seeing the valley and surrounding areas - and then imagine going into the back country where no one ever goes. So the hike varies between trail (in the jungle) and beach walking. Every step of the jungle trail I was worried about stepping on a poisonous snake, getting bit by a spider, or just even slipping over the trechorous trail. And every step of the beach hike was through soft, deep sand, so it felt like each step required the effort of two. You're getting my drift...we are tired!! But we saw lots and lots of wildlife! We made a list and it covers about 50 mammals, reptiles and birds. When people say this is the last virgin rain forest of Costa Rica, they're not kidding!

The Sirena Ranger Station was befitting for the setting, aka, it left a lot to be desired in the way of comfort. We slept in bunks with mosquito nets and were served meals in a dining hall where we met a group of students from Rice. There was a big wraparound porch from which you could see macaws fly by, monkeys playing in the trees, etc at any given moment. Sleep was hard to come by because of the heat and humidity (nothing ever drys here!) But the next day we headed out in search of crocodiles and sharks feeding in the Rio Sirena estuary. And boy were we lucky! A bull shark was getting him some good fishing in! We hiked around in search of cats & peccaries (wild boars that are very aggressive with humans!) but to no avail. ALL of the other groups we had passed had seen the puma that likes to stalk humans at the Rio Claro and one group ran from 2 different groups of peccaries...not us...but not say that I´m too bummed that we didn´t have to deal with that!

After dinner we went for a night hike, armed with only 3 measley flahlights (not exactly going to fend off a Jag if you ask me)...it was crazy scary. It gets soooo dark here! The frogs and bugs are so loud, its very eery crawling through a jungle looking for creepy crawlies...picture a sci fi movie! But we made it back and headed to bed.

Well before dawn even arrived (and thus the loud, obnoxious howler monkeys) we were greeted by a little sickness. Thats right, they say the water is potable here, but I guess our bodies disagreed! Not exactly the way you want to get prepared for the same 22km hike that almost wiped you out before. But nonetheless, we were on our way. The tides were against us this day, literally...it was high tide when we had to cross the river. Our trusty guide Mike popped open his binocs and assured us that the crocs were no more than 2 meters and with the three of us banded together in waist high water, we should be ok. Great right! So, although terrified, we did make it through unscathed! Thank goodness!

So now we were on the beach part of the hike and the tides were screwing us again. We had to get around a point in order to begin Crucifixion Beach (oh joy!)...but there was no sand like last time, due to the tide. So we had to climb over the side of the cliff in order to begin our walk down ths now soft sanded beach. I think you´re getting my drift again, we are really wasting some undue energy on this! But we made it, rested, and saw more wildlife on our return hike through the jungle. Its funny how the first time you see coatis or agoutes you are so excited, but the tenth time you just say cool and keep going. So about three quarters of the way out, Liz began to get overheated, I guess the dehydration really caught up with her. A rejuvenating dip in a cold stream and some rehydration salts had her back in no time. Poor Brian had our pack on his back and was considering leaving it all behind! By this point we´re joking between ourselves that this is our Everest!

It was well worth it though, and as we reread this blog we realize that words nor pictures can really do it justice. It was an amazing experience that brought us closer to adventure, risk, and the wild than either of us had ever been before. We were exhausted and ready to get a hot shower and a nice bed.