Off to the Rainforest

I am back in San Jose after spending a week in an area called Bahia Drake near to the Corcovado National Park - one of the countries most remote areas. I had booked the accommodation from home at a place called Finca Maresia which came highly recommended by the Lonely Planet guide - and was also Trip Advisors top rated B&B for the area. (my cabin pictured)

My first day in Costa Rica was spent on a tour of the Cities banks together with a Swiss lady called Marlene who had arrived at the hostel the same time as me. An Attorney from Basle - it was her first solo long haul trip so I think she was glad of a bit of company although I tried her patience whilst attempting to book a night's accommodation in the Corcovado National Park ranger Station! Having e mailed them a request - they sent me a form to present to a bank for payment. All in Spanish - I didn't look at it too closely - but after waiting 20 minutes in the Bank of Costa Rica - I was told that I was in the wrong bank! Subsequently found a branch of Banque Nacional - was told to go to the International desk - waited half an hour - only to be told that I needed to queue up for a cashier - and wait for the 786 locals to be served first! Losing patience myself, Marlene was happy to give it another go - so we went to the main branch where there was only 536 people queuing up - but loads of cashiers - so half an hour later I was able to hand them 28 US Dollars - only 8 dollars for the accommodation ( I will tell you later why it was so cheap!) plus 10 dollars per day for park entry. The country has a dual currency - local money is the Colone - 500 to the US Dollar - but US dollars themselves are used most widely apart from the smaller shops. It is not unusual to pay for something in Dollars and receive change in Colones. Had to have 2 wallets in my pocket! One plus point is that if you are held up by an armed robber - you have the option of giving him the wallet with the least money in it! - Simples!

Marlene and I then took a taxi to a Bio-Eco park where they had various displays about Costa Rican natural history as well as various wild areas with local wildlife. Some great Green Iguanas (see main blog pic) - which I never tire of seeing - and a lovely little humming bird sitting in a nest - as well as a variety of other critters large and small. Costa Rica has one of the most diverse range of wildlife in the world taking everything into account and after a period where they destroyed 80% of their rainforests - they are now very switched on ecologically and have loads of preserved areas across the country. The next day - I was off to Bahia Drake and booked a taxi to take me to the bus station for 6.00am! Time difference is 6hrs behind here - so my body still thought it was noon ish. The hostel in San Jose - Kaps Place was decent enough - quite laid back - free Tea/Coffee on tap - a FREE International phone service - plus Free Internet access and Skype. The room was a bit overpriced at 40 Dollars - but I made use of the phone and gave Dad a call to let him know that all was well. Easily resisted the temptation to ring work- although it would have been nice to gloat. Temperature here is 80 +.

Getting to Bahia Drake wasn't easy- but that's why they call it remote! First it was a 5hr Bus journey to Palmar Norte - and then I was surprisingly met by a Taxi man who drove me to a town called Sierpe. I then had to wait 2 hours for a water taxi - but it was a lovely spot - and it didn't take me long to spot a Crocodile floating about in the river. The boat ride to Drake was about an hour and went downriver through Mangrove Swamps and then around the coast to Bahia Drake where it dumped everybody on the beach or sea in fact - the last few yards were wet ones! It was late afternoon by now - and I got someone to phone Miguel at Finca Maresia who drove down to fetch me. Miguel and his wife Amo together with baby daughter were running the B&B - a superb place about 2km inland up a dirt track and set beautifully into the surrounding area of fields and lowland forest. The Accommodation was either private cabins or in my case a room with shared bathroom facilities.


Miguel had booked me on a Night Bug Tour - so I didn't have long to settle in -grabbed a cold beer and chatted to some other guests before having to make my way with torch in hand down a long muddy track to the beach where I eventually found the bar where the tour began. Had another cold beer before the group gathered for the night tour. This was quite good fun - run by an American couple - we were all given head torches and proceeded to trail around looking for nasty critters. Tracey - the leader was very knowledgeable and impressed me by remembering everybody's name within about 10 minutes. We found some nice frogs - which are incredibly small and brightly coloured - plus a Bolivian Wandering Spider - related to the Tarantula - but even deadlier! I was also asked to sniff a Cockroach! This isn't something that I do on a regular basis - but gladly obliged - and to my surprise it had a sweet treacly smell - although not nice enough to make me want to eat it!
Tour ended about 10.30pm by which time I was quite knackered - there were another 4 people from the B&B on the tour - so we shared a taxi back.

The next few days - I enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and nature. The main communal eating and relaxing area of Finca Maresia is set up high on stilts and has a lovely backdrop plus the constant background noise of the jungle - the cicadas and crickets make an incredible noise plus the squawks of Macaws and the distant howling of the Howler Monkeys. It was a good spot to while away a few hours relaxing and spotting the many brightly coloured birds.
Also - there was a well established coastal path which wended it's way through the edge of the rainforest which literally came right up to the back of the beach or rocks. If you were lucky - you would spot Capuchin Monkeys - as well as the beautiful Scarlet Macaws which usually floated between trees in pairs.
I trekked along this path until I reached a small river which was in the shade - and an ideal spot for a swim. Being a Lily white Englishman from the midst of an english winter - I frazzle within a few minutes - so avoiding being burnt becomes a full time occupation.
It was even hotter here and VERY humid - sweating buckets constantly - so lots of water needed.
The area is very underdeveloped tourism wise - so bars were few and far between - and very few people about. The beaches were just idyllic - and mostly you had them to yourselves apart from the hundreds of Hermit crabs - all shapes and sizes that were scuttling about all over the place - never seem so many.
At the River - I saw my first Jesus Christ Lizard! Technically - a Basilisk lizard - they walk on water - well run really - they are so fast that they skip across the surface tension at a hundred miles an hour. Quite a sight.
I had my evening meals back at Finca Maresia where there was a communal dining area - a big long table where you could meet the other guests and have a chat. There were lots of Americans, Dutch - a couple from Chile - some nice people. I was staying for a week - but various people came and went - often staying just 2/3 days - which wasn't enough time for such a beautiful area. There was a very trusting system, whereby you just helped yourself to Beers or soft drinks, wine etc and marked it down on your own tariff card. After such hot sweaty days - a cold beer or 3 went down a treat - and the meals were always tasty and home cooked.

There were plenty of tours to go on - so I booked a Snorkeling tour to an offshore island as well as a day tour to the Corcovado National Park.

The snorkeling trip involved a 45 minute trip out to the island and some other guests had seen whales and dolphins. We weren't disappointed - and spotted a group of 3 Humpback whales together with a baby. The boats are allowed to get within a reasonable distance and staying watching for 15 minutes - taking a good picture was difficult - as the whales didn't stay at the surface for very long - and then you didn't know where they would next appear. Fantastic creatures.

The snorkeling was good - not as many fish as I had hoped - but there isn't alot of coral in this area. We did see a turtle. I was joined by a Belgian family - but after 15 minutes the father and son had had enough and were hauled back on the boat. They didn't snorkel in the afternoon either - so spent $75 to sit on a beach. They weren't that excited at seeing the whale either!
I had managed to borrow a long sleeved wetsuit - purely to stop myself getting frizzled - I'm sure that was a sight for sore eyes - no pictures fortunately!

Also on the trip were a Dutch couple who were staying at Finca Maresia- and they were diving at the same island. Unfortunately the guy forgot to equalise the pressure on his mask and got quite bad injuries to his eyes as the pressure started to make his eyeballs explode! He looked as if he had done 2 rounds with Mike Tyson - and it could have been quite serious. When back on the mainland - they took him to a Doctor who bandaged him up and recommended a hospital visit. We subsequently heard that his sight was going to be OK - but a close shave!



The day trip to Corcovado was a 5am start - with a 90 minute boat trip to the park. The best time of day to spot wildlife is early morning - so hence the early start. The guide was good and had a night scope - which he would set up as soon as he spotted something. We saw plenty of animals including a 2 toed sloth! - you've seen them on the telly - hanging about doing nothing much. The only time they move much is when they want a poo! - as they do that down on the ground and it probably takes them about an hour to get down - so it's a protracted process.
One of the highlights was seeing a Tapir - BUT - this is top secret - so you didn't hear it from me!
Our Guide swore us to secrecy about the whereabouts of a sleeping Tapir. Now these creatures are very rare and elusive shy animals - also being nocturnal - they are rarely seen.
Apparently a couple of months ago - one was found sleeping - not far from the Ranger Station and within an area which the guides would normally walk - albeit well hidden in the undergrowth. Amazingly - they decided to put up RED and BLUE Tape strung across the branches at various points where you might be able to access the place where he was slumbering. They might as well have put a sign up saying RARE MAMMAL ASLEEP. The guides have obviously been told to keep schtumm - but can't resist giving their customers value for money - so one by one - we crept under the tape and crawled within 15ft of a very large Bairds Tapir having a good snooze in the undergrowth! I did see him move - so it's not a plastic one.

Am catching an early bus to La Fortuna - the closest town to Volcano Arenal - still active but also often obscured by clouds!