Sunday 20 April 2008

We are being picked up at 7.40u for our tour with Iguana tours through the National Park Manuel Antonio. André is our guide . We are a small group of eight people. The National Park is one of the smallest in the country and is situated on the coast. Inside the park there are three beautiful beaches. Before we can enter the park we have to wade through a shallow river. Once passed the turnstile we follow the path behind the beaches. We first stop for smaller creatures like spiders, bats and lizards. André points at animals we might easily overlook. There are lots of iguanas and other lizards, like the Obalisk or Jesus Christ Lizard. So called because it can walk on water. There are lots of birds too. We a couple of Agoutis running away into the bushes. Then we meet a large group of White faced Capuchin Monkeys. They are not shy and play with each other. Sometimes they are quite daring when they go out to the beach to steal bags belonging to the unsuspecting people who are swimming or sunbathing. They know how to open buttons and zippers in order to get to food.  We walk until the third beach. There we take a break before we go on along the Sendero Perezoso, the Sloth track. Here we see more than five sloths. Amazing creatures who do virtually nothing all day. The just hang in trees and eat leaves. They come down once a week to defecate. There are two types: two toed and three toed sloths. On the track we also see two tucanets or tucancitos and a red eyed flying frog. André gets all excited over it. The frog is asleep and it is hard to distinguish it from the leaf it is sitting on. Its red eyes are closed. At night it will open its eyes and reveal its yellow webbed feet. At one point a white tailed deer comes walking in our direction. It is not frightened and walks right passed. It is extremely humid in the park. After three hours we kind of exhausted when we sit down in a restaurant for a refreshing fruit salad and drink.  Fed and quenched we get on the minibus that takes us back to our hotel. The rest of the day is spent idly at the pool. We have lunch at El Avion. When Michael arrives to open the pool bar it is time for cocktails. Later that night we have dinner at  Tico Rico, near the hotel.  

Weather: sunny morning and warm. 35°C / 95°F. More cloudy in the afternoon and one shower

Monday 21 April 2008

The National Park is closed on Mondays and the animals have a day off. We have a nice coffee at the Café Milagro and get money at the ATM. We hang around the and call ahead to our next hotel in Bahia Drake to hear if the road is still in good condition after the rain. We are the transition between dry and rainy season, which will start in May. If the road would inaccessible we would have to get up early to catch a boat from Sierpes which leaves at 11am. Sierpes is about 3 hours driving from here. The hotel assures us that the road is good and puts our mind at rest. 

We are being picked up at 1pm for a sunset boat tour. We make do the tour with four other passengers, who are from Utah. It is a small group, although the National Park is closed. The large sailing boat has as many crew as passengers. We go out to sea on the engine power and after a while the sails are raised. After an hours we spot the first group of dolphins. The swim and jump past us on both sides. After 15 or 20 minutes they have had enough of us and we do not see them anymore. We set sail for a group of rocks where we we will do some snorkeling. The water is fairly dark, but still we can see some bright but small fish. After snorkeling it is time for dinner. We get Mahi Mahi, otherwise known as common shark fish and a salade. The cloud is getting overcast and it does not seem like we will be seeing much of the sunset tonight. It rapidly gets darker and we have to hurry to get back into port before the start of heavy a thunderstorm.  When we get back at the dock around 5.30pm it is already raining cats and dogs. Later that night when the rain has subsided we go out to have another bite at el Gato Negro. We are still peckish, because we skipped lunch this afternoon. The view is nice from the rooftop restaurant and the food is well prepared. Dinner is accompanied by some live music. 

  Weather: hot and sunny 34°C / 93°F. Heavy thunderstorm around 5.30. Cooler after that.

Tuesday 22 April 2008

 Manuel Antionio - Bahia Drake: 203km / 126 mi (4 hours)

We rise early and have breakfast a 7. We pay up and get going. We first drive to Quepos and take the road to Playa Dominical. Leaving Quepos the road gets very bad and stays that way for 44km (27mi) until we finally get to Dominical. That takes us 90 minutes. We can speed up considerably after that until we reach Rincon on the Osa peninsula. From here we leave the main road and turn in a narrow road in the direction of Bahia Drake on the West coast of the peninsula. The road is in very bad shape. We knew that beforehand, but still... Potholes, bumps and rocks are everywhere. We cross 5 rivers, but that does not cause any problems. We do the last 31km (20mi) in 75 minutes. Around noon we reach the Pirate Cove hotel in Bahia Drake. The bay was named after Francis Drake, the favorite pirate of the English Queen Elisabeth I back in the 17th century, who spend the night in the bay and allegedly hid a treasure around here. We are welcomed by Nelson who shows us to our canvas walled casita with windows with mosquito nets. It is quite comfy. It has a tiled bathroom and there is ceiling fan. There is only one mosquito net  for two beds, so it is finally time to put our own net to use for the first time.  We bought it 4 years ago for our South African trip. 

We hang around in the hotel, stroll along the beautiful beach and at high tide we go canoeing up the Drake river. Again I see a couple of Red Macaws flying by overhead. An Ibis is standing in the wreaths  and a Cayman swims past. At night we eat together with all the other guests on the patio.  

Weather: sunny and warm, 35°C / 95°F graden. Very humid in Bahia Drake

Woensdag 23 april 2008

Today we go on a snorkeling trip. Breakfast is at 7 and we leave at 7.45 with 9 other guests on a fast boat to Isla del Caño. The boat ride takes a little under one hour. The island is a protected reserve and the number of visitors is limited. A bit out of the coast we jump in the water to go snorkeling over a coral reef. Ewin, our guide, points to the beautiful fish. We see bright yellow, blue and green colours: Mahi Mahi, Parotfish, Triggerfish, surgeon fish, Golden Jack, Spotted porcupine fish and lots more.  We also see a sea Turtle swimming by. After an hour and a half we we go and have lunch on the beach. After lunch we enjoy the beach and the beautiful nature reserve behind it. After an hour or so we are back in the water at another spot, closer to the shore near some rocks. We see Manta Rays, Southern Stingrays, a green Moray and - very spectacular - a White tipped Reef Shark. It feeds on crayfish and octopus.  It is not agressive to humans. After 45 minutes our time is up and we get back to the boat. On the way back to the hotel we see a bunch of spotted dolphins who swim along for a while. Also a turtle is floating on the water.  .

Back at the hotel we take a break and later we drive to the village, but that does not amount to much.  

Weer: zonnig en warm 35 gr

Donderdag 24 april 2008

An extra early start to the day: we get up at 5, breakfast is at 5.30. We are sea born by 6am. We are on our way to Corcovado National Park. Our guide is Edwin again. We have a fast boat taking us out there, together wiht a Swiss couple from Ticino, who will spend the night there. The ride takes about 90 minutes out to the La Sirena section of the park. It is about twice as far as San Pedrillo, but the chances of seeing wild life are far better. There is a landing strip there for small aircraft serving the park rangers. As step onto the beach we see foot prints left by a tapir. Edwin points a Red Macaws sitting in a tree. We register at the ranger station and get on our way into the jungle. We see a group of Spider Monkeys up in the trees, some birds and even a crocodile, floating in the Sirena River. We can get close, until the point that the Crocodiles swims away. We also see a group of Squirrel Monkeys. They try to chase us off by throwing things at us and trying to drop pee and poo on us.  After the trek through the jungle we get back to the beach where we see a Coati Mundi. There are some crocodiles in the sea, next to where the herons are. Apparently they are not hungry. We are hungry. At 10.30 we sit down for lunch from the coolers left by our skipper. Edwin lays out the food on a bench. He has even brought a table cloth. While we are digesting our lunch, Edwin goes away to check out the wild life.  He finds a Tapir, who is having a nap in the mud. He calls us and we can watch the animal from about 30mtrs (70yds).  It seems unperturbed.  Walking back to our picknick spot we get eye to eye with a Pecary (wild boar). It looks agressive and is clicking its tusks. It is part of larger group. Fortunately it moves on. It is warm and very humid, but we carry on trekking. We follow the beach until Rio Claro river. On the beach we see Pelicans and a Tiger Heron. Further along we see another Crocodile on the Rio Claro. In woods we see lots of Spider Monkeys and different kinds of birds. After another hour we are beat and back at our starting point. We have to wait for the high tide to be able to get to the boat. We say goodbye to the Swiss and go back to Bahia Drake. On our way we see again some Dolphins who enjoy the waves we are making. At 3.30 we are back at the hotel. 

 Weather: cloudy and relatively cool morning. Later it gets hot and sticky. 

Friday 25 April 2008

 Bahia Drake - Alajuela: 350km / 220 mi (10 hours)

We have breakfast by the time  the rest of the guests have gone on their trips. The breakfast buffet looks like it has been ransacked. Still we manage to collect a halfway decent breakfast. We pay our bill and leave at 8am. The Drake river is passable. We are 3 hours past high tide and it is only 60cm (24inches) deep. After a while it starts raining lightly. The roads becomes a bit slippery, but still passable. It takes about an hour and half before we reach the main road at Rincon. It is another hour before we reach a paved road. Around 10am we are on the Interamericana highway. We follow it towards the North. We drive between mountains through beautiful valleys. Around noon we get to San Isidro del General, where  we have lunch. We drive on and the road leads us to high altitudes on the Cerro de la Muerte. We get into the clouds and beyond. Just when we think we are getting close to heaven we have to stop. A lorry driver has lost control of the wheel and blocks the road. Outside it is cold an not more than 10°C / 50°F. We have to wait for a tow truck to clear the road. After half an hour we can continue our journey. The roads keeps climbing to around 3400m (11.000ft).  After that we slowly descend. It is a winding road and there is a lot of Intercontinental freight traffic. Some reckless Ticos overtake at impossible spots, without making much head way. After a while we see the same stupid dare devils again. Around 4pm we reach Carthago, about 25km before San José. We get on some kind of motorway but that stops a few mile short of the city. We get caught up the evening rush hour and  continue following our instincts, as road signs are not very helpful. We get to the southern ring road and follow it around the city. It is very busy and we moving slowly. The road signs only point to the next neighbourhood of San José, but not towards the airport or Alajuela,  the town where want to spend our last night in Costa Rica. When we reach the other side of the city we see a small sign " aeropuerto"  which we follow. We get onto the west bound highway and some 40 minutes later we reach the airport and the turn off to Alajuela. Half an hour later we are in our hotel. The whole trip took us about 10 hours! 

We find a room at Hotel 1915. On the outside it looks less than inviting, but once inside it shows its charm. The elderly owner keeps track of reservations in a big book and helps us carrying our baggage. We can park the car behind a high locked fence. The rooms have windows overlooking the inner courtyard or, as in our case a blind wall. It close to the lively town centre. At night we have dinner at a Chinese restaurant (Primer Sabor) and go to bed early. 

Weather: cloudy with sunny spells. In San José and Alajuela it is around 25°C/77°F.