Keep heading south

After a long and bumpy bus ride on some of the worst roads I have ever seen, I finally arrived in Puerto Jimenez at the bottom of the Osa Peninsula. I was determined to go there to see Corcovado Park which is the most untouched and largest rainforest region in Costa Rica or at least the Osa Peninsula and because its so hard to get to, there isnt as much traffic and there is an abundance of wildlife. When I stepped off the bus, I wasnt really sure where to go. I had contacted a couchsurfer for a place to stay but because I had left Sierpe in such a rush I wasnt sure if she got my email yet so I would have plenty of time to kill until she got off work at 4pm.

My friend Walmer I had met in Quepos told me his mother had an italian restaurant in Puerto Jimenez so I headed there to hopefully find a friendly face. She was indeed very friendly and helpful, spoke some english and had some great food. Not to mention she was happy to hear I knew her son. I wandered around town a bit and ended up really frustrated because I didnt really bump into anyone who spoke english and when I tried to ask questions in Spanish I kept getting these blank stares even when I was relatively sure i was saying it correctly. My confidence was dropping and I was starting to feel discouraged and wasnt even sure I had somewhere to stay that evening but I waited around in front of the market for my couchsurfing host hoping for the best.

When I didnt find her at the market, I guess the look of despair was written on my face because a friendly tico started talking to me in english and directed me to a place with wifi so I could figure out a back up plan. I had planned on meeting up with a different couchsurfer the next day who was a nature tour guide to join me in Corcovado Park. When I called him, there was some sort of miscommunication and he was in San Jose for the week. I was beginning to wonder why I had insisted on heading all the way down here if it appeared that nothing was working out as I had hoped. I didnt have a place to stay and nobody to show me around the park and not a friend in sight except for Cecilia, Walmers mother who so graciously told me I could come by for any help I needed.

I went to use the wifi at Surfdog Tours like the friendly tico had suggested and my luck began to turn around. I received an email from Alicia with directions to her place and the owner of the tour shop, Andy,  was trying to get me on one of his guides tours at a super reduced cost. I was able to find Alicia’s place and although I didnt get onto a tour for the next day, Andy was kind enough to give me all the information I needed to go to Corcovado myself. He didnt recommend going without a guide but there was no way I came all the way down here to NOT go see the park I came to see.

The next morning, I got up at 5am to catch the “collectivo” to Carate to beginning walking to the park. Apparently this was a bit harder to get to than I imagined. I paid for my ticket and was waiting for the bus, only to find that it was not a bus at all. I was a truck with 2 benches in the back that was covered with canvas. Oh wow….and this was going to be a 2 hour ride down a bumpy bumpy unpaved road. About halfway in, I realized that if the locals went to grab onto the sides, then I had better do the same. I nearly flew out the truck the first big dip we made. About halfway through the ride, i made friends with George, a solo traveler from Chech. He was going to be making the full 6-7 hour trek into the park and staying at Sirena but I was only going to hike in a few miles then come back out to catch the collectivo back to Alicia’s in Puerto Jimenez. I felt as if I had rather poorly planned this portion of my trip and wished I had been better prepared to stay the night in the park to get the full experience. Oh well, you live and learn and at least I made it out.

The walk from Carate to the La Leana park entrance was about 45 min down one of the most beautiful and isolated beaches i have ever seen. Miles and miles on untouched sand backed right up into lush green rainforest buzzing with life. Scarlet macaws flying in pairs overhead and the sound of the waves….it was a tropical paradise. George and I were pretty overwhelmed by the heat so we took advantage of the waves and took a dip to cool off before heading into the park. Once inside, we didnt see another person for miles. We did however see plenty of monkeys in the treetops, scarlet macaws, some crazy ass looking spiders, more land crabs than you can even imagine and an anteater. There were so many land crabs that if you stopped you could hear the ground rustling all around you and see little pink things disappearing as you approached EVERYWHERE. It reminded me of Harry Potter when they go see Aragon in the forest and there were spiders all around. Like that, but with neon pink land crabs. We crossed a couple rivers that led into the ocean with the most refreshing water so we stopped to take a dip to cool off. Then we came to a point where George had to go on and I had to turn back. He went one way and I walked back a couple miles to the beach alone. It was pretty crazy because I only passed one other person in all that time. Pretty isolated trek with spiders, crabs, monkeys and such.

When I got the collectivo back, I met a gourgeous nature tour guide tico named Rodolfo who ended up pointing out more animals and wildlife than I saw by myself all day during the 2 hour ride back to town. At the end of the ride, he asked me to go dancing with him that night and I figured, why not? It was my last night in Puerto Jiminez. While we were walking to the club, the entire town lost electricity. Completely dark. BOOM. I guess its not that uncommon in this country but Im not sure I will get used to it, especially when Im down by the water and there are definitely crocs nearby. So so so strange. It was a fun night of dancing with the locals to conclude what I thought was going to be a wasted long bus ride to the bottom of Costa Rica. Its funny how when things look so bleak for me, they seem to come out just fine. Such is life. What a beautiful rollercoaster ride it has been and I can only imagine the highs and lows that are yet to come.

xoxo- j-ro