Home » Costa Rica » Move over Elin! Here comes Vanessa

Hi all,
Elin's taking a quick break while I update her friends and family on our travels together. For those of you who are unaware, Elin and I found each other courtesy of this lovely website and came together upon my arrival in San Jose.

Move over Elin! Here comes Vanessa

Elin Thyr
2006-08-26 11:34:29

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the make-shift fans going as we descended into the crowd of taxistas. Pedro was kind enough to step forward with our names. Taking us to a shop to buy rubber boots, we were thankful to get some in our sizes to
hike Corcovado. First money confusion of the trip for me, and we were off.

A 15-minute ride in taxi left us in Sierpe, and a short wait for our boat driver to finish his lunch saw us admiring the flowers and HEAT of the Osa. Catching glimpses of the rainforest as we flew down the Rio Sierpe, we knew we had arrived. Crocodiles sunned themselves on the banks while our driver joked that we should go for a swim. Soon enough, we thought.

El Mirador was up a steep hill. Beyond our very first beach landing awaited a serious hike to the top with a beautiful view. While I huffed and puffed, our porter easily took the steps two at a time. I thought, this has got to be a bad sign for Corcovado! Oh, well.

Many swims, lots of dollars spent and snorkelling later, we departed with a British couple who kindly agreed to give us a ride. As we waited at the bus stop in Rincon, it occurred to us that we had had nothing but good luck until that point. I was exhuberant to be travelling with someone who brought such an invaluable quality. Drake Bay was
more fun for the good fortune, and "we'll be back" means something new to me.

La Palma was a little hole in the wall where we experienced our first Costa Rican rain day. It poured buckets on our little heads, before we got to the Soda for lunch. La Danta is an incredible construction of reclaimed rainforest wood that needs little to no explanation. Check out www.dantacorcovado.net - well worth the hike out into the fields. Little relief was provided by the downpour, unfortunately. Our hosts were more than welcoming, and we enjoyed a wonderful meal lovingly prepared by Merlin's mother. Drying our clothes was another story, altogether! We required the fan to blow things dry throughout the night, and both woke with a sore throat from all the moisture in the air.

The hike to Corcovado was shortened by a ride from some accomodating Swiss tourists. After a ride up the Rio Rincon riverbed that saw us cross the water at least 24 times, we came upon the red, red, clay soil that would be our footrest for our time in Corcovado. A short (but gruelling) hike later, we arrived in the clearing that surrounds Los Patos. Stopping at with big rootsleast three times, we thought our packs would be far too heavy to carry on. At last, we got used to them and could continue.

Nightime in Los Patos brought a cool breeze, and monkeys by the tens. Spotting was easy, with the clearing cutting an easy path to the tops of the trees. A short trip to a beautiful swimming hole provided some short relief from the humidity. Cooking dinner with the rangers and other guests by candlelight gave us an opportunity to enjoy good conversation and, eventually, good food.
The following day, we started out for La Sirena. An adventure in and of itself, it requires an entire entry to explain. until then!
Vanessa