in the jungle the mighty jungle

WOW! what an adventure. that was ccrraazzy, but soo much fun! so we left puerto jimenez the little town on the osa peninsula where we have been staying for a couple days at 6 a.m. and piled in the back of a pick up truck with some other gringos (which isnt an insult 98% of the time here, it simply means foreigner) and headed 2 hrs down the edge of the peninsula to a little village down south. we could tell it was going to be an amazing hike, besides all the good things we had already heard about it, even the drive was gorgeous- huge flower blossoms, mossy trees and tons of morpho butterflies following the truck. morpho butterflies are really big and brilliant blue on their back sides of their wings.

by the time we arrived at our destination it was obvious we would be hiking as alittle group. Red and I, a University of Vermont student named Gwen, and a couple from Eugene too! We were really lucky that they were so great because the hike was 10 hrs long!

We got to carate at 8 and began a hot and sweaty hike to the park entrance which is impossible to reach by vehicle. all of that was on the beach which besides the fact that it doesnt have shade is also pretty tricky to walk in sand while carrying all your clothes and food for 3 days. quite a lot of the 15 or so miles that first day were right out on the beach. even in the shade, the Osa Peninsula is stifilingly humid-- i am not much of a sweater and that whole day i was drenched! this park is the largest in Costa Rica and the hardest to get to and both the jungle and the beach area look much like what you would picture a lot of central america to be like before there were cities. huge huge huge palm trees, banana trees, almond trees, papaya trees, and other moss covered lovelies with vines and roots as big as some other trees all the way up to the beach with no development as far as the eye can see! also rivers so clean you can drink right out of them, though we didnt just to be safe! its tricky though because most of the time you just need to watch the trail you are walking on for snakes and spiders which are veRY present and lethal sometimes (thankfully we didnt need to use our little Bite and Sting kit even once.

not an easy hike. 15 miles in one day anywhere isnt easy, but our day was also heavily influenced by the tides- as i said before a lot of it was on the beach. we had a tide table but when it all comes down to it, you can only go as fast as you can go, nor would you want to take any less time looking at the mega flora or amazing wildlife all along the way. so unfortunately we got to the first point where the tide mattered just a half hour before high tide, which was much too high to cross at. so we took a break and ate some trail mix and observered the gazillions of hermit crabs surrounding us.

after 2 hrs we were pretty bored and kind of anxious to go since there was a river crossing that was also influenced by the tides. it needs to be low tide because of bull sharks and crocodiles that swim up from the ocean and have been known to nab people!!! and also we didnt want to get caught in the dark since the maps they give you are less than detailed and the trails are pretty primitive with few signs!

so we made a made dash around cliff sides standing in dry sand watching a wave come in and then charging around each corner as it went out. it wasnt all that dangerous. the tide was low enough that the worst that would happen would be you would get wet. which we were trying to avoid whole heartedly because we only had tennis shoes on, but of course we got soaked!!!

our little team made it through to the next ranger station just at sunset, exhausted and happy though. that day we saw COUNTLESS monkeys of four different species, Spider Monkeys, White Faced, Cappucino, and Howler Monkeys and doZens of Scarlet Macaws--those crazy and quite endangered--like a brand new crayon box red (and blue and green and purple and yellow) parrots with two foot long feathered tails, butterflies in lots of sizes and colors, frogs, toads, the Jesus Christ lizards that we had been calling Funny Runners since they are the ones that look like dinosaurs runing on their back legs with their arms flailing. but they are also called Jesus lizards because they literally run ON water-- hilarious! we also saw more Coatis which are kind of raccoon like guys with babies which were adorable, and our very favorite of the day-- AN ANTEATER!! i had no idea these creatures were so damn cute! oh man, they are such characters. i should have guessed since he is the closest relative to the sloth though. ours was up a tree and we got some great pictures that i will put up soon. what else? i know i am forgetting something.

the ranger said that in the two days before this, two different people saw Pumas. we didnt get the privelige of meeting one of those guys, maybe i am a little relieved.

We didnt realize it, but most people stay many days at that second ranger station. Its stunning, deep in the jungle, has tons of great day hikes, rivers to swim in, ocean to gaze at and SHOWERS! but we didnt know and didnt bring enough food to stay. so we had to get up real early the next day and start another full days hike.

this 8 hr hike was all through primary growth forest. so beautiful and thick and potentially dangerous too! we did spot a Caimen (croc) right after crossing a stream and a couple of gargantuan spiders and a bright green snake. OH yeah and the Peccaries too! which are giant boars that we had been warned about. the warning was CLIMB A TREE as fast as possible! what!!! thankfully we saw them and they didnt see us, since we were behind a huge tree on an corner. as i quickly looked around for something i could possibly climb since i dont climb-- red whipped out his knife and fashioned a little spear out of his walking stick! it was all pretty funny. in the end they went on their way and after a while, so did we. ooh and we saw another anteater.

that night we stayed at the last ranger station, where the ranger, a police paid to catch animal poachers and a couple other homies all apparently spend their days singing in the shower, taking a siesta on the floor, and then playing a rowdy game of futbol (soccer) when the sun goes behind the trees. they were really sweet and happy to practice their english with us. they also pointed out a sloth in a papaya tree which was awesome. red was feeling much better with some rest and tons of water.

the last day was the hike out, equally fun and miserable as our leftover food choices were crap and our tennis shoes had been consistently wet for 3 days making our feet odd white purple colors and blistery itchiness and our little legs were pretty tired. we think we did around 40 miles in those three days!

but we made it out safe and sound and splurged for a thirty dollar room with a.c. and fake cable tv. and had pizza for dinner! now we are deciding what comes next before we head to check out UPEACE in three days.