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28 Apr 2002 |
Day Three (Mon, 22 Apr)--At the Sirena ranger station, the howler monkeys
start up about an hour before dawn. We did our best to ignore them and "slept in"
until six or so. Our original plan was to head out of Sirena today, but the previous
night, we were so beat that we knew that another long day of hiking was just not
happening for us. Plus there were lots of trails to explore around Sirena.
One problem: we only brought food to last three days, and our trek was going to
be four days now! We decided we'd rather go light on the food and extend our trip
rather than hurrying to get to the finish, though. We lucked out when a group of
hikers gave us a half dozen mangoes before they headed out (I LOOOOOVE mangoes!!).
We started the day off easy, just hanging out on the porch with a bunch of other
hikers and admiring the dozens of birds that populate the trees around the ranger
station with binoculars. We saw more macaws, flying around in pairs (macaws are one
of the few animals that mate for life), and plenty of toucans, too. Also some white
herons, and many other smaller birds that we couldn't identify.
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Earlier, we had met a European couple, Chris and Malene (a British guy and Danish
gal) the first day of our trek that was following the same route we were, and were
also camped at Sirena that night. The four of us headed out on what we thought would
be an easy little 3 mile hike on the trails around Sirena, but it turned out the
trail went up and down almost as much as it went forward! And you learn rather quickly
to inspect a tree before you use it for support while climbing or descending--it could
be covered in biting ants, or 6-inch spikes like the one at right.
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We saw more monkeys--howler monkeys from a distance, and of course the
spider monkeys came down to check us out. On our way down to the Rio Claro,
we also found a huge vine big enough to hang out on!
We found a nice swimming hole on the Rio Claro and hung out there for awhile
and watched tiny lizards scurry across the surface of the water every now and then.
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On our way back to camp, we got a special treat when we spotted a coati. Imagine
an animal that moves and climbs like a large cat, with a snout that resembles an
opossum, with an extremely long, striped tail (in this picture, you get a feel for
how long the tail is--you can see it hanging down the trunk in the lower right side
of the photo).
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After we got back to camp, we rented a canoe to go exploring the river just north
of Sirena, the much larger Rio Sirena. We got on the river just as the sun was
setting, and enjoyed the peace and serenity that its name implies. We saw another
tapir taking a dip before bedtime, gliding within 30 feet or so of the beast as
it lumbered out of the water.
We had a chilling but harmless encounter with a croc--we were cruising about 20 feet
from the shore when we heard a large splash underneath the low-hanging trees along
the riverbank. We turned the canoe towards the noise and backed up slowly. It was
hard to see under the shadows of the branches, and the light was pretty dim at this
point so I took out a flashlight. The battery was running down, but the light was
string enough to illuminate a glowing red orb along the rivers edge!! Although
crocs are very people-shy and almost never attack humans, we decided
to head back to camp pretty soon after that...
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Day Four (Tues, 23 Apr)--Up early to the sound of howlers and macaws once again,
they were particularly raucous this morning. We packed up all our stuff and started
on the longest leg of our trek, a 20 km (12 mi) trek to Los Patos ranger station.
Luckily, we found some abandoned pasta and oatmeal the night before to fortify our
dwindling food supply, and Chris and Malene were nice enough to let us use their portable gas
cooker for dinner.
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Right off the bat, we saw some red brocket deer, which has a reddish-brown coat
and is shorter and stouter than the white-tailed deer that we see in North America.
We also saw a few black guan birds waddling across the path in front of us.
The trail was very flat, and we made good time to Rio Pavo, where we stopped
for breakfast. We saw an otter along the right side bank that swam off before
we could snap a photo. A troop of spider monkeys crossed the river in the branches
above our heads while we ate, and the fish had a feeding frenzy when I tossed mango peels
into the water.
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We trooped another 6 miles on relatively flat ground after that, and resting along
a small stream before the tough part--the last 3 miles to the Los Patos station
was some pretty intense up and down hiking. It didn't help that it started to rain,
and though we felt very little of the rain because it was caught by all of the foliage
above us, the dampened earth made the path treacherously slippery sometimes.
We came in to Los Patos more exhausted than ever. Chris and Malene made it there
just before us and warmed up some tea for us when we arrived. Best cup of tea I've
had in a long time!
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Day Five (Wed, 24 Apr)--We sacked out early once again, and rose to the
music of birds this time. There didn't seem to be as many howler monkeys in this
part of the forest. All that was left before us was a 4 mile, mostly downhill hike
to the nearest town, and then hitch a ride to a town where we could catch a northbound
bus.
Why is this guy so happy? It's because Karen and I donated all of our remaining
food to a big pot of porridge for the four of us--it was the first time Chris and Malene
had hot porridge in awhile. Click on the photo to
see the whole scene!
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We took a quick walk (the park ranger said "solo 500 metros", but it was more like 1200)
with Chris and Malene to a nearby falls. It was definitely the most beautiful falls
we've seen yet, and certainly the most secluded. Unfortunately, the photos came out
a bit dark, because the river was in a steep valley with lush greenery that only
allowed a small amount of light to filter down to the cold, clear water.
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We also saw a poison dart frog next to the creek. It was tiny--maybe and inch long--but
very easy to see due to its colorful backside. When you're loaded with powerful poison,
such colors serve as a warning to potential predators: stay away for your own good!
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Unfortunately, shortly after we saw the frog, a rock slipped down the bank we were
climbing on and gave Karen a pretty nasty cut on her right ankle. She was able to
tough it out and get back to camp, where we used our first aid kit for the first
time and bandaged it up. She was also able to make the hike out of camp, too, and
as we were figuring out how to cross a small river without getting her bandage wet,
we were fortunately picked up by a guy who took us all the way to La Palma, where
we ate a HUGE meal and relaxed for the rest of the day.
Karen's ankle swelled up pretty big the next couple days, but it's now been five days
since it happened and she's walking well. On to our next adventure... Monte Verde,
a cloud forest reserve, and Volcan Arenal, one of the most active volcanos in the world!!
Peace,
Scott
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