Animals, animals, animals in Costa Rica

Leaving San Jose and driving toward the Pacific Coast, we noticed a lot of cars parked and people crowding around a bridge.  Something has to be going on, we thought.  We also pulled off to the side and walked to the bridge.  What was everyone looking at?  There were more than 30 crocodiles in the river below! 

 

These crocodiles are apparently the big tourist attraction here - there were people selling souveneirs like wooden crocodiles and crocodile t-shirts by the side of the bridge, and plenty of people gawking and taking pictures.
 

 

After taking some pictures of our own, we continued toward Jaco, a big surf town.  Before we got there, we saw signs for a place called "Neofauna" that rescued native Costa Rica animals.  Ok, it is cheating a little bit because we did not see these animals in the wild, but we wanted a chance to see them close up.
 

We got there, and the first thing we learned was that just the day before they had found a baby capuchin monkey whose mother had been killed.  They had him in a cage right in the front office area, and of course that did it - we were sucked in. They let us hold the baby monkey, named Ceasar, and even bottle-feed him.  So cute!

 

 

So we paid to take a tour of the place, but as it turns out, most of their other animals aren't really "rescued," but just taken from the wild to be studied and then put back two months later and replaced with new animals.  At least that's what the guide, who was a university biology student, told us. In addition to another rescued capuchin monkey, they had many frogs, turtles, snakes, and a large butterfly garden.
 

These frogs are poisonous from the fire ants that are a natural part of their diet.  However, in this setting, they eat mainly mosquitos, and so as a result their skin is not as poisonous and the guide could handle them. 

 

These tiny frogs are also poisonous; the most poisonous frog in Costa Rica.  This is Ricardo holding one!  His finger started to twitch after holding it, but no permanent damage :)

 

This frog is not poisonous...but beautiful!

sleeping...

awake!

 

We had a chance to wear a snake as a scarf....

Ricardo: loving it...

 

Jocelyn: "Just take the picture so I can get this thing off of me!"

 

A few more pics.

 

After arriving in Jaco, we realized that it was very crowded and not really our kind of beach.  We continued along the coast, and had lunch at a lookout point here...

 

 

And a little farther along the way found a nicer, more secluded beach, called Las Palmas.
 

Now that's more like it.

 

Picture perfect!

 

The last place we planned to visit in Costa Rica was Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula.  We had heard a lot about this park and knew that it would be a hot, tough hike through coastal rainforest.  The peninsula itself is pretty hard to get to - the road in is in poor condition.  We drove along the rutted road and finally reached Puerto Jimenez, the town that is the main access point for the park.  There we found out that not only did it cost more than we thought to enter the park, there was a waiting list, and we would have to wait 3 days to go.  We also would have to sign a waiver to go without a guide. 

We knew we had to do it, though... Corcovado was supposed to be the "highlight" of our trip through Costa Rica.  Of the many parks in Costa Rica, we had skipped most because they are expensive to get into (everything in Costa Rica is more expensive than the other countries in Central America!), nor did we have the time to go to all of them.  We were both very eager to go to Corcovado, so we splurged and made a reservation for a 3-day stay in the park.
 

But first we had to wait... We hung out in Puerto Jimenez for 3 days, sweating it out in the heat and wondering what was in store for us on the hike if it was so hot just sitting in the shade here in town! 

 

We parked Cubby in a spot right beside the bay, where we could watch the boats.  We also happened to be right in front of some large trees where macaws and parrots liked to hang out.  We had a symphony of squaking every morning at dawn and every evening at sunset.  It was pretty cool to watch these birds...

 

Ricardo took advantage of the waiting days to practice his bagpipes.

 

And we met a dog who never left our side from the moment we parked Cubby in that spot.  We named her Growley because she was a great guard dog.  Whenever another dog or person got near, she would growl at them.  She also made growling when being pet, and even in her sleep!  She was one growley dog!

 

When the day finally arrived, we left Cubby in the parking area of a small hotel and drove to the park entrance.  Good thing we left Cubby behind!

 

We got to the entrance and started our hike about 10:30am.  This was when the ranger recommended we go, based on the tides, because at the end of the hike there is a river you have to cross that of course, is best crossed at low tide.  Low tide was supposed to be around 5pm, so we had all day to get there. Easy, right?
 

Wrong! This was the hardest hike I've ever done in my life, mainly because of the heat. The hike is 21km, about 13 miles. It was not steep, like most hikes we do.  But a lot of it is along the beach.  When you are walking along a beach, in the blazing midday and afternoon sun, sinking in the sand, and carrying a heavy pack, each mile feels like five. 

 

 

The trail would alternate between beach and jungle.  The jungle part was nice, shaded and cooler. 

 

We saw tons of huge spiders, as well as this cute ANTEATER!

 

But every time we had miles-long stretches to go on the beach, it was absolutely exhausting.  By the end, I thought I wasn't going to make it.  I was pleading with Ricardo, "let's just set up the tent here, we'll be fine."  Of course there are dangerous nocturnal animals like jaguars and snakes, so camping outside the offical campground is not advisable, nor is it allowed in the park...  So we kept going but only got the the river crossing around 6:30pm, and it was already getting dark.
 

We crossed the river, which contains crocodiles and bull sharks, just as the sun was setting.  We spotted a crocodile a little bit down river on the shore.  Yikes!
 

By the time we located the trail to the campground, it was already dark and we had to walk with flashlights the remaining 45 minutes or so of the hike.  We arrived at the campground, and found large buildings with a TON of people there. What we thought would be a secluded campground looked more like a rustic resort.

Corcovado campground in the daytime

 

We looked at each other, thinking, how did ALL THESE PEOPLE get here? Did they all do this exhausting hike? Some of them looked, to be honest, pretty "fancy" to be there. We found out that actually, most people either arrived by small plane ($70 one-way) or boat ($50 one-way). The campground had rooms that you could rent, and also served (very expensive) meals, so most of the people flew or rode in, had their own room, and had their meals served to them. There were not many who toughed it out like we did, hiking in and carrying a tent, food, etc.  The ones who did hike in left very early in the morning, around 5:00 am, to avoid the hot afternoon sun on the way in.  SMART.
 

On our second day in Corcovado, we hiked around the trails inside the park.  There are plenty of nice hiking trails there, we could have spent much longer there looking for animals.  Other people we talked to had spotted sloths and puma, but we didn't have the luck to see those.  We did see some other animals, including a tapir, lots of cool birds, like toucans, and sharks in the river.

crocodile by the river

look at this guy.

we saw tons of monkeys!

huge flying grasshopper-type insect

another anteater!

 

And while I was taking pictures of these guys...

capuchin monkey

...Ricardo spotted a mongoose chasing some monkeys.  I never saw it though... too slow!
 

The third day, we left at 5:30am to hike back out - both of us wanted to avoid hiking during the hottest part of the day.  It paid off.  The hike that seemed next to impossible on the way in was WAYYY easier on the way out. We stopped for a quick swim in the river close to the beginning, and still made it back to the car by 11.
 

We headed back to Puerto Jimenez, collected Cubby, and stayed one more night there.  Our faithful companion Growley was still there and stuck with us like we had never left! The next day, we said goodbye to Growley and headed out of Costa Rica and into Panama.

goodbye Growley!

 

Overall, our experience in Costa Rica was a great one - it is a beautiful country to explore.  It is definitely more "Americanized", touristy, and expensive than we had seen in a while, but still a memorable country with lots to see and do!  The animals were absolutely awesome!. We left Costa Rica a little sore from the Corcovado hike, but with great memories to take with us! :)