We got up super early to catch the 6am collectivo (basically just a local truck with seats in the back) into Corcovado National park. We hadn't gotten any sleep the night before because although the hostel seemed quiet, there was a fan in the room behind us that was turned on in the evening and sounded like a jet engine. Alyssa and I had been up all night and I was in a horrible mood as a result. We had run late getting to the collectivo and hadn't had time to get breakfast but we just assumed there would be something to eat once we got there. The truck ride was about an hour and a half through the jungle, making many stops to pick up/drop off local people on their way to work or school. (As you can tell from the pick below, Alyssa is not thrilled about being up so early and I am trying really hard not to look pissed off, LOL!)
Once we arrived, we quickly discovered that there would be no breakfast for us. This was not a place for tourists and most of the people who did come here, camped for many days within the park so they had their own provisions. There was one tiny store which sold boxes of cereal and granola bars so we made due.
We began our hike through the park. I had imagined a jungle trek but the entire hour and a half walk was actually along the beach. It was beautiful, but we could tell already that the storm clouds were rolling in. There were quite a few river crossings so I was glad I had worn my water shoes (no real choice since I lost my tennis shoes) because then I didn't have to stop all the time to take off my shoes.
Our first stop was "La Leona" where there was a supposedly a restaurant we could get food at. This was completely inaccurate. There is an Eco lodge there but they only serve food for the people staying there. With the new knowledge that we wouldn't be eating until dinner, we trudged on towards the ranger station. Once we arrived, we were surprised to learn that you needed a reservation to go to the park (Alyssa had actually read something about this online but Lars was adamant that Lonely Planet said you only needed a reservation for camping). Dismayed by this news, we headed back to the Eco lodge to see if they could sell us a reservation. Luckily they were able to do it, it would just cost us $5 more than in town ($15 instead of $10). We paid for the reservation and headed into the park.
The return collectivo to town left at 4:00 so we had a few hours to hike in and then we would need to hike back out. This part of the trek was through the jungle although it was not too far from the beach. The ranger explained to us that the animals prefer to be near the ocean and there would be a higher concentration of them there. As we hiked, it began to pour on us. We had anticipated this and brought our rain jackets. It did make it hard to take pictures for a while though because I was afraid of damaging my camera with water.
We saw tons of monkeys, parrots, toucans, coatis etc...so many animals I could not name them all. The jungle was alive with animals and we walked in silence with the crashing of the waves masking our footsteps hoping that we would see as many as possible.
As we hiked around, we were a bit weary from lack of sleep the night before and lack of food, so we had plenty of time to act silly.
We finally had to head back and catch the bus to Puerto Jimenez. We were starving and exhausted when we got back so we immediately went to a pizza place to get some food. This was our last traveling day with Lars but I still could not muster up the energy to go out and get a drink, I was starting to feel a sore throat coming on and knew that drinking would not be a good idea.
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