Barra Honda- Cave Dwelling
Trip Start
Apr 28, 2009
1
55
112
Trip End
Mar 26, 2010
Barra Honda, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Monday, September 7, 2009
could already hear the Howler Monkeys... it was promising to be a good
visit. As of yet, we haven’t seen many monkeys, and definitely not
close up, so we were really hoping this would be our big chance. We
pulled into our campsite for the night and had some lunch before
beginning our tour through the park and into their famous caves with
our two tour guides. We were told we could drive part of the way up
the road in our car, if we wanted. We asked, as we always do, if they
were sure the road was okay and if our car could make it. It was a
dirt road (like most of Costa Rica’s roads) and from our vantage point
it looked rather steep. We were assured, as always, that the road was
fine.
After Wesley STRUGGLED up some very steep dirt roads it finally ground
to a stop and wouldn’t go any further. It was just too steep and we
had the extra weight of the two tour guides. So we parked good ‘ol
Wesley and let him rest while we started the hike. I was able to
practice a lot of my Spanish as neither tour guide really spoke
English. We learned about some of the rainforest’s medicinal plants
and how to say White and Black Faced Monkey in Spanish. After awhile
our tour guides came to a stop and hushed us. Above us there was a
whole group of White Faced Monkeys... including babies. They were so
close and we were able to get a good view as they swung from branch to
branch.
We hiked for about 45 minutes before we got to the caves. At the cave
entrance our guides set up the ropes as we put on our harnesses. We
had to go straight down into the cave, 40 meters, on ladders that were
tied together. I was the first to go... here goes nothing! I climbed
over the edge and into the darkness as my feet found the ladder and my
hands clasped the dirty, mucky rungs. It was really exhilarating and
before long I was at the bottom getting my head lamp from one guide
that was in the cave. One guide stayed outside the cave and feed the
rope that was attached to my harness as I went down. So if anything
would have happened the rope would have pulled tight and caught me
through a slip knot. Next came Devin and then his mom, they both did a
great job.
Once we were inside the cave we spent a few minutes enjoying the
stalactites and stalagmites before continuing on. It was really
slippery and we were all a little scared of falling. However, it was
beautiful inside and really serene. We saw bats, toads, and many
interesting formations. There were three caves in all but to get to
the other two you had to squeeze through some really tight spots.
Since Devin’s mother didn’t feel like squeezing through or doing any
rock climbing she stayed in the first cave while Devin and I went on to
the other two. In the second cave we saw old coral reef from when
there was water in the cave, pretty amazing. The cave was amazing and
it was so much fun being able to climb all around it.
After climbing back up the 40 meter ladder we began our hike back. On
the way we were luckily again and saw some howler monkeys, again with
babies. Our tour guides started ‘howling’ at them and the monkeys
began howling back! It was amazing! The baby just watched us as the
Matriarch bellowed at us in the most out-of-this-world voice. It’s
this deep, throaty grunt that is really scary. It sounds like
something our of a thriller movie.
That night we stayed in the park. We were all very tired from our
adventure and we enjoyed just lazing around. After dark, Devin was
writing a blog while Bev and I were just relaxing. All of the sudden,
Bev said she saw something run down the road but Devin and I both
missed it. About 20 minutes later she spotted something again and I
looked over to see something running down the road. It stopped just on
the edge of the road and turned to look at us. It stared for a good
few second, it’s eyes glowing in the dark, before it took off into the
forest. It appeared to be something from the canine family and it was
thrilling to see it in it’s natural habitat.
That night we all slept soundly listening to the sounds of the jungle...
