Oops, we seem to be in Nicaragua
Trip Start
Feb 27, 2006
1
4
10
Trip End
Apr 10, 2006
Somewhere on the border, Nicaragua
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Well, to get to the rainforest, we had to travel up river for about 6 hours, which pretty much landed us in Nicaragua for a wee while. We had to loiter around on this little island thing while the very scary men with extremely big guns stamped the wrong dates in our passports. Something to do with Nicaragua claiming part of the river as theirs and making us fly the Nicaraguan flag on our boat for about 20 minutes of our trip. Then we were back in Costa Rica, although there was no border crossing back in, so really I have no clue where I am.
On the promise of lush jungly stuff and pretty animals, we then headed off on a 4-hour trek up a very, very muddy mountain. We struggled through the mud in our wellies for a while and then jumped on board the hellish, organ jumbling tractor to the top. It poured with rain (loving my poncho!), and when the tractor got stuck we had to squidge through the mud and we didnīt arrive at the top until well after dark (loving my torch - this is a real adventure!)
Once there, we felt like we were in an Alex Garland novel as we had slogged to get to this isolated mountain-top community of researchers and people who donīt mind enormous bugs and cold showers. We stayed for a couple of days, and since my tummy had gone a bit squinky, I generally hung out near the base camp place while everyone else went off hiking into the rain in the hope of seeing the rare and ellusive tapir.
So while everyone else was out, I checked out the spider lab - yes, I was extremely brave, and the orchids, and was sitting enjoying a beer, when an enormous tapir wandered into the camp looking for some treats! If sloths are dull monkeys, tapirs are the distant and retarded cousin of the pony. Apparently īMiguelī comes into camp once or twice a year and checks the place out, stands long enough to be radio collared, and then pootles back off into the forest. Check him out!
That night, I couldnīt sleep, and I went outside at 4am to look at the stars. The sky was clear and crammed to the edges with a billion twinkles. It was really warm out so I sat on the step in my trusty (and clean) thermals, and just listened to the forest, and all its little beasties. It was stunning, and I spotted satellites and shooting stars, and felt a bit weird that I was the only person seeing it.
Then I realied that I might get eaten by a jaguar at any minute, and I jumped back inside!
The only way back down the mountain was to slide and slip down through the mud again, and I was seriously glad I had gone to the gym before I left home. Good fun, but I had to have 2 ice lollies at the bottom to recover.
We have travelled now to the foot of an active volcano - more on that later no doubt. I accidentally broke the telly in my room l ast night by tipping off its wall bracket onto the floor, but the woman on my tour who has a massive crush on me helped me lift it back up, and hide the damage to the corner!
Right now, Itīs nearly lunch time, and that means pancakes - wheee!
