Nevado de Toluca in winter

  (text in ENG)

   Last weekend I went to Nevado de Toluca with our dog, Zorro. Nevado de Toluca is the 4^th highest mountain in Mexico with 4680 meters above sea level. The mountain is great to have an experience in the thin air of the high altitude as you don´t have to climb a lot to get there. 

There is a road all the way to the crater and you only have to walk 2kms from the parking lot in order to get to the crater lakes. And from there, you can walk for kilometers (to the peaks of the crater which is about 400ms difference in altitude comparing to the lakes which lay on 4200 meters).

   As it was January, there was some snow on the hillsides. As in Mexico, such tall mountains is the only place when one can see snow, the place was full with people. However, not necessarily the mountaineer type people, so the whole place was transformed to a “Mexican tourist spot”; there were horses to take the people to the crater who wouldn´t be able to walk 2kms in this altitude, sly people sold snacks and drinks (I guess for triple price than the usual). 

The people were crazy about the snow, sliding on the hills with nothing more than a piece of cardboard taped all over so it wouldn´t get wet. I´ve seen people even taking home the 50cm tall snowmen they made. (I wonder how long it lasted…)

   It was interesting seeing how people are crazy about the snow – I guess for a Mexican it is just like going to the sea for a Hungarian. (We are an inland nation without sea nearby.)

As we bought Zorro, a Welsh Corgi here, in Mexico, this was the first time for him as well to see snow. As every dog, he really enjoyed it! I think what he liked most was that it is opportunity for him to drink anywhere – he was eating the snow like crazy (btw. he loves to chew ice cubes at home as well), digging in the snow or just lying and cooling himself. But he seemed to enjoy the snow very well.

   We went to the lakes first (where Zorro took a bath in the half-frozen lake) and then continued further to the peaks of the crater.

 This was the first time we went so far, but despite that the way was quite tough in this altitude (only walking about 2kms and climbing 400ms in altitude it took about 1 hour), the weather was beautiful and the view from above was spectacular!

   As we reached the peak, we (I, because the dog was running around not caring about such things as thin air and less oxygen) took a little rest (it was quite cold when you didn´t move), had a sandwich (of course, Zorro had his own treats as well) and headed back to the car.

   By the end, even Zorro got tired (i.e. he didn`t run that much to the front) and fell asleep immediately we hit the car...

Letters from... Costa Rica (part 5: Cano Negro)

   (text in ENG)

Rio Frio

  As there was no much fun in La Fortuna (the volcano is not even smoking, not to mention flowing lava...), we joined a boat tour to Cano Negro. Cano Negro is about 1.5 hours from La Fortuna. On the way our tour guide was talking many interesting things about Cano Negro and overall about Costa Rica. We were asked what animals we wanted to see - I replied "sloth" as in Corcovado we only saw the claws of a sloth (even that only through a binocular).

two toed sloth

And just in a few minutes, our bus driver spots out a sloth on a tree along the road! From the road, I would never saw the sloth: it was only a darker spot between two branches. As we approached the tree, our guide almost stepped on a coral snake - an approx. 1 meter long poisonous snake. We let the snake go and got close to the tree: the sloth could be seen great by a binocular. It was a two-toed sloth (not the cute, smiley face sloth - those are the three-toed ones). With one arm it was holding to a branch (I guess not to fall off in its 20h/day sleep) and with another, it was holding a baby sloth. Getting back to the bus, our guide told some interesting facts about sloths: like that the two-toed seems to be more "active" than the three-toed - the two-toed sleep "only" 16-18 hours, while the three-toed sleeps about 20. They only come down to the ground once a week for do no.2. Also, there is a kind of moth that in the whole world only can be found in the fur of a sloth. This moth lives in symbiosis with the sloth: it cleans the sloth`s skin, while the sloth gives opportunity for the moth to reproduce (the moth lays its eggs in the feces of the sloth). Also, in the rainy season they tend to grow algae in their fur - they are cute, but I wouldn`t pet them... And finally, the ultimate mystery. How do these animal survive from the jaguars, eagles and snakes if they are so slow? (Even if "emergency" their speed is only 300meters/hour(!).) Well, they have excellent camouflage.  (Some say that`s why they "grow" algae in the rainy season - not to stand out from the green leaves with their originally yellowish-brownish fur.)

   The encounter with the coral snake and the sloth was still in urban area (!), so we were really looking forward to the "real" jungle. On the way to Rio Frio, we stopped by at a restaurant for a short toilet break/souvenir shopping/iguana watch. There were tons of green iguanas in the nearby trees: there was a small river flowing below and the restaurant owner is keeping them there for some research. The males of the green iguanas were actually orange: it`s to distract the birds and other predators from the female. Seeing them so close, they really looked beautiful: they looked like small dinosaurs!

green iguana - isn`t this creature cool?

  In about 1.5 hours we arrived to the river Rio Frio, where our boat tour started. We were welcomed with some snacks and after a little rest we headed to the river.

a "small" heliconia in the garden where we waited

Our bus driver was amazing on the boat as well - he spotted most of the animals! I wasn`t expecting much thinking that mainly we would see river birds (egrets and herons), but I was wrong: not only the view was beautiful but we`ve seen a lot of animals. Not to mention that this was far the best way to spot animals: we didn`t have to watch where we step, we just sat (stood) and could search the trees and grounds for animals without any distraction.

howler monkeys

   Thanks to that we not only saw 3 species of monkeys (capuchins, spiders and howlers (yeah)), but we saw many caymans (even cayman babies!), green basilisk (the most beautiful lizards in the world!), even a row of long-nose bats (they were lining up nicely on a tree trunk).

green basilisk - isn`t it beautiful?

baby caymans

long nose bats

   Not to mention the many-many birds: Little Blue Herons, Anhingas (or Snakebirds as in the water their long and slim neck looks like a snake), Green Kingfisher, Northern Jacanas (a cute little bird with huge legs to be able to walk on big leaves on the water).

snakebird and turtle

I was longing to see a Bare-Throated Tiger Heron (a heron with beautiful brownish-greyish feather) and on the way back we encountered one!

tiger heron

This heron was really beautiful and elegant. We also saw some "unique" birds: a Trogon (Violaceous Trogon which is familiar to Quetzals) and a Montezuma Oropendola (a beautiful bird with reddish beak and bright yellow tail).

Violaceous Trogon

   After 2 hours animal watching on the river, we got back to the shore where a delicious lunch were waiting for us. The Costarican food is really delicious: they almost every time have vegetarian food as well. Here we had a kind of white stew of cauliflowers, some meet, beans, tortilla chips and rice with vegetables. The food is not as spicy and hot as in Mexico, so for me it fit more.

  With full stomachs we headed back to La Fortuna. We went through the town, so rather than going back to our hotel, we got off in the city center and walked around a bit. The volcano can be seen from every corner of the main square, it looked very nice. The town is really small, but the main square is full with souvenir shops, cafes and restaurants, so it was fun to look around.
   After strolling around and window shopping, we headed back to our hotel. Just on the other side of the road from the hotel there was a steakhouse which was really delicious. We had lunch there the previous day, so we didn`t take chances to try out something in the city center, we rather had dinner in that steak house. It was delicious!
 
   Unfortunately, this was our last day in Costa Rica. After Corcovado, Monteverde, Arenal and Cano Negro, finally the day to leave arrived. We took again a shuttle from our hotel to San Jose in the morning. Our flight was in the afternoon, so we again had a few hours in San Jose before we left. Overall, I can only say what National Geographic said about Costa Rica (well, Corcovado): "Paradise on Earth"...

More pictures from here!　→　Cano Negro

Letters from Costa Rica (part 4: La Fortuna, Arenal)

  (text in ENG)

Volcano Arenal (taken with a dirty lens...)

  It was a pity we had only 2 nights in Monteverde, as there was so much more to do around the area: not only the great trails and forests around, but there are also many activities in the area - ziplining, hanging bridges, hummingbird and butterfly gardens...
  But we had our transportation reserved to Arenal, so we left next day morning. Although Arenal is not too far from Monteverde, you have to go around a big lake that lies between, so usually it would take about 6 hours. However, there is a shorter and more fun way: to go across the lake. The service was transfer from our hotel to the lake by car where we waited about an hour for the boat (finally it went away fast watching birds on the surrounding trees).

this was not our boat...

   The boat tour was about 40 minutes, with beautiful view to the Volcano Arenal. On the other side of the lake, cars were waiting for us to drop us off at the hotels. Our hotel was the first one, as it turned out quite outside of the city, La Fortuna. We reserved this hotel to see the volcano and the lava flowing. Now, it turned out that our guidebook was lying... the volcano stopped its activity since 4 years and not only lava, but not even smoke or gases erupt any more. (I guess, that guidebook should have been updated in 4 years...) It was a big disappointment for me, because I was really looking forward to see an active volcano with all the lava and everything. Although the view from the hotel was great, there wasn`t much to see (it was a bit cloudy as well, so the volcano couldn`t be seen in full), so we decided to go to a hot spa. Of course, being around a volcano, hot spas are quite popular in the area.

on of the 25 pools in Baldi Spa

   Our hotel receptionist recommended Spa Baldi and  told us which bus to take, so after lunch we headed there. The spa was great! On one side the hotel, on the other side, 25 (!) pools with waters of different temperatures. There were slides and sauna and waterfalls, it was just great! After 3 years in Mexico, showering every day, it was great to finally soak in hot water for hours! After we were warmed up from our own cores, we went to have dinner. (A buffet dinner was included in our ticket.)
Finally it was already dark when we got back to the hotel all warmed up, relaxed and with full tummy.
The next day (as there was nothing to look at the volcano, unfortunately...) we joined a boat tour to Cano Negro, a reservation near the borders of Nicaragua...

More pictures from here! →Arenal

Letters from Costa Rica (part 3: Monteverde)

  (text in ENG)

Monteverde cloud forest

  We arrived back to San Jose around noon and from there directly took a free shuttle of Courtyard to the hotel near the airport as we have reserved our shuttle to Monteverde from that hotel. (Unfortunately, these hotels don´t enter the airport.)

   For ground transportation, you can use a normal (local) bus to move between or within cities or you can reserve shuttles (mainly for tourists) that take you from hotel to hotel between cities. These shuttles are way more expensive (was 40USD to Monteverde compared to the 1.5USD of the local bus), but they are more convenient, more flexible in time and faster. It is said that rental car and driving is dangerous in Costa Rica, therefore a lot of tourists choose this way of transportation. However, I have to mention that if you have had driven in Mexico, there is no way you would feel Costa Rica to be dangerous. Especially in the Arenal and Monteverde region (around the capital) the roads were beautiful, well maintained and the driver manner seemed to be normal. (That´s true that if you go to a bit “maniac” place like Corcovado, you have to count dirt roads, rivers crossing the road etc. so an economic small car might not be enough to rent.)

The shuttle took about 3 hours to Monteverde, and the driver (both here and going back to San Jose) was very nice and tourist-oriented: on the way to Monteverde, he caught some monkeys on a tree along the road so he stopped to show us. The shuttle is a minivan which can be bumpy if you sit in the back, but overall the road was nice and surely faster than the normal bus. Not to mention that we arrived straight to our hotel (Cala Lodge) in Monteverde, so we didn´t have to drag our bags from a bus station to the hotel.

   We arrived around 7pm to Cala Lodge where we checked-in and immediately booked a night tour. The receptionist was extremely nice, had a lot of knowledge about the tours and she booked our night tour in minutes. She even helped us to order take-out food from the nearby restaurant as we didn´t have time to have dinner before the tour.

   

So, at 8pm we already headed to the night tour with some sandwiches in our bags. Night tours are popular in Costa Rica as many people go to the country to see wild animals. And at night you can explore completely different animals than at day: bugs, nocturnal mammals, birds sleeping etc. The tour we joined took place in a private 30 acre property. The guides were very well aware of the animals along the trails, so we saw many: gray fox, jays sleeping, two-toed sloth, snake, ants, spiders, butterflies, frogs, bats… The tour guide (just as in Corcovado) mainly knew where these animals are, so there was a high possibility to see them. However, as it is in the wild, sometimes surprises happen: the guide told us that the group before us saw an owl hunting which is so rare, that even for the guide it was the first time in his life to see such scene. And also, bad surprises happen as well: I was willing to see a kinkajou (a big-eyed, catlike nocturnal mammal), but unfortunately the kinkajou was “out of office” at that time, so we couldn´t catch it to see.

side-striped palm pitviper

   The next day after a great breakfast we headed to Monteverde Cloud Forest and (to the recommendation of the receptionist at our hotel) we booked a tour to Selvatura in the afternoon.

But first, I have to stop to tell you a little about the breakfast here: overall, the breakfasts were great everywhere, starting with the coffee. I am rather a tea-type person, but the coffee in Costa Rica was the first in my life that I drank because it was delicious and not because I needed caffeine to wake my mind. Of course, there are many coffee plantations in the country and Costa Rica is in the top 5 of the world´s coffee makers, but I´ve never thought difference between coffee and coffee can be so big. (I don´t understand how the Americans can go on drinking that hot, black water they call coffee after drinking the costarican one. Sorry, but true…) Next to the coffee, there was always fresh (not canned or bottled) natural juice on the table and overall, the breakfast was plenty. (In Cala Lodge we had 3 options of hot cakes, scrambled eggs or fried eggs. Also, we got toast and the jam we had on the table was very delicious.)

on the trails of Monteverde

   So, after the breakfast we called a taxi and went to Monteverde. First we thought to walk by ourselves (there are easy trails in the forest), but in the last minute we asked for a guided tour. It turned out to worth the extra 30USD, because our tour guide was telling very interesting stories both about the forest and birds around here. We didn´t have much luck with the birds (the main “attraction” here is the Quetzal, which is said to be the most beautiful bird in the whole world), but we saw some: black guan, wraps, hummingbirds. 

huge fern "tree"

But our guide told us many things about the forest itself as well: the names of the trees (which I would never know if not told), that the top of this mountain was the continental divide, showed us teeny-tiny orchids (there are 500 species of orchids just in Monteverde – the thirds of all the 1500 species found in Costa Rica) and explained about epiphytes. Orchids or bromelias are called epiphytes as they live on other trees in order to get closer to the canopy (and the sunlight). However, these plants are not parasites as they don´t live on (and eventually kill) the host plant (like the strangler tree). The epiphytes grow air-roots or lianas that sometimes hang down tens of meters from the host tree until it reaches the ground. (Just imagine the Tarzan movies.) Although the strangler tree is a parasite tree and eventually kills its host, it was really interesting to hear about this tree. It grows around its host tree and in 20-50 years (depending if the host tree is soft or hard tree) it completely covers it. As the host tree will not get enough sunlight and minerals from the ground, it´ll die and rot so the strangler trees are usually hollow. (Actually there are places where you can climb up inside of these trees.) However, these trees are not that “bad”: the animals (coatis, porcupines, birds) love the fruits of the strangler fig, but the most interesting was that researchers think that these trees communicate with each other! They think so because it was observed that if there are multiple trees in one area, the trees share roles: one is in blossoms, the other start to grow fruits while another has ripe fruits. And when the fruits are done on one, it is just when another start to ripe fruits! According to the researchers the trees share roles this way in order to keep the animals (that help in pollution) around the area (as the animals would migrate if there were no more food in the area). (Very Lord of Rings…)

a super tiny orchid - only one of the 500 species here

   I really enjoyed Monteverde as this was the “jungle” I`ve always imagined. Although the jungle in Corcovado (a dry forest) was just as interesting with lots of animals and huge trees, the vegetation here, in the cloud forest was amazing! As its name says, the place was almost fully covered with clouds (we were literally within the clouds, so it was quite chilly and a good raincoat is a must). After the 30 degrees of Corcovado, the 23 degrees felt very cold. But thanks to the continuous rain and humidity, the vegetation is so rich, even the air looked green! As all the plants are aiming to the sunlight, the diversity of the epiphytes is unimaginable. Our guide said that even the professional botanists here are in trouble trying to identify a tree because of the many-many plants living on them. No wonder, as there are 878 species of ephiphytes in Monteverde.

one of the waterfalls of Monteverde

   The toured guide finished around 10am, so we had a little time to grab a bite and take a little walk by our own. We made a smaller loop to a waterfall. There are several tails in a 5km loop. This is only a part of the 3% of the reserve that is open to the public… And finally, some data about Monteverde: the reserve was established in 1972 by the first quakers from the US coming to Costa Rica. Today the reserve stretches up to 4000 acres protecting not only 20% of Earth`s plant diversity (over 3000 plants) but also 109 species of mammals, over 400 of birds, 120 amphibians and reptiles and tens of thousands of insects.

   

elephant-ear: great for umbrellas

   After the tour it seemed more interesting to see the trees and look for birds. After getting back to the entrance, we asked for a taxi and headed back to our hotel as we had another activity reserved for the afternoon. We had a canopy ziplining reserved from 2.30 at Selvatura. Now, Selvatura never came up in our Japanese guidebook, but our receptionist was right again: it was great! Selvatura is a huge forest as well with reptile and amphibian exhibitions, butterfly, hummingbird garden and insect exhibition… and a huge canopy zipline course. Before the ziplining, we had about an hour, so we walked around the trail to see the forest from the bottom. Along the trails there are 8 hanging bridges that give a spectacular view to the woods from above. 

in Selvatura Park

   

   Unfortunately, we were short of time and we had to rush at the end, as we had to get back by 2.30pm to start the zipline tour. It was funny, meeting a couple from our hotel there – we came from San Jose in the same shuttle, we stayed in the same hotel and now we made reservations for the same tour in the same hour. After the staff put us in the equipment, explained how to zipline, we started our tour over the canopy of the forest. 

ready to zipline!

The course was greatly made, the first few cables were relatively short (2-400ms) so everyone could get used to the equipment and learned how to take balance etc. Then, for the 4^th cable (which was 500 ms) I could already enjoy “flying” over the canopy – it was time as this cable was fantastic: there was a nice view in the middle over the forest, the cables went between trees so close, it was raising my adrenaline. 

There were altogether 13 cables, and although my husband is afraid of heights, he bravely went over all the 13 cables. He finally could enjoy the last one as well! The 13^th cable was 1000meters long! Not only the length of this cable was a bit intimidating, but by this time a cloud came over (or rather: below) us, so we couldn`t even saw the end of the cable! Fortunately, this last cable was for two: I came in the front, my husband took his legs around my waist and we slipped together into the fog. Now, after others who took video during ziplining, said the 1000ms took 60sec, so our average (!) speed was about 60km/h. I guess the max was about 80-90? Although we couldn`t see the view and the speed was so fast, I could hardly open my eyes, but it was amazing even so! We watched the others to arrive and finally we took the shuttle bus back to our hotel. 

the last cable...1km!

people arriving from the fog

It was already around 6pm when we got back, so after a great dinner at the nearby restaurant, we headed to the bed as next week we headed to Arenal.

For more pictures, click here! →　Monteverde

Letters from Costa Rica (part 2: Corcovado)

   (text in ENG)

Drake Bay

  So, we arrived to Drake Bay, Corcovado. From the airport a taxi (i.e. SUV) took us to the village. The drive was about 20 minutes, but fun as the road goes through a river! Yes, Drake Bay village can be reached by car only in the dry season (in that time the river is low and can be crossed). But in the rainy season the village can be reached only by boat.

crossing the river to the village

  We arrived to the hotel where the owners, Jaime and Craig were waiting for us. They are a couple from the U.S who has moved to C.R. about 13 years ago. Their hotel (Casita Corcovado) is rather a house with two separate rooms (with shower and everything). Jaime took us around the village (about 15 minutes to walk around), showed us the restaurants, shops and generally we had a warm welcome.

with our hosts

   Just a few meters from the house is the "park" of the village, which is rather a small corner of lawn with some benches and some spectacular view to the bay!
 

the park of the village and view to the bay

   The beach all over, you just have to descend from the small hill where the houses are. The beach right in front was a bit sandy and full with sea grass, but we were recommended one in about 30 minutes walk from the village, so after a little rest, we headed to this beach (Cocolito beach). The trail to this beach goes through some remote houses, hotels, a hanging bridge over a river and of course: jungle. About 10 minutes walk from the last houses we have already bumped into a family of Capuchin monkeys! (These monkeys can be quite aggressive despite their cute black and white faces.)

the first monkeys we`d seen in C.R.

   It was interesting that generally in the whole country the local people are very conscious about the nature and animals. For them, not feeding, not touching wild animals, not taking flowers or anything else from the forests (not to mention not littering in the nature) are obvious and natural for them. (They are not even throwing away compostable trash like fruits` skin) in the forests, because they don`t want to "attract" wild animals to the people.) Thanks to that good education, we could experience the rare "real nature" and observe these animals in their real surroundings - just like in a documentary. Which reminds me that apparently many of these documentaries (like in National Geographic) are filmed in Costa Rica. This is because 25% of the country is protected jungle and because of the unique circumstances of Costa Rica (it has 12 microclimates, 5 different geographical zones, mountains and 2 seas) makes the flora and fauna extremely divert in a relatively small area. Actually, in this country, with the size of Denmark (or Island Kyushuu in Japan) you can find 890 species of birds, 200 mammals, 150 amphibians, 200 reptiles, 36000 insects and 10000 types of plants, trees, flowers, including 1500 species of orchids. This is 5% of the world biodiversity!
  And this biodiversity is what we drove to Costa Rica, and to our first destination, Corcovado. Reading about the country, all guidebooks said Corcovado is the most "maniac" spot, mainly because of its remoteness and difficult access, this is the least "touristicated" part of the country. Which was true, seeing after Monteverde and Arenal areas.
  As Corcovado is on sea level, the weather was beautiful (the air being 29 degrees, the sea 28), and we had sunny, shiny days for all 3 days of our stay.

the beach at the village

   The first day we just spent the day resting and enjoying the remoteness and nature. The next day we had a jungle tour to Sirena Station and before leaving, we had a diving in Cano Island reserved.
   The jungle tour started at 6am, but Jaime was nice to prepare us breakfast even that early (her breakfasts were delicious and plenty!), so with full stomach we left from the beach by boat the the station. (Sirena Station can only be reached by boat from the ocean.) The boat ride took about 1.5 hours and the exciting thing was that for 1.5 hours we only saw jungle on the shore! The station is in the heart of the national park, so you can imagine the size of this forest. We arrived around 7.30 to the entrance of the park and started our tour.

the beach at Sirena Station - just like Paradise

    Despite being the most remote touristic place in Costa Rica, there were already 5-6 other groups, but our guide was smart enough to lead us to different trails so we wouldn`t bump into other groups. The tour took about 4 hours and we walked 5-6 kms all together. On the tour we saw 3 species of the 4 existing species of monkeys (capuchins, spider and squirrel monkeys).

spider monkey

   We couldn`t catch the howler monkeys, although we heard them: their unique voice can be heard in 4-5 kilometers! The other "big trophy" we were aiming at was the tapir (Baird`s Tapir) and we could see 2 of them. Unfortunately, only sleeping (as being noctural animals), but at least we could observe them closely.

tapir sleeping in the bushes

   We also saw snakes, many many birds, american crocodile, cayman, butterflies (even the beautiful blue morpho), frogs etc. We even saw a nest of a hummingbird (with 2 little eggs inside) - the hummingbird builds its nest of moss (I guess because there is no twig thin enough that would bend for such a small nest).

the nest of a hummingbird

   After the good walk in the hot weather (was hot even in the shades of the trees), we had a good lunch (sandwiches) on the beach and headed back to the boat. We arrived back to Drake Bay around 2pm. In the afternoon, again we just strolled around and relaxed in the hammock in front of our room, enjoying the bird chirps.

even our hotel was like in the middle of the jungle

   The next day we went for diving at Cano Island. The diving started a bit strange (we were told to be at the shop by 7.45 but finally left around 10 - why did they summon us so early, I`ll never know, as all the preparation was done by 8.30). The next bad luck was that the dive spot we were supposed to go, was already taken - apparently, you have to "reserve" the diving spots (there are 8 around Cano Island) beforehand. However, the guy before us just didn`t do it and all the system was mixed up by that. We had to go to our 2nd spot first, where there was supposed to be another group, so unfortunately the original group of 5 became 13 as we had to merge with the other group...
   But it was nice that on the way to the dive spot we spotted a couple of dolphins and our captain were chasing them for a while, giving us a little dolphin watching service.

all we could catch of the dolphin for the photo...

   The first dive was OK, although the visibility was the best, even it was about 10 meters, which is not the best of the dive spots around the world. But even so, we could see white tipped sharks and big groups of fish. Unfortunately there is no coral reef around, so no colorful fishes or interesting little creatures among the rocks.

   Between the two dives we were taken to the beach of Cano Island, which was (for me) the best part of the diving: the water is so transparent, I wouldn`t imagine it is the Pacific-ocean!

the beach of Cano Island

   There was a bit rock formation on the beach where you can climb and see pelicans and tons of crabs, a cool river flowing into the ocean and of course, just behind you there is the jungle (where we spotted a Jesus Christ lizard).

Jesus Christ Lizard

   Our second dive was quite fast, because I got nervous that everybody already sank, I didn`t catch the rope while descending and we got drifted away by the current pretty quickly. The visibility at this spot was about 2ms so there was no chance to find the others, so after about 10 minutes we ascended (good that we had dive watches). Fortunately, this happening didn`t turn out to be like to movie "Open Waters", the boat found us easily and took us to the beach until the others returned.
 

the jungle part of the beach

   This day was the 31st of December - we haven`t planned anything special, but as a New Year`s dinner, we tried Jaime`s recommendation restaurant, the "Gringo Curt`s". As the name says, the owner/waiter guy is also from the U.S and runs a small but delicious restaurant. They only have 3 types of food (fish tacos, veggie pasta (with fish if requested) and fish steamed in banana leaf), but the menu is a fish guidebook! Because the main ingredient (the fish) varies every day, depending on the day`s catch. We ordered the fish steamed in banana leaf (with mashed potatoes and vegetables) and it was really unfortunate that the portion was huge (the two of us ate one portion and got full), because I really wanted to try the fish tacos as well.

dinner at Gringo Curt`s

   It was a pity, we hadn`t tried it before, as we would have gone there to eat every single day. Not only the food, but the place itself was great: there is a screen on the counter showing pictures (great pictures) that Curt had taken in his hikes in Costa Rica and Curt can tell you great stories and recommendations regarding the surroundings.
  So, this was our New Year`s in Costa Rica. At midnight Jaime, Craig and some other Americans had a small firework (as every other house in the village), but rather than watching a firework in a crowded city, it was much much better to stare at the millions of stars on the costarican sky...

   The next day our plane left at 12, so we woke up early and took a hike to the jungle. Curt has told us the previous night that there is a long trail (of which a part we already took on the first day to Cocolito beach) that takes you over 22(!) beaches before arriving to the most beautiful beach (I forgot its name) in the Osa Peninsula.

one of the 22 beaches on the way

   However, as this hike took 2 hours only one way, we didn`t have that time, but we walked about 2 hours along this trail and it was really beautiful. Turned out, we might not needed the jungle tour as you can walk along these trails, find waterfalls just as easily around the village. We even encountered two families of capuchins on the way and saw a toucan as well.

jungle...

 

...flowers...

...plants...

...and animals...

...on the way.

   After arriving back to the hotel we took a quick shower and headed to the airport (again, across the river). The check-in took us about 2 minutes as there was 2 other couples/families leaving. (I wish every check in would be so easy!). Again, we had a nice flight back to San Jose with the small cessna of Nature Air.  

our plane back to civilization

bye-bye, Corcovado!

   From San Jose, we immediately left with a shuttle bus to Monteverde, but about this area, I`ll tell you about in my next letter...

 
More pictures from here! →　Corcovado day 1 
                                              Corcovado jungle tour
                                              Corcovado - Cano Island
                                              Corcovado last day