Two weekends ago I went back to Nicaragua to the beach at San Juan del Sur. There was a Harley Davidson gathering going on in the town and there were lots of motorcycles around from all across Central America and probably some from the States. I went on Saturday night to a bar where they had a live band. They covered a lot of old rock, such as Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones and they were really good. The guitar player especially was impressive.

Last weekend I took the Monday off of work to go down to the Caribbean for three days. I left Friday afternoon with a friend from Bagaces and arrived late in San Jose. We woke up early to catch the 6:00 am bus to the Caribbean but we arrived slightly too late to grab a seat and were forced to stand the whole way. We got off in the town of Cahuita at about 11 am. Cahuita has one of last living coral reefs in Costa Rica so we decided to go snorkeling. We arranged a three hour tour with a local guide and headed out on his boat to the national park. There were a lot of waves which made the water somewhat cloudy but the reef was still full of fish. We saw a couple of manta rays and the floor was covered in big black sea urchins. After the tour we got on a bus to Puerto Viejo, which a half hour further south down the coast, where we found a place to stay for the night.

The next morning was cloudy and slightly drizzly but we rented bikes anyway. The bike rental place was the same place I went to the last time I was in Puerto Viejo. When I came in July the owner talked about his opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement and his plans for traveling to a protest where the president was speaking. However this time he was in a middle of an epileptic fit and was in no mood to talk. His neighbours had come over and were helping him and had called an ambulance. They were nice enough to rent bikes to us anyway, and we headed off after they assured us that they didn't need any help. We headed south along the coast and soon reached a large group gathered at the side of the road. We investigated and soon saw a sloth sitting on the ground right there. It must have come down to go to the washroom, which it does once a week, and was close enough to touch. It was the closest encounter with wildlife in Costa Rica yet. We continued along the coast and the surrounding jungle grew more and more thick. At times the sky was filled with vultures, more vultures than I had ever seen together at one time. I don't know if this was normal there but I wondered how they could find enough food to feed all of them. Eventually we came to a group of howler monkeys and started to take some pictures at the side of the road. However, looking closer at the jungle, we noticed that the undergrowth was one huge spider web and there were tens of big spiders all through the web. It seems that the jungle has no problem supporting large amounts of creatures. Continuing down the road we arrived at Manzanillo, a popular beach, which marked the southernmost extent of the road. This entire area at the edge of Panama is preserved as a reserve and seemed to attract a lot of Ticos on vacation. We were hungry and managed to find a very friendly, family-owned place, Soda Miskito. It was owned by an older Caribbean couple who cooked up some authentic Caribbean food. The husband, George, was very friendly and chatted with us while we ate. He brought out some of his special homemade chile sauce made from banana vinegar among other things. It was extremely spicy but very good. He promised to make a big batch for us to take the next time we came. After eating we returned to the beach and followed a jungle trail for as long as our bikes could take us. This area also had a coral reef which was vaguely related to the one in Cahuita, but lacking snorkeling gear, we were unable to see very much. The beach was very quiet despite there being a couple of howler monkeys hanging around and it was easy to spend an afternoon there. We returned the 11 km back to Puerto Viejo before dark and took the bikes back to the rental place. The owner was back from hospital and he was himself again. He told us he didn't remember anything from his fit and didn't understand where it had come from because he was taking his pills. He was just happy he hadn't bit his tongue that time. We thanked him for the bikes and went to get a sushi supper.

The next morning we tried to get our tickets early, but unfortunately we were too late again. Instead of standing the whole way we decided to get tickets to Puerto Limon and then take a bus to San Jose. This ended up working perfectly as we made the connection quickly and easily and we both had a seat for the entire trip. Eventually after 8 hours on the bus we made it back to Bagaces.

Last week I took four days off work to visit Chirripó National Park with a friend from work. The park is one of the most popular in Costa Rica because it contains the highest peak in the country, Cerro Chirripó. The only way to spend a night in the park is to reserve a bed in a lodge near the peak. January to April is the dry season and the most popular time to climb the mountain. This meant that January 29th and 30th were the only available days in the entire four months.

The park is on the other side of San Jose and we had to leave from Bagaces at 5 am. It was a four hour trip to San Jose, a three hour trip to the city of San Isidro and a two hour bus trip up a dirt road to the little town of San Gerardo. We arrived at 4 pm and immediately confirmed our reservations at the park ranger station. Walking to the town we got a ride from a friendly couple from Arizona who were the proud new owners of a hostel in town. They had just bought the 'Casa Mariposa' a week earlier and were very enthusiastic about it. We decided to spend the night there. The hostel was great and we met a bunch of friendly people who had just gotten back down from the mountain. There were three Canadians and an American and they warned us to expect it to be cold up top.

We left the hostel at 7 am the next morning and headed into the park, which was conveniently located next to the hostel. The trail was extremely well maintained but it was uphill all the way. Every kilometer there was a signpost detailing the kilometer number and the elevation at that point. A kilometer could sometimes involve a gain in altitude of 300m or sometimes only a handful of meters. After 7km we arrived at a rest hut where we met a number of fellow hikers. There was a couple from Germany, a guy from Denmark, a guy from Spain, and a father and daughter from Costa Rica. We continued on and the climb continued fairly smoothly until we reached the 13km mark. At this point the trail became much steeper and the combination of tired legs and thin air made this last kilometer feel like ten but we finally arrived at the lodge at 1 pm. At 3400 meters of elevation the lodge was very chilly. The lodge was a lot bigger than I expected. There were long hallways of rooms with two bunk beds in each room. The lodge accommodates up to 60 people and the solar panels on the roof provided power until 8 pm. There was even two computers with satellite internet that were free to use for any visitors. After resting for a couple hours I decided to acclimatize myself to the elevation by climbing a nearby peak, Cerro Crestones, with some interesting rock formations. The valley in which the lodge was located was soon in the shade but I remained on the slope with the sun. The climbing and the heat from the sun kept me quite warm and there were a bunch of lizards also enjoying the sun lying out on rocks. But in the shade it was still quite cool as demonstrated by sheets of ice hidden in dark crevices. This was the first time I had seen natural ice in Costa Rica. The peak was a huge pillar of rock and gave a great view of the surrounding mountains. I returned to the lodge just as it was getting dark and started to bundle up for the cold night. I put two sweaters on, my rain jacket and I had my sleeping bag and I managed to be just barely warm enough during the night. Unfortunately, the combination of the elevation, the cold, and a lingering sinus infection meant that I snored like a chainsaw the whole night and my three roommates were not impressed. The next night I ended up with a room to myself.

The next morning we got up at the crack of dawn to head to the summit. There was frost everywhere in the morning and any water was covered in a thin layer of ice. The sky was perfectly clear as we made our way along the valley until we arrived at the bottom of the summit. The hike was 5 km but we didn't see the summit of Chirripó until the last kilometer. It was a very steep clamber to the top but with the end in site it was a quick climb. The sky was almost perfectly clear and you could see the lakes surrounding the summit, the Talamanca mountain range heading off to the east, the Caribbean sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. At 3820 meters (12 533 feet) this is the highest point in Costa Rica and the highest point of land that I have ever been on. The sun was warm and there was almost no wind so it was comfortable enough to spend an hour or so enjoying the scenery and filling out the mountaintop log book. There was even a little volcano junco hanging out on the summit waiting for spare crumbs. After descending we decided to take a different route back, one that led to another mountain peak. It was a steep scramble up the side of the mountain but eventually the path reached the top of the ridge. It continued along the ridge until arriving at the peak of Cerro Terbi, which is the third highest in Costa Rica at 3760 meters. One side looked over the valley where the lodge was located and the other side gave a great view over the south of Costa Rica. The trail back down to the lodge went past Cerro Crestones which I had visited the day before. The plan was to eat lunch and then climb the second highest mountain in Costa Rica, Cerro Ventisqueros, but I had slightly twisted my knee coming down the mountain so I decided to rest for a couple of hours. I ended up falling asleep and waking up at sunset. So I decided to just have supper and call it a night.

The next morning we set out at 6 am down the mountain. Going downhill was much easier and it only took us 4 hours to descend back down to the town. Back in town we had a big lunch, the first meal that didn't involve tuna or crackers in 2 days. There were no buses leaving for the city of San Isidro so we managed to hitch a ride with a Tico bringing fresh fish down from the mountain. We didn't get back to Bagaces until almost midnight after many hours of riding the bus and waiting for buses. The ice and cold of the mountains was not what I consider to be the typical Costa Rican experience but the stunning vistas more than made up for the discomfort.