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On the 9 hour bus-ride from San Jose to Puerto Jimenez, a good basecamp for Corcovado - trekking, I met an extremely helpfull and friendly Costa Rican who offered me a good cup of coffee and a place to stay. His house was situated in the midst of papaya trees, monkeys and scarlett macaws. Or, "shack" would probably be a better term for the "house".
I stayed here for two days, drinking delicious Costa Rican coffee, watching the animals pass by in the front yard and meeting his whole family. It´s amazing how incredibly hospitable and friendly most people in this continent are. Unfortunately, I no longer have all the time in world, so I had to move on and figure out how to get into the park.
With the help of my host I tracked down a hostel and shortly after met three other hikers with the same destination as me. After some snooping around at different park-offices I was set to go already the next morning..
The "do it yourself" option in Corcovado starts of with a 3 hours ride through a flooded gravel road in the back of a massive pickup and then an 8 hour hike were the tides have to be timed with perfection. Our timing seemed to be a bit off, and the rain in the still ongoing rainy season, although supposed to be regressing, caused us problems. We passed several rivers before we finally got stuck. When we all decided that all hope was over and that there was no way we would make it in to the park our driver told us to jump in, and rushed through the thundering river. Driver 1-0 Rain!
Unfortunately, the optimism dind`t last for too long. Just an half an hour later another, even bigger, river had smashed the road and this time there was no doubt. We had to turn around.
So, back in Puerto Jimenez, 5 hours after we originally started we decided not to give up, and started exploring other options. Since the boat - option would have ended costing us a fortune, we were stuck with only one choice, plane. Far more expensive than I was hoping for, but I hadn`t come all that way, so close to this amazing place, just to turn around. So I figured I could spare money for the flight in and then walk back after a couple of days in the park.
I stayed in the park for three days. And I have to say it is one of the most spectacular things I've done so far. The animals are close, unafraid and tropical. It is markeded as "the most bio-diverse place on earth", and after seeing it with my own eyes, I dond't doubt that at all. It is also far less touristy than I had feared.
We had a ranger - station to use as a base-camp and from there we went out on 3-4 hour hikes around the area. Because of all the rain, the two only other places you're allowed to stay were closed and the paths there were off limits. This obviously restricted our possibilites to explore the park, but to be honest, it dind't bother me that much.
Parque national Corcovado is a magical place. Only comparable with the galapagos and the amazon basin as far as my experiences go. The biggest highlights was:
1. Stumbling upon a foraging tapir and getting as close as 2-3m from the big animal.
2. Waking up in the jungle-shack with black - green arrow-tip frogs jumping around on the floor.
(they managed to make their way down under the shack before I got my camera out.)
3. Macaw flight - show over the airstrip
4. Huge saltwater crocodiles in the Sirena - river.
5. Finally seeing the infamous "Jesus - Christ - Lizard".
6. Squirrel-, howler-, capucchin- and spider - monkeys up close.
Also worth mentioning is the hords of toucans, the colorfull frogs, butterflies, otters and so much more.
I'm going back, but maby in a drier part of the year.
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