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Ok so the best advise we can give right now is go and make yourself a cup of tea, we´ve been off the radar for just over a month and have a fair bit to tell you about!
OK ready........ To start with I think I´m going to give Emma a run for her money. To those of you who dont know my beautiful friend Emma, she was inside her first week of travels when she had an accident and I being the friend that I am (once i´d made sure she was ok) proceeded to take the mickey a little.....ok a fair bit!
We arrived in this beautiful one street town called Puerto Jimenez to be met by Dan our Project Coordinator (a total dude!) and the other volunteers I may as well give you a quick run down of there names cause we have a million photos of them. First we met Mable and Jack, then Will and finally Lucy. We spent the first day getting to know each other and we all got on really well. Theres nothing that will make you bond like a visit to the Cayman pit! We couldnt have met a nicer bunch of people to volunteer with. The next morning before we headed to camp to start our jungle experience we all took a walk to the beach, it was stunning -totally picture postcard material. We walked around for a while letting it sink in that we were actually there before deciding to head back to our hostel. Instead of walking back the way we came we went for a short cut up a rocky slope. Mable missed her footing slighty and I stood back to help her get her balance but wasnt paying attention to the stones beneath me and stood on a shell. To start with I didnt think much of it until I started to climb up the rocks and noticed that I was leaving a trail of blood behind me. ECK! By this stage everyone else was on the higher ground looking down at what was now becoming little pools of blood. I walked back to the road via the sandy beach which wasnt the best idea because by the time I looked to see how it was my foot was covered in a mess of blood and sand. Rob took a look at it and knew straight off that I would need stitches. I thought he was joking. Lucy ran off to get Dan and bless her cut her foot too for the previlege. When Dan came to have a look at it he decided the best thing would be to head to the local clinic so himself,Rob and little hop along here headed off to the clinic. The staff couldnt have been nicer. I was seen straight away and Dan and Rob were listening to the doctor to see what had to be done. I ended up with five stitches. Even though it was pretty sore I got a badge of braveness from the doctor, Dan and myself were discussing the pros and cons of taking a photo of my war wound but we thought wed better not just to be on the safe side. We got out of the clinic with half an hour to go before our bus journey to camp and I was not missing that bus for anything. So bandaged foot in toe (sorry for the pun) we made our way back to the hostel and got our bags together for the most bone rattling journey ever!
Its called a collectivo ride and to be fair we loved it, not so great with a foot that your trying to keep up off the ground but still amazing! Its a truck covered with tarpaulin, it has a bench on either side and will fit as many people on it as possible if your unfortunate enough to get on when there are no seats you are left to stand up the middle which doesnt sound like a big deal but did we mention the bone rattling road. The locals use the collectivo like a delivery service so boxes, bags, gas cylinders of all shapes and sizes get shoved on with all the people. It takes about an hour and a half on a good day to get to our camp. There are a few hairy bits along the ride for example theres one section of the road where the collectivo has to go down a 60 degree ridge to go through a river and up again on the other side, no room for personal space on this ride you normally end up sitting right on top of the person beside you. Fun Times ;0)
If youve seen the pictures, camp is basic. Compared to other camps we honestly had it pretty sweet. We had three deck areas one for eating and hanging out, one for the tent area and one for the hammock area. We had a little loo just a short walk from the hammock area but far enough away that we didnt have to worry about down wind issues. The shower was a power shower, it was cold but cold is exactly what your after when you get back from a day of trails. The staff we awesome in everyway, (now no need for getting a fathead you guys!) Along with Dan there was Sarah,Brenda and Tom. Kes joined us in our first week as Dans replacement and there were three volunteers already on camp when we got there. They were Stu, Jack and Amy (aka Hiiiyyyyaa). We were a happy little group of 14 for a week and a half then we were joined by the trail (Den,Greta,Nik,Mirlah,Ed, Gautam, Shane, Issy,Amy and Brendan) which took our group to 24.
Camp life was amazing. Each day was filled with a trail or a survey in the morning and again after lunch. Rob and I were both doing BTEC´s so Rob worked as many surveys of Quebrada Coyunda river into his schedule as possible to scout out signs of neotropical river otter activity. I decided on Frog species and abundance for my BTEC so every night I headed off to the swomp for my surveys.
We have a little list of what we have seen between us over the four weeks. Ready....
Fer-de-Lance Snakes, Tiger Snakes, Northern Cat Eyed Tree Snake, Blunt Headed Tree Snake, Hour Glass Tree Frogs,Red Eye Tree Frogs, Smokey Jungle Frogs, Tyras, White nosed Coati, Squirrel Monkeys (the locals call these Titis hence the name of camp), White Faced Capuchins, Mantled Howler Monkey (You Tube their call its amazing), Spider Monkey, Kinkajou, Chestnut Mandabilled Toucan, Firey Billed Aracari, Hummingbirds, Scarlet Macaw (these birds are stunning but man alive they screech), Black Vulture, Roadside Hawk, Common Black Hawk, Laughing Falcon, Purple Gallinule, Bark Coloured Salamander, Small Headed Tree Frog, Gladiator Frog, Olive Tree Frog, Masked Tree Frog,Black Wood Turtle, Snapping Turtle, Litter Gecko, Common Basilisk, Stripped Basilisk, Five Keeled Spiney Tailed Iguana, Ground Anole, Canapy Anole, Slender Anole, Golfa Dulce Anole, a tonne of whiptail lizards, a neotropical river otter, and a Boa Constrictor and breath. O and the three temporary camp dogs - Flor, Blankita (whom I actually wanted to take with me) and Geniveve (actually called Bandito and is a male dog but never the less answered to Geniveve). A lot of this sounds like we spent our days seening just frogs, lizards and snakes but honestly these animals are simply stunning. To see the primates in the trees totally oblivious to what we are doing beneath them it was really something.
Robs jumping in here to fill you in on a little fer-de-lance story.
So no biggy with this but if you dont know El Terciopelo (or Fer-de-lance to you and me) is one of the most poisness snakes in Costa Rica. Now these snakes are camouflaged so well you would walk right over one and not know it. Anyway after a nice walk up the QC river we spotted a fer-se-lance eating the upper end of a whiptail. Now its an awsome sight seeing a snake eating, and in the amazment of all this my eagerness to zoom in took me a bit to close to the feeding snake. It motioned to strike but thankfully it was eating and couldn´t strike me, so things could have been different if it wasn`t for the humble whip tail. Take a look at the photos it does look pretty cool!!!
In our third week just after we said goodbye to Mable we had the fortunate pleasure of staying up on the mountain (maybe a really big hill) of Cerro Osa. This place was just stunning, we had the best views of the bay and an abundance of mango trees (there is nothing like a fresh mango). All of this was reward for a week of very hard graft. We were working on a conservation project helping the owners move out established saplings from the greenhouse to make way for new seedlings. It was such a good experience.
Our last week on camp was filled with trying to squash in as many surveys as possible. This was Dans last week on camp and we gave him a send off to remember. We had a BBQ with homemade burgers and homemade chips, enough to feed the 5,000, we made homemade salsa, salad, two cakes and the most amazing rum punch ever tasted by anyone ever! like ever! Thanks Kes! Rob had worked on this peice of woodwork for Dan as a leaving present and I think he was chuffed when the staff presented him with it. The deck was his baby and the next day we nailed the sign to the front of the main deck.
It was really tough to get ready for leaving camp, friends are made so quickly and it becomes really hard to think that they wont be around every day. On the last morning (Monday of this week) Rob,Tom and Will got up before light to chance their arms at seeing a Neotropical River Otter. Sarah, Amy and Lucy did the same thing but headed in a differnet direction. Low and behold both groups ended up at pretty much the same point on the river. Less than five minutes after finding a spot to lay low a female otter appeared and swam in front of the boys, then she made her way up stream to pass the girls. Maybe this doesnt sound like to much of a thing but this is really huge! Generally human activity will scare away any animals in the area in relation to the river. Rob has been surveying the rivers for three weeks and had only seen traces of them (poop and tracks) but there she was swimming in the river. I couldnt believe it when he came back to camp and told me about it I honestly couldnt have been happier for him. It made me realise how lucky I had been actually seeing what I was surveyingfor my BTEC. When the girls got back to camp they were over the moon too that Rob had seen the otter, they werent sure at the time if the guys had seen it based on where they were. We´ve heard from Sarah since leaving camp and it seems that no one has seen her since which just makes it all the more special.
As if that wasnt enough of a send off when we were getting our last few bits together before leaving two of the locals called to camp with wait for it........ a Boa Constrictor! We took a few photos of the locals with it and then thought sod this and one by one all held it for a photo. Admittedly, I was petrafied at first but it was amazing I could hear him hissing at me while I was holding him. Robs photo is a million times better than mine I look like I might need to pee from the fright of it all.
Our time in the jungle if the above hasnt made it clear was one of those experiences that makes you leave a little of your heart behind. The people weve met, the locals, the friends, the scenery, the animals it was all amazing. We´d recommend anyone to come out and do it.
New taste sensations - Pinto with eggs and ham, Carolinas rice with chicken, black beans, aji, shrimp from the fish place on the seafront(sorry cant be any more specific but anyone from frontier will know the fish place...so god damn good), chikys buscuits.
Music of the jungle - Take it easy Desmond Dekker,Billy Holiday, Funk and Soul Hits of 77-78, Blackbird by the Beatles and my personal favourite Jose Gonzalez Heartbeats both delicately strummed by Kes.
Thanks to all for the messages so far, Ruth hope the exams passed off ok Im sure you nailed them. Coatesy - of course Im better looking, its just wishful thinking on his part. Thanks to everyone for their dedicated analysis of Marmite. HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Georgina and Tom on little baby Amelia. Mia and Martin you both looked stunning on your big day.
Next stop were off to Peru, we leave tomorrow and get there on Sunday then we have four days before we start our trek to Machu Picchu. Next update will be shorter promise!
Miss you all. Rob and Lee.x
- comments
Geraldine Hola amigos. That was the best cup of tea ever spent and in the comfort of my armchair in rainy windy Ashbourne. Your adventures so far have brightened up this dull day! It looks and sounds like you're having a truly amazing time. Love the pics and don't they capture the best time of your lives with all your first experiences of the great outdoors. Leah, I hope your foot is better now, you're a Trojan for getting on with it and keeping on trucking! Enjoy your trip to Peru and have a fab time trekking to Machu Picchu. Cannot wait for the next instalment of your adventures! Take it easy and thinking of you, Geraldine xo
Dan Brilliant blog! Very enjoyable read over a cup of Colombian coffee on the caribbean! :-) The fish restaurant was just called 'La Marisqueira' and its down along the waterfront with some of the best fish ever! Always recommend 'cerviche' if you get a chance! Also you missed out one vital taste sensation (and its defo a sensation) - 'Complete' food seasoning!!!! Enjoy your travels guys and keep in touch! :-)
Emma What an amazing blog!! It sounds like u had a fab time in the jungle! Lee pet, how's ur poor foot?? I'm so glad i'm not the only accident prone one anymore :) Enjoy macchu picchu...looking forward to the next installment! Xxx
Liam Sounds like you really gor stuck into it, those memories will last a lifetime...brilliant! i hope you kept the piece of shell that did the damage as a souvenir...cant believe that happened so early in the trip! Remember, whatever price they tell you in Peru, half it and then start haggling!
Gran xx What an amasing time you are having, can,t wait to hear more Sounds wonderful. Hope your foot is healing well Lee, and thanks for Birthday wishes. Thinking of you both,Gra