Sunday
A 4 hour drive from San Jose to our start point was followed by a 45 minute boat ride down canal and river to a nature refuge on the Caribbean Sea. On the ride, we saw a green basilisk, monkeys, a crocodile, heron, and many other birds.
Our guides Samwell and Stephen are in charge and we met Mike to guide us these first 6km through the refuge. He works at the refuge and it seems his main job is to make sure we don't get killed by snakes.
We walked north through jungle paralleling the coast and could hear waves breaking the entire way. A very wide nice flat trail was gentle for walking, and we saw a yellow viper, white viper, and dead snake. Also, a sloth, monkeys, ants, a few butterflies, and a big frog. Plenty of wildlife on our first day!
At the end of our walk, we went to the beach and the sea was looking very angry today. We stepped into the ocean to start our hike west. The water was very warm.
A very short walk to a dock on the river followed by a loud whistle resulted in a quick boat ride across to our lodge for the night. It just started drizzling while crossing.
This lodge is a small place with 3 or 4 cabins so the women are in one and the men in the other - and, since we're the only couple, the two of us get the third. Rustic with only screen windows, but clean and nice.
It was nice getting a little time to chat with the other 7 people in our group today. It's a wide range of ages, nationalities, experience, and personalities so I'm looking forward to more trail conversations.
Our hike was about 2.5 hours at a leisurely pace. We arrived around 4:45pm and dinner was at 6:30. Dinner was like Asian stir fry with rice. Nice open gathering area like picnic shelter. Sat around chatting for a couple hours. But, since it gets dark by 6 we were in bed to sleep by 9:30.
(Please check the Instagram pics on the home page for photos of the days)