Cabinas Manolo Drake Bay

... Alan talking to me but the words could not come out of my mouth as my throat was too dry. A lady that we had bumped into previously came up behind me, I turned to her and mumbled the word "snake" tears running down my face. She calmly went over to where Alan was taking pictures of the thing and poked and prodded with a stick, sending it slithering on its way into another bush. She explained that it was a snake that was not harmful and ate only rats and mice. She was a researcher ...

... about the trek, a) about getting lost, and b) about being attacked by a snake / herd of peccary / tarantula etc. So she wanted us to hire a guide, whereas I was trying to convince her that with a compass and a map, we'd be fine. All morning we trawled round the various tour companies in Puerto Jiménez, trying to find out more about what the trails were like, and whether we did need a guide to do the ...

... at 4am the next day for our hike to corcovado. it took an hour to get to sirna in the national park by boat and then javier took us strolling through the primary and secondary forests. within ten minutes we saw two scarlet mccaws fly about twenty foot overhead adn they were so so pretty, but unfortunately that was the only glimsp we got of them that day. saw loads of other animals and it ...

... the coastline, there are a few sections that become impassable at high tide. To avoid getting caught at the wrong place at the wrong time it's important that you time it perfectly otherwise you have to wait until the ocean recedes before continuing on. Unfortunately ten km into the hike we came down from the forested area of the hike and watched as huge waves crashed onto the rocky shoreline, covering up our trail and making the crossing look quite bleak. Erring on the side ...

So after leaving Puerto Jimenez I took a 12pm bus to La Palma. My travel book says in theory there's a bus, I completely understand why they wrote that. I get to La Palma around 1 to find out the ``bus`` to Drake´s doesn´t come until 5pm. So I pulled up a chair in a soda (a local restaurant) and had a coke. I waited, and waited, and waited until 5:10 when the bus showed up. This wasn´t an ordinary bus, it was more like a mini van with more seats. Since its the rainy ...

... de noche, (en medio de la selva no lo olvideis), cruzamos un puente... posibles caimanes.... hicimos escalada y saltamos en unos cuantos charcos.Despues de 30 min de sufrimiento para llegar a la cima, nos encontramos con la mayor desilusion de la noche, cuarenta hombres y tres ticas fondonas moviendo las caderas. El lunes por la mañana nos fuimos con lagrimas y abrazando todos a Mario direccion a la costa Caribeña....

... export, followed by coffee plantations as the altitude increased, and finally dairy cattle. The 2500m volcano was quite dramatic as you look down into the crater filled with steaming water and sulphurous vents. I (chris) then returned and made Sheila's life worthwhile once more. I know what she means about the hostel: poor nights sleep, and very, very young. Left early for the coast and the Corcovado Park in the Osa peninsula which is largely untouched tropical forest in the ...

... hilarious though, and we always have a little grade 8 dance party in the middle of all the drunk adults. Today I spent my first full day at the beach. There are usually other things to do, or somewhere to be but today I had the whole day to myself. The beach was a very nice way to spend it! I think next weekend a friend from my volunteer group is going to make the long trip down to Drake, so it will be nice to have someone to spend the day with at the ...

We walked about 5 K today to a small swimming hole on a tranquil river in the rainforest. A 20 foot waterfall poured into an opaque pool, complete with a rope swing hanging from a dense rooted tropical tree. At first we were alone with the forest. The are was actually slightly eerie. Soon, two ticos arrived, smoked a joint and dove in. Next a ...

... everything else. They have helped me figure out the town, they show me what trees I can pick fruit from, and have given me lessons in soccer and Spanish, amongst other things. The other teachers are wonderful too, and most of them are under 29 so they are close to my age. They have really helped me make the transition, and are very helpful in teaching me Spanish. Last weekend I had a chance to go to Corcovado National Park, which is the largest national rainforest in Costa ...