The Palms Hotel Puerto Jimenez

... entering from Drake Bay, was inaccessible to us at the time we wanted to go due to heavy rains flooding some of the path. This was probably a good thing in hindsight as on our return from the park we met an Irish guy who had done that trail with his girlfriend. After 18km walking in knee deep mud and fearing they would not do the river crossings in time they finally reached the Serena Station where his girlfriend promptly burst into tears. Doesnt sound like fun to me. Our trail was ...

Paul has persuaded me to trek 20km in the jungle, stay overnight in the jungle and then trek 20km back. I{m not quite sure how he did it. Maybe I was drugged.
This national park, Corcovado, is supposed to be one of the last great wildernesses, another plus for me eh?, full of jaguars and pumas and tapirs and therefore snakes, spiders and mutant ants that bite. The terrain is supposed to be rough and the mosquitos and heat unbearable. Ooh, it sounds like a holiday. We had to ...

... our lost member sleeping on the beach. all the volunteers are getting along so well and we cook all our meals together and play games together. hackysack has become the daily thing. i have a bunch of pictures on facebook for anyone that wants to check them out. I will have more soon. I am going to Corcovado next week to camp for a bit and then to a new volunteer location with another volunteer. The place i am going is another garden to take ...

... rustling, and Monica and I could tell that there was something rather large in there. Two seconds later a huge moonlight-silhouetted black shape thundered out from the long grass, heading straight for us! Fortunately the tapir (for that is what it was) saw us and changed course, because these beasts, although huge, can run, fast... the momentum of a tapir at full speed is not something that you really want to be on the receiving end of!

... stretch we saw more Scarlett Macaws, spider monkeys, and coati than I ever could have thought possible. Instead of detailing every certain encounter I'll just say that we saw we saw Scarlett Macaws affectionately licking and preening each other high above us in the tree canopy, howler, capuchin, squirrel and spider monkeys acting like...well...crazy monkeys...some of which we saw extremely close up and on one occasion we were even **** on by howler monkeys...yep right on the ...

... and we saw a few huge cane toads. Corcovado - Day 1 The next day we set off on our trek, 16 km (10 miles) to the La Sirena ranger station in the park. When walking through the park, it´s very important to pay attention to the tides, because there are a few river crossings and points on the sea which can only be crossed safely at low tide. From the beginning of the walk, we felt like we were immersed in an open air zoo. On the way we saw (in order of appearance ...

... amazing lookout. and pretty much had ourselves a photoshoot, it was awesome!! on the way back down from the lookout we had a family of monkeys surround us. they were on the path and in the trees right next to us, and soon i found myself alone with them, i just couldn't get enough and my friends had just gone on without me!! haha, but i got some amazing pics and a really good video! and when i did finally make my way down i knew my ...

... to tropical research, but not as essential as icecream 4. Grad students are more mature than undergrads, mostly, but if they are treated like kids they will act like them 5. some people think that you can mix rum and beer and juice and coffee and make a delicious drink 6. plasticine is not good for modeling things in the tropics. Things eat it. Or don't eat it. 7. weekends really are necessary for sanity, but sanity isn't necessary to do science.

... colones (513 colones for 1 dollar, very confusing). We stood around in the sun until our bus for Golfito arrived. Other than a tasty Chinese food place, there is not much to see in Golfito. Other than Jerry. We met Jerry when we were waiting for the ferry to Puerto Jimenez, the jumping off point for hikes into one of Costa Rica's famous national parks called Corcovado. Jerry is a 59 year old American man who introduced himself as a Slum Lord ...

... your head begins to flutter and shake and random leaves shower down, bobbing and weaving back and forth. The echo of lightly pouring sand increases around you until it reaches a crescendo, resounding like a jar of marbles being poured out onto pavement. And then it hits you, a single raindrop on your upturned cheeks, not soft and misty like the morning fog that rolls ...