Back to the Mountains - Chirripo

11th - 12th August

No Toucans on our second stay at the jungle hostel but it was still a beautiful place to wake up! The shower is a two storey hut with the four sids stopping at shoulder height so you can watch the jungle go by whilst you wash your bits... very kool!

After an eggy breakfast dad and I went for a walk up the track by the hostel to check out the view over the jungle and take in the whole of the Golfo Dulce... it turns out the wildlife wasn't exclusive to the park and there were humingbirds, woodpeckers and toucans to be spotted just up tut road! As we were just getting back to the hostel we saw some rustling in the trees ahead which turned out to be 20-30 squirrel monkeys making their way through the trees literally 5m away. We watched as they jumped from branch to branch until we ended up in our hut with monkeys in the trees all around the hostels grounds! The photos don't do it justice but I did get some good video which I'll try and post when I get home.

Anyway that was all before 9am! We were leaving and heading NW to the mountains of Chirripo National Park, the tallest in all of Costa Rica. Hooray! We said our thank you's and goodbyes and set off down the road with a guy called Adriana on board. He had been volunteering at the hostel but was from San Jose and wanted a lift to San Isidro to meet a girl... cheeky Tico! 

It was a beautiful drive back through the windy roads of the Osa Pennisula and within an hour and a half blind, old captain speedy (dad) had us back on the Main road and heading back up the coast toward Domincal. On route we saw an awesome looking, palm lined bay which turned out to be Domincalito. Go, go Japanese tourists... we all smashed out some photos and then hit the road again! 

Turning off the main road at Domincal we climbed a long and windy road up into the mountains of the central valley and after another hour or so we reached Adriana's drop off point, there were hugs all round and several adios amigos and we went our separate ways. 

From San Isidro we did some man navigation and blagged our way onto the right road up to Rivas, a small town at the entrance to the NP. Using my interweb skills I had found a nice looking family run hostel for a mere $15per night, however, and I am absolutely not complaining, mi padre, who was still damaged by the harrowing poverty of the house in Carate was keen to find somewhere a little more upmarket, somewhere with toilet roll and bedding! Much fun was had (by me anyway), as I mocked his middle class sensibilities all the way to the door of our very clean and comfortable looking mountain lodge at the Talamanca Reserve. Although the name sounds posh it was certainly not top end, at only $25 each per night it was actually very reasonable but my god it felt like another world compared to where we'd been.

We were the only guests in residence during our two day stay at the reserve and were treated to excellent, attentive yet unintrusive, friendly and informative service by the young lad who ran front of house who was spookily also called Kenneth. The on site restaurant knocked up some great meals and had a woodburner and ping pong table. After several glasses of wine padre was back with it and made short work of destroying me 6 - 3 on the miniture tennis court. 

Anyways shower, bed etc... excellent sleep and a little too long in bed saw us taking breakfast at 8:30ish the next morning. We had hoped to be up early, walk in the morning and drive to San Jose for a night in the hotel in order to collect my bike for our next mission but our day didn't exactly go to plan.

The Talamanca Reserve is a 4,000 acre, private reserve of primary and secondary rainforest that sits at the edge of Chirripo National Park. Miles of well marked and even signed trails take you around the reserve to see waterfalls, jungle and many types of birds. Armed with a 'hand drawn' map of the 4,000acres we set off up the trails without water, food or a even a compass on what we thought would be a nice 3hr stroll! Ha... It all started quite well, the tracks were wide, not too  steep and the cool mountain air made the going a lot easier than on the muggy jungle treks in Osa. Initially we trekked a path that took us to three pretty waterfalls nestled in the jungle and had a really nice walk, this however was a diversion from our main walk which would take us to the other side of the reserve and into the neighbouring Cloud Ridge reserve where we would loop back round to the restaurant, in theory! After about 4hrs of walking the jungle was getting a lot more wild and the trails a lot smaller and we were still heading away from our base, we still knew roughly where we were but were getting tired and running out of map. At the edge of the reserve was another big waterfall and a rickety suspension bridge over the river which took us into the Cloud Ridge reserve. By this stage we were getting a bit panicky and my imagination was conjuring up all sorts of dark scenarios of getting lost in the jungle with no water, no supplies and no way of calling for help. At this point dad decided to up the anti and took a dive on a slippery rock landing heavily on his back and letting out an almighty scream. I was a way ahead scouting out the trail and shat myself thinking he'd broken his leg or something, in a mad panick I ran back to see him lying on his back and wincing with pain. Fortunately he was Ok and after a minute or two he was back on his feet but bruised and knackered. We considered our options and decided that carrying on, through to the unknown and un-mapped Cloud Ridge reserve was not a good idea and that we would have to go back the way we came. 

Our walk back was long and tiring but at least we knew where we were going. It took another 2-3hrs of fairly rapid walking to get back to the restaurant and we were both extremely relieved to receive a nice cool beer on our return. 

I was genuinely worried that we were going to have to spend a night in the jungle, had one of us fallen and broken something we would have been in real trouble and I still can't believe how stupid we were to go out without any water or a compass! Idiots! Anyways it all worked out in the end and we avoided becoming another headline but I could see how easy it would be to fall victim to wilds of the jungle. 

Soo a lot later than planned, we left the Talamanca Reserve at 6pm just as it was getting dark and the rain was coming in. We hoped to drive to San Jose which was 3:30hrs according to GPS and made a reservation at the hotel Mango warning them that we wouldn't by the till 10pm. The entire way a huge electrical storm lit up the sky, huge forks of lightening stretched across the horizon and briefly shedding light on the un-lit roads, it was an awesome sight and literally constant for about 3hrs. Unfortunately just as we passed Jaco, with an hour or so to go, the traffic came to a stop and we pulled up in a long que of cars and lorries. After 15mins I took a walk down the hill to see what was going on... two big trees had come down in the storm and were laying across the road blocking both lanes and having taken out the power lines on the other side. The fire trucks were just arriving but it looked like we weren't going to be able to pass for at least an hour. We turned the car around and headed back to Jaco and found a cheap but clean hotel for the night and went of to get some food. 

Another manic day of adventure!