Mud.. Sweat and a Waterfall

 I was woken at 0515 by a chorus... green parrots they turned out to be. It was pointless trying to sleep through the racket, so I got up and sat outside.. and listened to the dawn chorus whilst thinking about the day ahead. I had a night walk planned for the evening and I had decided to go and find a man called Adonis, whom my parents had met a few years ago. 'The Croc man'

As I sat there, I got chatting to one of the teachers who was taking the school group on a trek. Funnily enough, they were from Wokingham... small world! 

As we were chatting a few loud harsh squawks came from up above... this was a different sound. We looked up and to our delight a pair of Mcaws were sitting in the tree tops, showering us with the half eaten fruit that they were busily munching.

I have seen Mcaws in the wild in the Amazon, but from. a distance flying high above me, so to see them so close and on my first day was pretty special. I soon found out that they were pretty common round here but that wasn't to detract from that first sighting.

I stood watching them fascinated. They are large birds but move very easily round the trees in search for the good pieces of fruit. If they find one they dont like they chuck it down to the ground, hence being pelted. It seemd like they were aiming specifically for me, so accurate was their aim. These birds tend to pair up for life so where you see one, you will likely see another.

I eventually tore myself away from the Mcaws and headed out through the town to find Adonis at his campsite.

I was pretty excited about this... so much so that when I got there, the poor man had barely got up. I explained how I knew about him and asked if he could show me the crocs. He asked if I could come back in an hour. No problem. at all. So I headed to the beach.

Puerto Jiminez sits on the Golfito bay, which is essentially one big national park with different areas of protected land. A haven for wildlife. The bay itself is protected by the peninsula that Puerto Jiminez sits on, so is ideal for kayakking as the waters are generally calm. The coastline has lots of areas of mangroves, a haven for the crocs.

Im some of my posts I have mistakenly referred to them. as Alligators but they are american crocodiles. The other one to be found here is the caimen.

I stood on the beach gazing out at the idyllic setting. A near deserted sandy beach, small baots bobbing in the water. The tide was out so I could walk along the sand towards the mangroves. I had seen lots of mangrove forests in florida, the tangled roots providing a hiding place for many different species. Here there were lots of crabs, running around the roots. The crabs here dig holes in the sand and as you walk along the beach you can see them. all disappearing into the holes... wait a minute and you will see them pop back out again.

Looking closer at the sand, I could also see hundreds of hermit crabs, dragging their heavy houses around. I also spied a few small lizards darting round the driftwood, bobbing their heads up and down as they saw me before doing the hundred yard dash for safety. They were fast.

All around the beach I could hear the harsh call of the Mcaw and looking up you could see them moving around the trees and then. siddenly spready their wings and flying to the next one insearch of better food. I love to watch them fly, they seem so graceful and often fly in formation. Beautiful!

I went back to find Adonis... we walked over to a little pond area amidst the mangroves. As we walked up to the edge, I could see 2 little crocs, sitting on a log. So cute! 

As I moved closer to take the obligatory photo, they shot into the water... I'd scared them. 

Adonis began calling for the croc... vamenos.. 

 lets go... 

and then I could see her, swimming towards us. Not too big but certainly a beautiful creature. She swam slowly towards us and stopped far enough out, clearly wary with this new person standing here. 

Adonis chucked a. leaf in the water (he often feeds them chicken) and suddenly the slow moving lazy croc became a powerful predator, jaws clamping down on the leaf. When she realised that it wasn't food, she looked a little disappointed. She stayed there, almost close enough to touch, until I was saying something to Adonis and moved my arm quickly to emphasise my point. With a flick of the tail and a splash of water, she turned and headed out to safer waters. Proof that they are more scared of you than you are of them. 

Adonis called her again. and she came closer again. He told me that his baby, the male, now spent 6 months out in the ocean and had left about 3 weeks ago. He showed me a pic of him astride the crocodile, petting it. Awwww! I want one 😜

I made arrangements with Adonis to do a night walk with him tomorrow night in my search for the Terciopelo or Fer De Lance, so fingers crossed for then. 

My guide for tonight, Arturo, met me near there to arrange pick up for later. Instead of the 5pm start, could he pick me up at 2 and go to his house to change cars before heading off to find some snakes. He knew someone who owned a farm (finca) who had found a snake that I could see and then we would go for our walk. Perfecto! 

I went back to La Palapas, where I was staying, to organise myself and my kit. Water, flashlight, headtorch, snake hook. Sorted. 

The travelling had caught up with me, the 4 plane journeys and the 8 hour bus ride, plus an early morning awakening had left me a bit knackered. A doze for an hour seemed like a good plan... after all, Im on holiday. 

Turns out, it was a very good idea as what was to come next was a bit of an adventure! 

Arturo arrived early and we bumped along the road towards his house. It was great to have someone to ask all my questions. I bombarded him with questions about the people and the work out here, the type of jobs people did. We passed a big palm grove, hectares long and he said it was a company that made cooking oil from the palms. They employed a lot of people and paid them. very little. Unlike other places I have been the big companies didnt help provide services such as schools for the area, just jobs. 

Arturo owned a construction company but was also a farmer as was his dad. He pointed out their cattle herd and his rice fields. We tuned down a gravel track towards his house, the fields on either side with rice and corn. We drove up a steep track to his house, perched on the hillside, where I met his wife and daughter and his 2 dogs. 

It is always interesting to see inside local peoples houses and Im guessing that Arturo is fairly well off by costa rican standards. His house was a good size with a nice kitchen and stone floor. Rhe staircase which had built himself was a lovely winding one with rope round the centre pole which his cat (not that friendly) used as a convenient scratching post. In the corner of the room. was a collection of bikes and a small off road motorbike presumably his daughters. 

Whilst Arturo changed and got ready I tried to converse with his wife and daughter. I dont speak. much Spanish, they didnt speak English but we managed to exhange a bit of a conversation. I showed them pictures of Scipio and Sandy and Nemo (my pets) and they showed me a picture of a boa eating an Iguana in their back garden...they win😁! 

Once Arturo was ready we hopped in his car, 4 wheel drive... and headed out towards the jungle and the finca of his friend Eduardo. 

He showed me his fathers house next door and more of their land, planted mainly with rice. 

We drove up a very long, very steep gravel track and on reaching the top Arturo stopped the car and we got out to look. at the view which stretched out over to Corcorvado National Park, where I will be trekking this weekend. It was clear from up here that the trek will not be an easy one as the jungle looked fairly dense and stretched up and over many hills. With that and the recent rainfall turning the ground to mud, it was going to be hard going. 

Arturo chatted to a guy that was sitting astride his motorbike who told him that there was a coati nearby, so we walked a little way along the teail to see if we could. spot it, to no avail. We did get an even better view of Corcovado and could see the lagoon that nestled inside the park, and in the distance the ocean. It was a spectacular sight, heartening to see so much untouched, protected jungle where the wildlife could be safe. I wish. more governments would act like the Costa Rican one, who recognise the importance of protecting their habitat, both for the good of the animals and their countey, with lots of money and jobs being brought in by the tourist trade. 

Back in the car and Arturo warned me to keep. a lookout in the trees for monkeys (4 different species in the area), sloths, jaguars... he was only partly joking as the jaguar has been seen in this area though sightings are rare. 

We bumped down into Eduardo's finca. 

A nice house with a large covered seating area for guests of the farm. 

The jumgle stretched out beyond invitingly. 

Firstly Eduardo. got out the snake he had captured a few days ago. He was keeping it in a little plastic faunarium, so that he could show it to a group of visitors before releasing it back into the wild. 

I was assured it was not venemous (!) and imvited to reach in and pick it up. Don't have to ask me twice.  It was fast and wriggly and needed me to keep moving my hands to. support it and stop it slithering away until it realised that I wasn't a threat. It had a long tail, which it uses to hold onto branches and like. my jungle carpet python, was clearly happier when he wrapped his tail around my wrist to anchor himself. He settled down. on my wrist... seemingly happy that he wasnt going to be eaten. 

He had red eyes and a beautiful. reddish body with black rings. His underside was a lovely pinkish colour. His head a creamy yellow. Stunning and given that he seemed to not want to leave me, I wondered briefly whether I could sneak him through Customs fisguised as a bracelet. Tempting! 

Even when I tried to put him back, he had wrapped himself around my wrist and showed no inclination to leave, so I took him with me as Arturo took me for a short walk around the grounds, pointing out a hummingbird and some other small birds, hiding in the bushes. 

Eventually he (the snake) decided that he wanted to leave so once again I calmed down the bundle of scales and then. popped him back in his temporary home. I was confident that Eduardo would release him again so didnt feel the need to accidently lose him. 

Then we all grabbed our snake hooks, pulled on some rubber boots (in. case we trod on a fer de lance) and set off. It wasnt yet dark. so this was a bonus hike. Eduardo. had another faunaroum. with him in. case we found a snake and we followed the older gentleman who. was setting a very stiff pace through the muddy trails. 

Did I mention the humidity and the heat here? It was fairly overpowering and I have definately not acclimatised yet. Within seconds I was drenched in sweat as we clambered over branches and slid down muddy slopes 

Within minutes we were in dense jungle, some of the trees so big, they stretched up towards the heavens, supported by massive root systems. Not quite as big as some of the trees I saw in the Amazon, but they dwarfed anything we have in England, even the line of Redwoods in the Crowthorne area. 

Apparently, these root systems are the best place to find the Fer De Lance and we spent a good hour poking around tree roots with our hooks. No luck unfortunately but that is how it goes when snake hunting in the jungle, a lot of searching usually for little reward. The recent rain have also not beem good for snake hunting. as most of them arent a big fan of lots of water. Arturo tells me January is a better time. for snakes so when I come back I will time it better😁 Still the possibility still exists and as many of the snakes are nocturnal perhaps we will have more luck tonight. 

At one point a crashing in the trees above caused us to look up. A flash of brown and a monkey leapt from. tree top to tree top. A squirrel monkey. 10 minutes later another crashing. sound only. this time a spider monkey. 2 out of the 4 types spotted already! 

We headed back where I guzzled down a load of water, feeling pretty dehydrated already. I cant stress enough the difficulty of the terrain, especially in this heat. Arturo laughed at me as he said it was now cooler!

Jordy (not from Newcastle) joined us. A young lad, clearly enthusiastic about his guiding job. He asked me a few questions about what I hoped to see. The answer was pretty much anything but snakes, lizards and frogs were at the top of my agenda. 

We grabbed the hooks again, torches in hand and set off. 

Stupidly I didnt take any water with me as I thought it would only be an hour or 2. Big mistake.! 

Firstly we looked along the edges of the jungle, our torches flitting around everywhere, on the ground searching for snakes and frogs, middle height leaves for frogs and snakes, higher up for snakes and anything else that might be sleeping in the taller tree tops. Soon, the calls started ehoing out from. Jordy and Arturo... come here 

... look at this one or quick here... 

in quick. succession. a number of sightings, frogs, lizards.. frozen in watchfulness under the glare of the light. An american bullfrog sitting on the ground, well camouflaged so that it took me a moment to. see him even when the light was on him. And so big!! 

Then a little gecko, asleep and happy on his leaf... 

then a red eyed tree frog... the celebrity frog of Costa Rica

It was amazing to find so much so quickly. Im used to searching for hours to find one lizard so this was amazing! 

We headed off into the jungle... me struggling to keep up in places where the mud and tree roots combined to have me nearly flat on my face a few times. It was hard going and incredibly steep in places. Add to that and I was trying to make sure I didnt accidently step on a fer to lance as well as keep an eye out on the leaves and the trees for anything i might find. 

We headed off the trail in different directions, searching tree roots and holes in the ground and the bushes and looking high up in the canopy. Then a shout from. Arturo... snake!

He grabbed hold of this greyey blue and white snake, clearly slightly upset at being grabbed and then handed him. to me. He didnt bite but spent a few minutes trying to get away before calming down and settling into. my hands. This one. was a snail eating. snake and quite beautiful. Long and thin. with a tail made for grabbing branches. I was so happy to have found one in the wild. Not one of my top 5 to. try and find but amazing nonetheless. I spent 5 minutes, taking pics and video before releasing him back into his tree where he quickly. snaked up it and out of sight. 

5 minutes later, another one. of the same. species, though higher up in the branches. Beautiful creatures and so perfectly adapted to the environment they live in. 

The next couple of hours were fruitful interms. of. animal spotting. Lots of wolf. spiders and a gecko that I found myself... with no help. from the guides. (harder than it looks so I was very chuffed.) 

The list of creatures that we had found was well over double figures but it was not without considerable effort as the terrain remained either steep up or steep down. 

The hours passed and I have to confess I started to not feel great . Probably chronically dehydrated at this point but I was deternined to continue. 

Jordy and Arturo then led up a short climb and suddenly in front of me was a massive waterfall, stretching up a wall of rock. and greenery. It was so unexpected that it left. me with my mouth agape. Then Jordy led me down into the cavern created by the waterfall to search for this aquatic anole, a type of lizard that can stay underwater for 15 minutes but loves these rock walls to hang out in and wait for food. We swung our torches over the walls and to my delight I was the first to spot one, which was somewhat of a miracle as they are exceptionally well camouflaged. They look exactly like the rock wall they cling to, only the eyes give them away. Amazing creatures! 

I clambered back up and we kept following the trail... and then suddenly.... ow ow ow ow ow!! 

Something was stinging me repeatedly... 

Fire  ants..  all over my boots, inside my boots... just as I thought I had brushed them off, a whole new round of stings began. I ran up and down the trial, stomping my feet to get them off me.! Another tick on my bucket list 😂

Fortunately once they had stopped stinging the pain died away quickly, leaving me with a few red marks on my legs but nothing else worse than that. 

Onwards and invariably upwards. We reached the gravel. road and Eduardo started searching the foliage at the side of the road. Very quickly he called me over and there in the beam of his flashlight was a dart frog... he said it was the oophaga type. 

It lived up to its name and darted away, so small, and so fast I have no idea how the hell he saw it in the dense undergrowth. 

We walked along, torches scanning the sides. Another anole, this time a big one, the biggest here, though I forget the name. It jumped onto Jordy's leg and then up his body and onto his face... 

he flinched and it fell back down and skittered away. 

More frogs, another dart frog, seemingly the same species as before, and a reed frog (I think he said), a tarantula sitting just outside his hole, more wolf spiders, big and fast... 

So much seen on my first day. As we waljed up the road towards the finca, we went via another spot where occasionally a sloth was spotted but no luck tonight... though to be fair, we had seen loads. 

I collapsed onto the steps at the finca and guzzled yet another bottle of water. The humidity, heat and trial had all taken their toll and I was a little tired now! 

Then. as we loaded up the car we all turned as a crashing sound came from in the trees above. Torches turned towards the sound and then Arturo pointed up with his torch... a rare sight... 

a nocturnal mammal called the kincaju or martilla in Spanish. He was roaming round the tree tops in search of food. We followed him. with the torch light... the size of a large cat with a long tail used to hold onto the branches and balance high up. 

It topped the night off perfectly! 

The car ride back was a lot quieter, bith me and Arturo tired from the efforts. 

We have another hike booked. for 2 days time and will go back to the Finca as it yielded a lot of finds. 

I collaped into bed too tired to do anything except post the photos which is why this blog is a little delayed. Still better late than never.

Pura Vida 😁