Mountains

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! (Oh, that´s nice)

The story begins with a glass of fresh orange juice that I bought from a street vendor. I cry for those who have never tasted fresh orange juice, their life is unfulfilled and they don´t even know it.

After the juice was the ritualistic 43 cent, overcrowded school bus ride down a dirt road for two hours to get to the begining of the trail to Cerro Chirripo. There is a ranger station near the summit of Cerro Chirripo that has spare beds for hikers, but they must be reserved before entering the park. Not anticipating how much I´d enjoy being on top, I only reserved one night. I much regreted this later, once I was on top.

I started the hike with my French companions, but with my already tired legs I was moving too slow for them, so they peeled ahead and I mosied along, listening to jungle birds and examining the plant life as I went. The trail started off at about 5000 feet, and skyrocketed straight up to 10,000 over a span of 18 km (Sorry for the mixed units, but I gave up on using miles, they´re stupid).

I must have passed through five distinct ecosystems along the way. It started out wet and jungly, with complimentary mosquitoes and mud, as expected. But then there was a tranistion to more ferns and hanging mosses. This part of the walk was so quiet. I paused and listned to the silence here for a while. Higher up the climate changed again to more of a bamboo forest feel, then again to the familiar highland territory, with short bushes and loads of tiny flowers, and just as many hummingbirds.


By the time I reached the ranger station on top, I was bushed. I ate dinner and was in bed by six O´clock.



The next morning I wanted to see the sunrise from the summit, so I got up early and was on the trail by 4:am. It was another 5 km and 3000 feet of elevation to the peak. But it was swallowed up by a cloud when I arrived, so no glorious sunrise for me.


I spent a few hours on top, and eventually the clouds lifted and I had a breathtaking view of the tops of the clouds. It has been said that on a clear day you can see both oceans from here. I wasn´t so fortunate, but it was so awesome to be hanging out with the clouds that I wasn´t let down at all.
I ran into Pierre and Jean-Babtist again at the top. Their camera wasn´t working, so I recorded the proof of their accomplishment. A Costa Rican couple also showed up on top, and the first thing they did was to pass out candy to me and the French guys. (Have I mentioned yet that the Costa Ricans are very friendly).
I took a long nap in the sun on a flat rock, spent some time by a crystal clear waterfall, pleaded with the workers at the lodge to let me stay another night, then said goodbye to the highlands. After the 10 km round trip to the peak, plus another 12 km decent I was feeling completely exhausted.
There is another ranger station near the bottom of the trail that looks as if it has never been used. It seems like it has been built within the last few years, but there were few signs that anyone has actually used it. I climbed up to the second story balcony and let myself in the window. I had the place to myself for the night.
The next morning I got up early again to walk the remaining 8 km out of the park and catch the 7:am bus. I had a hotel watch some of my gear while I was on the mountain, and here I learned that the information about the 7:am bus was completely ficticious, as expected. The next bus wouldn´t be until 4:pm. While I was repacking my gear into my backpack, the hotel cook brought out a gigantic plate of fruit and coffee for me. After I ate it I tried to pay her, but she wouldn´t take my money (have I mentioned yet that the Costa Ricans are very friendly).

After resting, I decided that I could walk the 15 km to town before 4:pm, It would be much easy to walk on a flat dirt road, at low altitude. The road wandered through a very rural farming community. I picked fresh guavas and oranges along the way. I also stopped for a while and helped a guy cut some boards for his gate. Some kids in a jeep picked me up eventually and took me to town, where I caught a bus to the city of San Jose.

San Jose:

San Jose is not a very likable place. It seems to me like a gigantic getto that spreads for miles. It´s dirty and everyone is trying to trick you out of your money. I asked a taxi driver to take me to a cheap hotel near the "Transportia San Carlos" bus station, so I could go to the volcano the next day. He took me to a hotel that was about five times more expensive than anything I´ve encountered so far. But it was a classy place with toilet paper and hot water. I spoiled myself and slept in until 6:30.

The entire time I´ve been in Costa Rica, I´ve been looking for a small Costa Rican flag patch, to sew onto my backpack. If it exists I´ll find it in San Jose. So on my mission to find a patch, I met this guy named Oscar. I explained to him what I was looking for and asked where I could buy one. Oscar led me all around San Jose, he must have taken me to about a dozen obscure shops. He knew everything about San Jose and showed me around quite a bit. Eventually we found my patch, and I caught a bus to see volcan Arenal.

Volcan Arenal:
I arrived in the town of La Fortuna in late afternoon. The gignatic triangular volcano looms over the tourist town and breathes puffs of smoke. I checked into my hotel at about 4:40, and the guy at the desk let me know about a tour that leaves at 5:00. I´m not ususally the type to subscribe to tours, but it sounded fun and I was feeling spontanious so I went for it.
It turned out to be a pretty awesome tour. It was only me and a very annoying girl from Torronto, and the eight year old son of the tour guide. We first drove to the back side of the volcano and walked about 2 km through the jungle to get a closer look at the lava. This was just stunning. Glowing rocks the size of picnic tables would fire out of the top of the volcano and race down the side of the steep mountain, eventually exploding into showers of a hundred sparks after bouncing too high. And when the Candian girl wasn´t flapping her mouth about meaningless crap, the sounds of hissing steam and smashing rocks could be heard.
After watching the volcano for an hour or so, we went to one of the coolest places I´ve yet been. We stopped at a very plain looking bridge over a very plain looking river. What made this place so awesome was that the enitre river was hot. There was also a slab of concrete about 3 feet high that the water poured off of. The guide explained that there are very expensive spas around here that offer massages, saunas and hot baths, but this place has all of these things too. If you stand under the pouring water you can get a massage, and if you duck under it, there is an airspace behind the waterfall that is quite steamy. The Canadian girl was done and ready to go after about 15 minutes, but I ignored her and sat in the moonlight, watching the fireflies for another hour.
Afterward, we push-started the tour bus and returned to the town for some deliscous rice and beans.

The plan now is to get to Santa Rosa National Park, perhaps stopping at some caves on the way. The weather has been not too rainy and I hear that there is camping on the beach. Santa Rosa is in the far North, so after I explore the area it should be easy and quick to get to Nicaragua to visit my relatives. I´m excited to see them, but leaving Costa Rica won´t be easy for me, it´s a wonderful place.