I arrived in Playa Uvita around midday on D164 and was
dropped off on a deserted main road. My next step was to find a place to sleep
which kind of proved to be difficult. Walking around for an hour I ended up in
Hostel Flutterby, an eco-friendly hostel owned by an expat American woman and
helped out by a few surfer volunteers. The atmosphere was quite welcoming so I decided
to stay. I picked a bed in a tree house type, open space 8 bunk-beds dormitory which was simply decorated but with taste. Each bed had mosquito net which was really useful
as I later found out. Once I settled in, I went to observe the whales from the
beach.
The picturesque, gold sand beach is a few kilometers long backed by lush rain forest. At some point the northern part of the beach meets the southern part forming a
whale tale peninsula leading to an impressive sprawl of layered coral
rocks at the end of the tail. From the end of tale whales can be observed in
low tide. Even though I was there at low tide and also starting from August it is high season
for whales giving birth in this area, I could not see any whales. Funny enough I
was not disappointed as I know that I might have this opportunity later on in South
America.
The following day (D165) was Sunday I decided it to spend lazing around
the beach and the pleasant hostel. I have to say this is something rare
for me as most of the time I hyperactive and all the time I am doing or visiting something.
On D166, after resting and taking it easy the previous two
days, I was ready to continue my trip to San Gerardo de Rivas via San
Isidro El General. San Gerardo is a beautiful and peaceful mountain village at the
altitude of 1340m. It is also serves as the base to reach Cerro Chirripo, the
highest point of Costa Rica. In the village I chose to stay at Hotel El
Descanso, a hotel run by a local family.
From here I walked uphill to a nearby small village (Herradura)
passing by a natural thermal spa. The inhabitants of Herradura proved to be
rude and unfriendly. Also I encountered a few children who when they saw me hid
in a bush. Actually this does not come as a surprise as it has already happened a few times in the last six months.
Next morning (D167) I went to the ranger station of the
Parque Nacional Chirripo in San Gerardo to pay the entrance fee and the accommodation
for the next two days. To my surprise they asked me to pay the double what
Lonely Planet had published for the entrance fee. I left without paying and without
making a fuss. I felt that they wanted to screw me over so I went online and
checked the price on the governmental site of the national parks in Costa Rica. This site and also others had the same price as Lonely Planet. Nowhere on
the Internet was mentioned the price of the ranger station. I was aggravated
and was becoming a bit angry. I also asked the owner of the hotel about the
price and he said that the price what the rangers were saying it is the correct
one. But still I thought that something was not in order. Of course I went back
and I started a discussion with the arrogant ranger based on my findings.
Everything was his way and not my Hungarian way. I had no choice just to pay the bloody fees as I wanted
to hike up to the peak. It was quite difficult to admit
that I made a fool of myself but at least I tried. Later on I found out from other tourists that
they had the same discussion with the sarcastic ranger and they got nowhere either. In a way I felt better but still I did not think that it was fair to
double the price of the entrance fee in less than two years. Also the funny
thing is that the locals pay six times less than a tourist.
To wind down after this comedy I visited a fabulous coffee plantation just outside the village.
At 6:10 on the morning of D168 I started my two day walk to
Cerro Chirripo. The first day meant to walk 15kms to reach to the hostel at
Base Crestones. This consisted of 95% steep uphill walk. The path was well
posted with km signs from the entrance of the Parque to the Albergue at Km15. It even had a few
motivational quotes on the way. The vegetation varied: from Km0 to Km9 walked
through dense swamp forest, at around Km10 appeared some bamboos and from Km11
until the Albergue the vegetation mainly consisted of flowering bushes and
dried out trees.
The only fauna that I could observe were birds and among them
two types of humming birds. One was very small, green and Speedy Gonzales whereas
the other was electric blue-yellow-orange, slower and had bigger body.
As I was
approaching 3,000m the air got thicker, I started to have a headache and I was
walking slower. After Km11 I reached 3,200m at the Mountain without faith
(Montana sin fe) and then drastically dropped down to 2,513m within less than a
km. Climbing up again to 3,183m at Km13 it really tired me off.
Just before the Km13
a motivational quote was posted saying that 'Although your pace slows down your
energy level wears out and fatigue sets in, your will to achieve will prevail'.
This really made me smile and even gave a last kick to continue. At
this point every bone in my body was aching and I was walking like a lifeless
snail.
This 15km walking meditation took me seven and half hours. Not too bad
for my first ever solo walk.
My plan for next morning (D169) was to wake up pretty early, walk up the peak and watch the sunrise from there. When I arrived at Albergue
I was informed that in order to accomplish this I would need to leave the
place latest at 3:15 in the morning. That was exactly what I did. At first I
was freaking out to walk alone with a flashlight in the dark but luckily I was
not the only one who had the same plan. Around six people were in front of me
when I left and some locals were following me.
It took us over two hours to
reach Cerro Chirripo at 3,820m. The last 10 minutes was almost impossible to
climb but all of us managed. The sunrise and the view from the top were amazing
despite the cold and vicious wind.
At 6 o’clock I started the 20km descent to San Gerardo which
took me around five painful hours. When I exited the park I still would have to walk 2km to the
hotel but a miracle happened. A nice Samaritan motorcyclist offered me a ride
on the steep and slippery road. I was scared shitless but I preferred to be on
a motorbike and scared than to walk another step.
For now I have visited all the places that I set out to see in Costa Rica! Thank you for sharing with your beautiful and rich fauna and
flora. Farewell Costa Rica and Hello Panama, my last country in Central America…
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