After the downtime in Jaco the initial plan of returning to Canada was overidde
n by a mtn called Chirripo and a Jungle called Osa.
Mount Chirripo being the highest pt in the country has been on my radar since my first trip down here. I figured it would make a great start to 2010 so I headed off down the road. Like all roads in the country it soon went up and pretty soon the pavement was gone. Riding up steep costa rican gravel roads on a road bike is not the smartest idea but it is still faster then buses. In fact I have been a busy beaver and did the math on buses vs bikes in costa rica. I was always a better sport kid then school kid but I´m pretty sure bikes are faster than buses every time except on long distance trips on the interamerican highway. On a road bike you can avg approx 25-30 km an hr over 6 hrs. Buses avg around 45 km an hr on the good paved highways and anywhere else it goes down. Calculate the time waiting for buses, connecting to other buses, catching taxis to and from bus stops and a bike is faster everytime. When the roads are unpaved hiking is probably faster then the buses as well. To get to the Chirripo trail head, 21 km from the city of San Isidro it takes the bus 2 hrs and a road bike 1.5…. Point proven.
Once hiking, the trail went up 1800 m over 14 km through jungle to a mountain top hostal at 3300 m. With a typical Costa Rican bike toureres packsack with only beach clothes in it I soon made like Frosty the snowman for the remainder of the adventure. I had purchased a $2 jacket in San Isidro for the acent but I probably should of gone with the $4 model. At the hostal the French came up with a the idea that everybody should get up at 2 30 am to hike the last 6 km to the summit to catch sunrise. I was keen on sleeping in but I was outnumbered and overinlfuenced. We all made the summit at 5am for sunrise. It was colder than Canada up top and we could see 6 ft in front of us. The dutch were mad at the French and they took off down the mountain. The French looked upset and they also took off. The Americans and I pulled out our sleeping bags and used them as rain jackets to stay up top stay a bit longer in hopes of a clearing. It cleared to 8 ft vision so we took bad photos and headed out. On the way down we passed the Swedes who were making like a bunch of sleepy turtles. By the time they hit the top it was a blue sky day and they came back with photos of both the oceans off the summit. I never believed the story of the turtle and the hair but I am starting to see some similarities to it.
After the mtn trek I met up with Dan Clark (American friend who helped us at the Vuelta) and away we went off towards the Jungles of the Osa Peninsula. Dan on his motorbike and myself on the roadie. We rolled into the rustic town of Puerto Jimenez 2 days and 180 km later to stage a 55 km 2 day hike through Corcovado National Park, what National Geographic calls the most Biologically Dense place on earth. Not sure what that means and we never found out as the Chinese guy with the gong began making a racket. Regulations, reservations, sketchy information etc.. etc. etc…
Instead of hiking through the National Park we ended up travelling to an old farm house 15 km up in middle of the jungle with 7 argentinian girls, a german couple and a swede. Not too sure how we ended up there but there were no complaints. We were all pretty stunned to be at such a ragged, remote place but with hiking trails and waterfalls surrounding us the place proved to be pretty cool. Sleeping in a house with 7 beds for 12 people proved another problem.
Dan had the quote of the trip “Danm, I have spent over half my life in bush camps in Alaska but that lil 90 lb Argentinian snores as loud as any of the lumberjacks up there.”
In the morning the howler monkeys came through at 5am. Dan eventually hit his time budget and headed back to his house in San Jose. The few of us left at the house spent the day exploring through the jungle. 5 of the girls got scared and returned to the house while 3 of us wandered around looking for jaguar cubs. We didnt find any. There were monkeys, parrots, snakes and numerous other unidentifiable insects and birds. Next time I figure a guide would be well worth it for a quick lesson on the goods and bads of the jungle as it is a wild place.
After the episode of “jungle house” I made another effort to reach the depths of Corcovado National Park on a garage sale worthy mtb bike I rented off a local. After 4 hrs of riding through rivers and across the jungle that plan was finally foiled as the bike and I both malfunctioned around the same time. With the diesal tank low from the previous days efforts I opted to let Corcovado win this round of the battle but I will be back for round 2 as what I saw of the place is spectacular.