Hiking Osa, PART II: The long hike

Photo: Coast of Osa, before we started to hike.

We landed on the beach some kms south of Drake. The landing was difficult because the surge was strong. Anyway, right after the landing a gringo looking lady from the lodge greeted us in german. Once again, we spoke german somewhere in the middle of no- where. We told her quickly that we wanted to hike south through the Concorvado National Park.
Already the first impressions were impressive. A small trail led to the entrance of the park, on the way we met the first Aras (those red parrots which can be also found on pirate ships), cut down coconuts (called pipas if they have more juice) and just enjoyed the wildlife and scenery. Along beaches, sometimes through the beautiful rainforest, but already worth the two days of getting there. We passed a biological station, lonely beachhuts and very few locals. All those fruits attracted us, including bananas (were not really ready yet) and carabolas (Star fruits, oh they taste great). Our slow pace forced us to stay somewhere to sleep, we knew that we wouldnt make it to the first station (were you can camp) of the national park since we had made to many stops to enjoy. Suddenly we came to a big property which was very cultivated and well kept. And a gringo family with some tico workers was playing soccer there ( see photo album). They told us, stay here and play soccer with us. We were thankful and agreed. After some converstations we found out that they are looking for science teachers, since they are doing homeschooling. This is perhaps an option for the summer of 2007?
We left right after sunrise at the following day to reach the first ranger station in the park. The hike wasnt too long but you always needed to be very careful with the poisonous snake. I usually used a long stick to check the ground and low plants infront of me. Finally we got to the station and guess what, there were two friendly hikers (no more than that) from germany. Then we had a chat with the indian park ranger of the camp. He was really rude, didnt give us informations, but told us: "Guys you cant go south because you need to pass really big rivers and they have too much water right now. A budy of mine can bring you 20km south with his boat for JUST 140 bucks". He spoke spanish, but what should we said except HAHAHAHA. We didnt believe this guy at all, so we stored our bags at the station and continued to go south to check the first river (7km away) for its waterlevel. We also didnt trust him because the family were we had stayed before told us that we would need to watch the tides very very well, but no more. The 7km hike was nice, mostly through the rainforest but already without the luggage a little exhausting. Fallen down trees and little creeks were responsible for that. We finally got to the beach passed Arc rock (see photos) and got to the first "dangerous river" during low tide. Hohoho. The water didnt even reach our knees when we passed it. The ranger had teased us for sure.
We got back to the ranger station very late, and left it again very early in the morning before everybody was awake. It took us almost three hours to get back. You hardly make more than 2km/h on foot there with heavy bags, since the forest is dense and you always get stuck and at the beach you sink into the sand shadow doesnt exist. Anway, it was high tide when we reached the river----- and everything was flooded. I saw already the first fin of a shark and we decided clearly NOT to swim or pass. Time passed and passed and we were hanging out in the shade waiting for the low tide, watched wildlife (all kinds of birds, hunting fish etc.) and decided finally to do some fishing (but those pufferfish (globefish= Kugelfische) dont taste well). Beautiful coconutpalmtrees were on the other side of the river, so I decided to pass the river (see photos). This was a very quick swim. Soon after a refreshing drink we crossed the river with the stuff above our head. We involved also a basic carry system based on wooden sticks. Philipp had a hard time with that because he is smaller than me.
Our long march continued and we were hiking, hiking and hiking. It was hot, we didnt meet any people, didnt see even foot print. It was like one of the famous lonely islands. Some Pipa breaks on the way even encouraged this association. The goal was to pass the second river before the high tide would come again.
We were lucky, the second river was like a little rill. We made our second camp in the wilderness right next to the river. I ckecked the are for some pipas found some but ran directly into a wasp nest too. No comments about that, but it hurted. A beach fire, a nice sunset and some coconutjuice with rum made the pain forget and we could relax and enjoy days images again.
Part 3 is coming up!