I got up at 4.15 for a shower, which again, was hot! We left the hotel at just past 5.30, and walked to La Coca Cola. The bus left a bit late, at 6.45am, most of the seats full.
Cheryl asked me to sit by her. The whole trip was about 5 hours long, and Cheryl was telling me all about her love life. She is very nice. However, before long, I really needed the loo, and as the journey got longer and longer, and the bus got more crowded (the aisle was full of people), I had to struggle to the front when we stopped for a few minutes and ask the driver if I could go to the toilet. His answer was “Cinco Minutos”, by which time I was really cross. It quickly became apparent that in Tropical Time, 5 minutes was more like 15 down a really bumpy road…
But, eventually we got there and we all piled out into a tiny bar that looked as though it should have belonged on a beach. As we were in the queue, there were a couple of huge butterflies flying just above our heads. -Our first taste of rainforest wildlife.
The journey itself was amazing. Cheryl and I were on the better side of the bus. -We were on the side that spent most of the time overhanging the cliff! Our favourite words seemed to be “Wow, oh wow!!” for most of the trip! It was beautiful. The mountain roads were really narrow, and it was frightening when on one occasion, a Land Rover came shooting round the corner and the driver had to slam the brakes on. T to our right, there was be a drop of 100ft or more, and miles of forest, right across the neighbouring hills. Occasionally, we’d come across tiny villages. -Little more than settlements of three or four roughly built houses.
When we reached Santa Elena, we didn’t realise we were there. It was the tiniest imaginable village. There were shops, but not really any houses in sight. We nearly didn’t get off the bus at all! When we did, we were directed down the hill where we were told where the two lots of cabins were. We chose the one recommended by Carlos, The Hummingbird. It’s really lovely here, because there is a huge tree right at the steps, and it’s built of wood, it feels as though we are actually living in a massive tree house.
We thought that instead of wasting the afternoon, we would do the ‘Sky Trek’ which was advertised at a small tourist centre. It was at $35, but because we are a large group and students, we were charged only $28 each instead. The Sky Trek consisted of 11 zip-wires, including the highest and the longest in Costa Rica. I knew I’d enjoy it, but I thought it would be scarier than it was. Most of the zip-wires didn’t seem too high on the platform, but when we came above the trees, it was incredible. I think the highest was the 8th. It was 500ft above the ground and the view was indescribable. There were thousands of trees in every direction. Other wires took us through the trees, so close that we nearly hit the lianas, or got whacked in the face by branches!!
I decided that I really like Mark. I think he likes me too, as he seems to look at me a lot and takes specific time to come over and talk to me while zip-wiring and waiting on the platforms. I’m still not too sure about Simon, although I ended up sitting by him at dinner and he was nice really. The problem is that I can’t tell whether or not he means jokes personally. I can tell that Mark doesn’t, but I can’t tell how genuine Simon is.
Right now, I’m sitting outside our hotel room with Kate, as I had a ‘disagreement’ with Katy and Selina. I wanted to write upstairs, on the open area. It’s so lovely up there with the tree and the noise. They were harking on about ‘courtesy’, even though I was only going to be writing, and the owners haven’t put the lights out yet. -We are allowed up there until 10pm. -And they are making lots of noise on the other side of the window while people are trying to sleep. -Kate and I are being really quiet outside.
Tomorrow we’re going on a day trek to the waterfall and hopefully have a natural shower -bikini and towel are a definite must!
Day 5 Santa Elena Thursday 11th July 2002
Today started brilliantly. -Despite last night’s arguments with Selina, they were all forgotten by the time we got up. At about 7.15, or maybe 7.10, she woke up and went for a shower. Katy and Kate woke up, but Helen was still snoring!
Breakfast was at 8am, so we went upstairs and ate pineapple and watermelon. It’s so great eating fruit for breakfast because we know that in Corcovado and Chirripó we’ll be on porridge! Jennie is still leader and she was cutting the fruit. It’s weird to think that yesterday breakfast was in San José.
Firstly, we needed to sort out mules or packhorses for tomorrow’s trek to Lake Arenal, and also book tickets for the boat over the lake. Then we found out that instead of being ‘6km’ as someone had said, it was actually ‘6 hours’, so in the end, we got the best deal we could find for a bus to lake Arenal, boat over it, and finally a bus to the Sanchal campsite in La Fortuna. Our budget for transport was $4, but this cost us $17, but there wasn’t another option as we had to carry every piece of kit we owned.
We had all afternoon left, and so we took the advice of the woman who booked tomorrow’s journey for us. -She suggested the Hidden Valley Trail. Because we took the ‘scenic route’ to the trail, it took us a couple of hours just to walk there, but even that was beautiful. It was steep and muddy and if I’d been by myself, I would have been content just to amble along all day! Most of the time, I was talking either to Kate or Mark, or walking in silence.
The entrance to the Hidden Valley Trail cost 1300 Colonés. The trail was through low-level cloud forest. -Exactly how I expected rainforest to be. Our trek was peppered with shouts of ‘ANTS’. I’m not sure whether this was intended to protect the ants, or to protect us. (They were harmless leaf-cutters.) The waterfall was not how I expected it to be. Instead of the wide, tame river that we’d all expected, it was tucked away in so many trees that it couldn’t be seen (only heard) until we were in the actual gorge. I don’t know how to describe it. The gorge was slippery and the waterfall was probably 50m high. Again, Cheryl kept muttering ‘wow’.
By the time we got back to the hotel, we were all tired and sweat-soaked, and I had finished my second roll of film!
It wasn’t all good though… When we got to the restaurant that Simon booked for today’s tea, I was sitting between Jane and Mark with Selina opposite. After a while, we got a bit bitchy. -Selina and Katy were playing their annoying “I can tell what you’re thinking” game and Mark was joining in, leading to the birth of “Katy Moments” -Those phrases you say in complete innocence, and then find that somebody else has turned them into something really dirty! However, by the end of the night, I was nearly crying by the time I went down to our room again. It’s actually a real strain sharing with Katy and Selina, because we have either nothing to say to each other, or far too much! So, I was chuntering on to Kate and Helen about it, and they listened very patiently and have me a hug, but it didn’t make me feel too much better.
