Howler Monkeys =No sleep! Feb 24th-25th ´07

Biggest iguana I've ever seen!
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I B-lined it out of La Vigen straight to Puerto Viejo Sarapique via Trinidad all in a matter of 4 1/2 hours. The deeper you go North the land seems to get more beautiful and dense. My boat ride from Sarapique was loaded with sight after sight of dense tropical rainforestation. I knew I was in for an interesting ride when I was confronted by one of the biggest Iguanas I´ve ever incountered at the boat dock-at least over four feet long. My Captain-a nice weathered elderly amigo-was quick to tell me the boat was not departing for another 3 hours. Rather then spend money on meaningless tourist stuff in town I decided to wait it out at the boat dock and try to get some interaction from the locals.

Riding with the locals to Trinidad Village
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I came across a tall lankey fisherman named Miguel that showed me his fishing technique. It consisted of a small amount of fish line, a large piece of some kind of meat attached to a single line hook, and his arm for winding up and tossing it out to the river. Sure enough he caught a decent size-what looked to be a perch- after two tosses. I complimented him and told him too go for the Grande fish, he laughed and nodded in recognition.

Finally we left by taxi boat on the Rio Sarapique to the Rio San Juan which runs along the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. I knew immediately I was going to a very remote area when the majority of locals on the boat had huge sacks of groceries, which looked like enough to get them by for weeks. I have to admit the boat ride which covered about 20 miles was one of the most beautiful rides ever in my life. Even though I wasn't on a tourist boat I was still able to see the Crocodiles I had been looking forward to. As well as three different species of crane.

Trinidad Lodge near the Nicaraguan border
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Once I arrived to the small village of Trinidad I was greeted by the families three dogs, they were nice enough to lead me up to their house bar where the mother and a beer was waiting for me. One of the amazing things of travel, another man at the bar  lived in the states for a number of years and brought his whole family of 20 to the Trinidad Cabins qnd were on vacation from the capital San Jose. We had a great conversation about work ethic and hoped for solid self-employed work in the future. We shared mutual frustrations working for major corporations back in our home setting. After downing two beers in fifteen minutes from the extremely humid weather I was led to one of the rustic cabins where I would sleep for the next few nights.

Crocodile drying in the sun
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Unfortunately I would not be taking a shower for the next few days as the showers were not in working order. What made up for the sticky dirty skin was the amazing and delicious food the family cooked for me which was fresh shrimp and rice and beans.

My first night was very interesting in that I was suddenly startled by a loud growling noise. Now were not talking like a dog but a very huge deep penetrating growl that shook me up. It sounded like some sort of Dinosaur or I should say what we believe Dinosaurs sound like. I thankfully have my digital recorder with me and was able to get plenty of samples for all that want to hear when I get back. I would have to wait through a sleepless night of being scared 'shitless' to find out that the noise came from a Howler monkey. You would not believe that sound would come out of a small monkey. The combination of Howler monkey, family owned chickens, huge grasshoppers, crickets, dogs, all keep me from sleeping. Hey Lee, I wish I had brought my earplugs. This all still didn´t stop me from having an amazing time at the Ranch. I snuck in afternoon naps in the hammocks all over the property in order to catch up on lost sleep at night.

My hourly alarm clock at night, Howler Monkeys!
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The R and R was a little too much for my liking and I decided to head back to Puerto Viejo Sarapique for some hiking. The early morning 5:00am taxi/boat ride back beat the previous ride. The sunrise was stunning on the river and it reminded me of all the times I´ve gone fishing at the crack of dawn with no one in sight. I also wished certain friends were with me at that particular moment so they could share the beauty of life and travel when backpacking.