In Search Of Parmo: An Odyssey Through The Mountain Of Hopelessness

Hola!

Picking up where I left off last week, seems so long ago ... I was able to get entry into Chirripo national park just before they reached their 35 person quota, which was really lucky cos otherwise I woulda been stuck in the town (well, more like a village by our standards) of San Gerrardo, which is a sleepy little place where not a lot happens and there´s little to do besides climbing Mount Chirripo.

We all shared the unspoken realisation that we were hopelessly hopelessly lost.

For the climb I teamed up with Max, Bruno & Dominic, a trio of tewnty-something Quebecers who were good humoured company for the long ascent. As there´s no food or anything available anywhere en-route we had to lug all our food + other supplies with us, and you can imagine that it´s quite hard going carrying all that weight, not to mention warm clothes for the stopover at the top. In honesty, the 14 km climb was really tough work in the heat and altitude but the scenery we walked through provided ample reward for our efforts.

It was a very surreal atmosphere on the way up there as we passed through the otherworldly atmosphere of the cloud forest, actually walking through the clouds with limited visibility for much of the time. As Bruno put it, it was like something from a dream. I´ll eventually find some place I can upload the photos, as they´ll describe it much better than my words ever could.

After a tough final 2kms (in which the steep climb seemed never-ending along a series of false peaks - it´s for this reason this section of the trail is known as the Mountain of Hopelessness!) we reached Crestones before sundown, the cold base-camp where we´d spend the night. Setting off at 3 AM the next morning for the peak with our headtorches on, it had very much the feeling of a mission as we walked out into the cold wet night, aiming to reach the summit before sunrise. Things were going fine but in some parts it was tricky to keep track of where the path went.

We crossed the river onto a large rocky island in the valley, and then started ploughing through the short indistinguishable bushes, looking for the ´Paramo´, the next section of the trail. As we stumbled on in the night the ´path´got more and more narrow and looked less and less like a path. No one wanted to be the first to admit it, but I believe we all shared the unspoken realisation that we were hopelessly hopelessly lost.

We eventually decided that we should head back the way we came - easier said than done when you´re walking in the dark and surrounded by bushes that all look the same! Retracing our steps, we thought we´d found the point where we´d crossed the river ... but then on closer inspection it led to a sheer drop off the edge of the rock. Shining our brightest torches into the night, we realised that we couldnçt see as far as the valley, meaning we had no landmarks to help us, only these damn cloned bushes!

Fortunately after 20 minutes or so we stumbled upon a point from where we could hear the river again, and we used that to find our way back to the path and made our way to the Paramo. This not-so-scenic detour had cost us valuable time in our race against the sun and ultimately we were still 20-30 minutes off from the peak by the time the sun came up. It was immaterial in the end anyway, as it was an overcast morning and there was nothing to see - it simply went from dark to light. Still, it was a great feeling to reach the 3820m summit, where I had to put on virtually all the clothes I´d brought with me cos it was soo cold.

After that I had the best part of a day in transit, heading back initially to San Jose. Vice City had still not improved much during the day from what I´d seen last time during the night. The only difference was that there were a few more well-to-do people around to dilute the mix of crack fiends, prostitutes and hobos. This was not the Costa Rica I had come to see ... I was happy to leave San Jose behind.

It was amusing on the bus out of San Jose when a big guy with a Santa Claus beard got onto the bus and then, instead of sitting down just stood up at the front of the bus and started preaching to everyone. I thought it was another religious ´character´but then he said "esta medicina por la cara" [it´s medicine for your face] and pulled out a range of 100 percent natural moisturisers. It was like in-journey QVC and then things got even more comical when the bus stopped again and a further 3 vendors boarded, squeezing their way past one another as they walked down the narrow bus aisle trying to flog snacks and drinks!

I worked my way to the Monteverde biological reserve, some 5 hours north of San Jose on very bumpy roads. Checked into the dormitory at Monteverde Backpackers Hostel, where the new owners Esteban and Diego created an environment more like a student house than a dorm - on my first night there they opened up their private vodka reserves and told me to help myself - instant legends in my book!

It was at Monteverde that I crammed in loads of activities I´d wanted to do. I took a guided tour of the biological reserve and again saw all manner of wildlife, and it was here that I met Agnes + Rheanna, a mother and daughter from America, who kindly offered me a lift to Playa Tamarindo, where I was gonna head next anyway. Meeting people hasn´t been a problem, but it´s just that most people I´ve met are going a different direction from me [well if they weren´t already then they changed their plans just to get the hell away from me!], so this was a real bonus because the public buses going that way would´ve involved 3 transfers and a total of 12 hours travelling, compared to the 5 hours it took them to drive.

I also went on a night-hike in Monteverde to see which other animals come out at night, but it was a bit of a disappointment really because the few animals we did see invariably scarpered before we had a chance to have a decent look at them.

After all the wildlife stuff, I decided it was time to do an excursion purely for the adrenaline-rush and signed up for a ´canopy tour´. Basically you speed along above the forest canopy on zip lines which suspend you maybe 60-150m or so off the ground, building up great speeds as you go along. There was a series of 18 zip-lines, one of them lasting for almost a minute as you whizzed across the valley. You don´t see much in terms of wildlife but of course that isn´t what this is about! Although I didn´t feel that much of a buzz off riding the ziplines, what did get me going was the tarzan swing - after climbing 4 flights of stairs, I found myself stood on a platform, holding this rope. The guide then told me to step forward i.e. straight off of this platform into the ether - now that was nerve-wracking but such good fun once Í´d taken the initial step, as you just drop then swing out for what seems like miles. Really good fun, so much so I went up and did it again.

On Monday, Agnes and Rheanna then gave me that lift they promised as we drove along the beautiful scenery of the Nicoya Peninsula and back into warmer climes after the unexpected coolness of Monteverde. They actually decided they´d go to Playa Grande, near Tamarindo but a different beach altogether and much less developed - it just happened to be nesting season for the endangered Leatherback Turtles right now, and so I thought I´d stick around to see it. They´re really strict on keeping a perfect environment for the turtles - the beach is evacuated after 6 every night, and no developments are allowed on the beachfront, with hotels needing instead to be built at least a few blocks back from the beach, so there won´t be any light pollution that would scare off the turtles. We booked up a place in the national park to see a turtle nesting - of course it´s dependant on nature and it may be that no turtles turn up any given night, and even if a turtle does show, it could be as late as 3 AM. All we knew was that if we wanted to see if we´d have to be there from 8PM and wait until a turtle comes to shore.

In the meantime I still had the improbable task of finding cheap accommodation on Playa Grande, where the cheapest hotel [35 bucks a night] was full and I was low on cash, with there being no banks on this beach. Asking at another hotel, they quoted me a whopping 78 dollars for the night! It began to look as though I´d have to miss the turtles and head for Tamarindo instead, where accommodation was cheaper and I´d have access to banks. I thought I´d try out this one last hotel...

"How much is it for a night?"

"45 dollars"

"Do you have anything cheaper than that?"

"No it´s not possible unless you´re gonna stay more than one night ... oh wait a minute, there is the camping room."

"Camping room?"

"Well there´s just a mattress on the floor, but there´s no door ... and no windows"

[tries not to laugh] "Right, but how much would it cost?"

"Oh, you could take it for 10 dollars"

Bargain. When the cheapest room at this beach comes for 35 bucks, this was an absolute steal in this situation so I quickly snapped it up and just carried all my valuables with me, leaving my backpack at reception. As I´d be out to see the turtles tonight anyway it wasn´t as though I´d be spending much time at the hotel.

That night was an amazing experience. Having arrived at the national park waiting area for 8, several coffees and 4.5 hours later, we finally got the radio comm - a turtle had arrived at the beach. These turtles have a tradition of returning to the place of their own birth to give birth to their offspring. We took the jeep to the beach and found it fully illuminated - it was a full moon and the beach was all lit up so bright, even the sky was more blue than black, and with the lack of light pollution here the stars all shone as bright as I´ve ever seen. As we approached the turtle, a strange species which spanned maybe 1.5 metres and weighed in at almost 300 kilos, almost resembled something from Jurassic park more than the normal turtle. It was strange to be in it´s presence in it´s entranced state, whilst it dug a deep hole in the sand and then proceeded to lay no less than 68 eggs into it and cover it up.

After Playa Grande I spent last night partying it up in the fiesta beach of Tamarindo with a few people I´d met at the hostel, and then today I´ve passed through the chaos of my first Central American border crossing to get into Nicaragua, where the cultural change is very dramatic. Nicaragua just feels much more Central American than Costa Rica. Having arrived onto Ometepe Island this afternoon, a large island which hosts 2 twin volcanoes - Maderas and Concepcion, I walked the streets surrounded by roaming pigs and chickens, whilst huge cattle walk through the streets carrying goods. Fortunately things are much cheaper here too compared to Costa Rica, which had hit my budget pretty hard. Well, I´m gonna spend maybe a few days here and will let you know how things go next time I get a chance to write.

Thanks for all your e-mails by the way - I´ll try to get back to you all as soon as I get time.

Adios,

Jase