Costa Rica Coast to Coast – A Rest Day on the Río Pacuare
Costa Rica Jungle Camp
After an OK night’s sleep in our Costa Rica jungle camp, I was of course first up while the camp was still dark. I headed up to the communal area and relaxed in one of the hammocks as the sun slowly rose. Hummingbirds hovered around the flowers, lizards skittered across the floorboards, and large bees explored the holes in the roof structure. As daylight spread through the rainforest, toucans flew between the trees and croaked from the branches while vultures soared above the river.
Today was a rest day, so we were staying another night at the camp with no need to pack up and move on. Over breakfast, we discovered an orange-kneed tarantula hiding in a hole in the bank beside the camp.
Waterfall Walk
The only planned activity for the day was an easy stroll. K and S weren’t keen and preferred to relax at camp, so W, Doty, Doty’s nephew — who was joining us for a couple of days during his school holidays — and I headed across to the other side of the river.
First, we crossed using the hand-operated cable car before wandering through the Pacuare River Lodge, an upmarket wilderness retreat. Along the trails, we spotted lots of poison dart frogs, including the green-and-black Dendrobates that I used to keep at the zoo, along with red-and-blue strawberry poison frogs (Oophaga).
We wandered along narrow rainforest trails beneath enormous vine-covered trees that shaded us from the tropical sun. After crossing a stream, we climbed a short distance to a lovely waterfall where we stopped for a swim.
I spent quite a while sitting beneath the waterfall itself. The others struggled slightly swimming against the current and were a little hesitant about getting behind the falling water, so I gave them a hand. I’m not entirely sure what the difficulty was really, but I suppose they just weren’t as used to turbulent water as I am.
We took some photos, I did a few handstands in the water (and banged my head), and then we wandered back towards the river. Rather than using the cable car again, I decided it would be more fun to swim back across.
Relaxing in the Rainforest
Back at camp I had a shower, grabbed some lunch, and then settled into a hammock to watch the world go by. Unusually for me, I managed to stay there for most of the afternoon, simply relaxing until Doty appeared with more food for dinner.
The toll of the previous few days was becoming obvious for the others though, and everyone seemed fairly exhausted, so camp remained quiet and peaceful for most of the day.
It had been a lovely, restful day in paradise.
Tomorrow we’d be on the move once again for a long day rafting down the Pacuare River, getting ever closer to the Caribbean coast.
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