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Published: January 18th 2007
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White faced monkey
Parque nacional Corcovado Hola amigos
I arrived in Puerto Jimenez looking forward to going to Parque nacional Corcovado & the abundant animals that are there. I wanted to do a two day hike with a night camping in the centre of the park to do a round trip, unfortunately the rangers told me it was full & I could only stay at the first ranger station in the Parque. I headed for La Leona ranger station on a 3km wank on the beach in 30 odd degree heat, I almost melted. The first day of walking didn't really reveal too many different types of animals, I really wanted to get a good picture of a scarlet McCaw in the wild, but they fly too high for a good shot. That night I slept in my tent not knowing if it would last the night, fortunately it did, the next day I spent walking over the same grounds trying to see some different animals. I was lucky enogh to see packs of monkeys & other animals, but I have no idea of their names, all in all a good days veiwing, but no good pictures of my McCaw. I went back to the camp
Lazy beach
Parque nacional Corcovado site to pack up & relax for a little while, about after an hour a group came trough beaming with exitement, thay had just seen a puma, Iwas happy 'for them' you can't win them all. The time had come to leave, without my McCaw photo, walking back along the beach in 30 odd degree heat I spotted two McCaws sitting in a tree (I could start a riddle here) and I got as close to them as I could, I hope the photos turn out OK. The bus trip back was an adventure in itself, 18km in 2 hours, luckily the bus is a 4x4, (I think), that was the 24th of December.
Christmas day was not such a good day, I did nothing, so thats it. Oh I did have a hangover as well, I think that made it worse.
I left for Panama on Boxing day, everything was going so well, my ferry left on time, there was a bus to the border only 15 minutes after I arrived - and then I arrived at the border, what a shit fight, 3 hours later I got my entry stamp into Panama and left for the
Scarlett McCaw
Parque nacional Corcovado city of David. Appologies to all you David's out there but David it is not a very nice place to visit, luckily they have a national park nearby, I spent the next day just walking through the forest, a pleasant day really. I left the next day for Panama City, I found myself at a 3 storey hostel with 2 other people, I met Dave (no relation to the city) a guy from America. Dave told me he was 39, I said I had 2 years to catch up to him, then he asked me if I was 36, from that moment on I was laughing the entire time, he probably thought I was a bit stupid, but I don't think he knew I was laughing at him. Dave took me to a Casino, we stayed for a beer & then went back to the Hostel. I returned to the casino that night, it is US$6 for two jugs of beer, I had an unusual night got back to the hostel at 6am & packed & left by 9:30 that morning. I went to another hostel, US$10 for a ten bunk dorm - no thanks. When I arrived at Panama
Bush setting
Sendero Quetzales, Panama someone tryed to get me to stay at there hotel for $15 a night, so off I went to Residencial Texas. By the time New years eve came around I was not very interested, I had already had a hangover & was looking at my watch for midnight to happen. Not mutch happened, so before I left for the night I thought I would have a flutter, I won US$200 and left a happy chappy. My next mission trying to get a ticket to Colombia, absolutely nothing open on new years day so I had to wait until the 2nd to find a travel agency. A couple of nights later I went back & unfortunately what goes around comes around, I still think I was infront in the end but certainly not as much as $200. I booked my flight to Cartagena Colombia & headed up to Isla Grande with a new travel buddy, Sandra & I spent two nights on Isla Grande, a beautiful island in the North of Panama, then back to Panama City to fly out.
Cartagena Colombia is a beautiful city, I bumped into Chris who I studied Spanish with in Guatemala, we stayed there
for 3 nights, seeing a bull fight (not very pretty), the castle & old town & going out a few times. The people of Colombia seem to be genuinely friendly, even the ones trying to sell drugs are friendly. Chris & I left for Santa Marta & while waiting in the queue to buy tickets we met a Colombian girl who helped us buy tickets & was even trying to organise hotels for us in Santa Marta, just another friendly Colombian. Chris & I booked a trip to Cuidad Perdida (the lost city), a 6 day hike in the Colombian mountains. On our trip there was three other Aussies, a swiss fella, a irish fella & two people from French Canada, our guide was Willme, a Danny deVito lookalike who was extremely friendly & always laughing. Although we weren't sure if Wilme would make it he did a great job. Day one was a gruelling two & a half hour walk uphill to a house in the mountains full of Coca leaves & Para military comandos. Day 2 was a much more pleasant walk of 4 & a half hours through jungle & indigenous villages. Day 3 was the final
The gates of hell
Panama Canal gates opening walk to Cuidad Perdida, an amazing place & a really hard walk for the final hour up 1600 rock stairs. The city is an amazing place, the size of the city is hard to beleive, not all of it has been uncovered so the full extent of the city is unknown. Day 4 backtracking on our route up to Cuidad Perdida, pristine pools in the river allowed us to swim after our walks & relax our weary legs. Day 5 was a relentless hill for an hour & a bit of down hill, after lunch we went to a cocaine factory to see how cocaine is produced, a very interesting experience. Day 6 I purchased a bandana from one of the Para Military men for US$10 & headed back to Santa Marta. There were so many small experiences on that trip I could almost write a whole blog on the trip, but I am lazy so bad luck.
Back in Santa Marta wil the three other Aussies & Chris trying to buy tickets to Venezuela, luckily I went out to the terminal & got out of Santa Marta within two days.
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