Day Three - Costa Rica

We went in to the medical centre first thing in the morning to sort Alan out. He’d had another bad night and woke up thinking things had gotten worse.  So in he went, hoping that they would be well equipped and able to understand the issue. As it turned out one of the female doctors spoke English. He came back out relieved and with a prescription for some anti-inflammatory tablets.

We continued our journey to Dos Brazos (two branches, where two branches of the Rio Tigre meet) and along the way we were astounded by the amount of palm oil plantations we passed. They were everywhere, for long stretches of road. There were men in the plantations using machetes at the tops of poles to chop down the fruits that produce the oil. Some palms were so tall we wondered how they managed to get the fruit off the trees. Alan and I got to talking about the clearing of rainforests to plant oil palms, and we realised that Australia too was once covered in dense bush, but how the last hundred years or so we have cleared it to farm cattle and sheep, and for other agriculture, totally destroying our natural environment. The Ticos are at the point that we were a hundred years ago, where they are finding that producing palm oil is making a profit and benefiting their country, and I could understand why they are doing it. If only they could find a way to make such a profit out of their natural habitats, the rainforests, to prevent the clearing of such a beautiful country.

The roads we were travelling were straight and long, and it wasn’t long before we began to see some wildlife on the road. I was driving when we came up on a bright green lizard, probably an iguana. Unfortunately I couldn’t stop as there were two cars right behind me, and I’m hoping that the lizard didn’t become road kill.

The road leading to Puerto Jimenez (pronounced He-man-ez) is very interesting, to say the least. In some places, the potholes are so large you could loose a small dog in them. Needless to say, it was slow going, and the road was also quite narrow in places, with steep drop offs on one side, so it was a bit scary as well.

It was approaching lunch time and we decided to pass the turn off to Dos Brazos and drive into Puerto Jimenez to get some lunch and supplies for our stay. Puerto Jimenez is a small town that is bustling with activity. As is the custom in Costa Rica, the locals on foot have right of way on the roads (as do the dogs) and it is the drivers responsibility to move around them. So there was a bit of manoeuvring to navigate the streets, and we found a surprisingly large supermarket for a small town. Some quick thinking on our feet was required, as we didn’t know what was waiting for us in terms of supplies in Dos Brazos, so we grabbed some basic food items and were on our way. This included Alan managing to get some chicken from the in-store butcher, and working out that we needed to get all our fruit and veg price ticketed before going to the cash register. That done, we made a quick lunch of Vegemite sandwiches (we had brought the Vegemite from home) and headed to Dos Brazos.

We had heard just before we left Australia that our accommodations had been changed. The house we were going to stay in, while beautiful, was not practical for children, especially with highly venomous snakes around. So the decision was made for us to move us into the house next door, which was being lived in by the caretaker of our original house. Tristan was kind enough to offer to move to his girlfriend’s house so we could use his house. We had been sent photos of Tristans house, and it looked just as lovely as the original, with some added security (ie. walls!) that would help keep the kids in and the snakes out.

Our Costa Rican house in the jungle!

We weren't exactly sure of where this house was, and although we had been in contact with Steve yesterday we didn't get directions to his house either. So we drove through the little community of Dos Brazos and headed down a small track that was only fit for a 4WD (thankfully we had one) and ended up outside a little house at the end of the road. Alan needed some coaxing to get out and ask for directions, and low and behold, he had found our house! No one was home however, and as we were about to turn the car around, Steve comes walking up behind us. We had passed his house about 100 metres back and he’d followed us on foot. He had the keys to our house, so he showed us through, telling us that Tristan would be over soon to give us the grand tour.

The view from our house

The guest house, for anyone who wants to come and visit!

The house that we will call home for the next 4 months has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, living and dining room, and a porch out the front that opens to the manicured gardens, then the wild rainforest beyond. The Rio Tigre (Tigre River) is just past our front gate, and the sound of it rushing past mixes in with the symphony of music made by all the rainforest wildlife. We have frogs, katydids, crickets and bats all joining in the chorus. It is very peaceful at night (once the girls have gone to bed!) There are no sounds of other humans anywhere, and it is bliss!

Alan has his first night of exploring the gardens. He comes back to the house within minutes with the largest frog I have ever seen – it is a Smoky Jungle frog, and it’s as big as Alan’s head. Well, not quite but it was close! He also found the numerous other frogs and countless spiders and insects. You can read all about it in our Rainforest Encounters Blog.

Alan showing Saige and Tayen the Smoky Jungle Frog