31st July 2014
Due to unforseen circumstances we left the hostel 90 minutes later than planned in the sardine tin's younger, bigger and air conditioned brother. However, lack of close proximity meant that Abba's greatest hits didn't grace the ears of the driver today.
Although the journey to the Limon Province should ony have taken 2 hours or so, an unexpected derrumbe caused road closures and a detour on our part (no, we weren't actually caught in a landslide) which doubled our journey time. Upon arriving at the boat station (after a rocky ride through a banana plantation), mosquito paranoia set in. Some of us undertook the quickest clothes change known to (wo)man into more suitable attire, with a bit of help from Beci distracting the male bus driver with some innovative bag unloading.
We're happy to announce that there were no fatalities (or even missing limbs) during the hour long boat trip through the caiman infested waters to the Northern Station. We arrived sweaty enough to fill another lagoon and headed towards our lodgings at the reserve. Although basic (think the bunkhouse in "Of Mice and Men"), Briony, Sophie, Jenni, Katie, Sarah, Lynsey and Clare settled in. However, those of us remaining waded our way to Blue cabin (later known as The Castle due to it's MASSIVE moat). Yes, we said waded - we waved goodbye to dry walking boots and said hello to the makings of trench foot.
Night fell (at 6pm) so we enjoyed a candlelit dinner, joined by the beginnings of the stench of damp that would linger for the next 4 days. Departing to our "beds" at 7:30pm in preparation for our 5am morning patrol, we realised quite how close to nature we actually were as Sarah nearly squashed a frog in her walking boot.
It had rained all day, so we weren't prepared for the weather that night; lightening lit the sky, thunder quite literally shook our beds and rain became the soundtrack to our dreams. The rain not only expanded the moat but also made its way into our rooms (the holes in the roof didn't help).
Hasta la vista from a very damp Team Costa Rica xxx
PS - pictures from the last few days will be on soon!
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