Bahía Drake, Tuesday

Tue 14th 1026 Slept fairly well. Woke up feeling relatively good, maybe vaguely guilty at prospect of "oversleeping" despite that being almost the goal, finally got up as much due to needing a piss as anything else somewhere around 930ish.

Have cleaned teeth and am reading book on phone while charging camera and backing up photos. Not going to try Drake Trail (San Josecito) today as it is probably warmer than necessary by now. Need to make some more notes on night tour later of course. Vague plan is I might walk out to some road leading to their private lands where owner chap said it was good to see toucans 4-6pm as he was driving us out. Not entirely sure where it is but maybe worth a go, I have some rough notes on where.

1047 Quick look at photos reminds me last night we saw a black-and-yellow (name is something like that) scorpion, both under UV and white light.

Clear-ish blob with dots in on a leaf is frog eggs (frogspawn?).

We saw a chameleon too.

Blobby thing on a tree branch is I think a wasp's nest - there might have been one or two wasps on outside, not sure. (We also saw a "stingless bee" nest during morning tour, through telescope though also just visible to naked eye, with a few bees moving around outside it. They looked like flies to me.)

One of the little lizard-to-the-uninitiated things we saw on night walk and which may be in photos was a baby (?) salamander, on IIRC a leaf.

The thing on night walk photos that looks like a fluffly blob with a line coming out of it is a hummingbird (not colourful as apparently they spend all their time deep in forest?) sleeping with its beak sticking up in the air.

The brown-ish looking spider with green/yellow blob on its back
on night walk photos in a web is something whose name I can't remember and haven't mentioned before.

The banana spider is the mottled browny one seen "from the top" on the leaf - it was actually vertical and we're looking "straight across" at the leaf, so to speak.

We saw the "Jesus lizard" on a rock on night walk but it wasn't active (think it's active by day).

Orangey brown thing on tree at end of morning walk photos is a cicada exoskeleton/shed skin type thing.

Bird of prey looking bird near scarlet macaw photos on morning tour is an osprey.

Skeleton looking stuff on ground (morning tour) are bits of a humpback whale skeleton - apparently it died (maybe after a mating "competition" ) and the staff dragged the bones (not all of them) up onto the beach. I didn't ask exactly what happened to the flesh. We could pick these up etc, which was quite cool.

The red flower in day photos is apparently something you have to be a bit lucky to see as it only appears for a day before dying. I can't remember what it's called though, might begin with p.

Spidery looking thing on crocodile tree on day tour is a "daddy long legs" or opillon (sp), not an actual spider.

1206 Have been sort of toying with going to stay at the hostel at the private reserve-y kind of place the night tour was at. However, the name the owner gave me as we drove over was "Rio Agujitas Eco Hostel" and while booking.com has that, it only shows "queen room" at EUR22 (wifi down so using not logged in G5 with Claro SIM)/night, the location does look right though. Owner told me there were dorm beds for USD10. I did find something else that might be the same place which seemed to be offering shared 4-bed tents (not sure if this is a "dorm" or not) for about that.

On the one hand this seemed like quite a cool idea (not too sure about shared tent; I would like an actual bed but not 100% insistent - but also the mismatch of names is confusing). On the other, a small issue is I could see getting there/back being a faff (going to try to see toucans later today may be instructive - incidentally we seem to be having a brief but intense shower right now - as it's on the road there) and you have to take all your own food to cook (over a wood fire?!). Owner said it's a 20 min walk or 8 mins/USD8 (really can't remember) by taxi.

However, putting all that to one side, one of the guides last night said (in response to a question about snakes) that you should never go on the trails alone even during the day. So given I *am* on my own, even if I did go stay out there for a few days (and contrary to my feeling of trip being nearly over, I *do* have time to do that if I want), the reality is I would not really be able to explore the area/do any hiking anyway.

I also (although their instructions as to where it's booked - maybe it's nearby but not same - seem a bit surprising) found out from that couple on ground floor here last night that there's a 9h USD100-and-a-bit walk (more "see the jungle with a guide" than "see animals" ) on some private reserve (Los Planos?) near here, probably (given toucan thing is "Los Planos road" ) near if not same as the night tour private reserve, and if I wanted I could maybe book that.

There is a waterfall at the site owner mentioned last night but apart from general swimming-y concerns, again, if I'm on my own could I even visit it?

So although the "exactly where would I book this?" aspect is odd (though TBH I could probably walk round to the place I booked the night tour round corner and speak to them directly and book there, avoiding all confusion - except maybe the difficulty of getting there being under-represented), I think the fact I *am* on my own and thus wouldn't (even putting all other difficulties aside) be able (and this does make sense) to explore/hike on my own makes the whole thing less appealing. They are a volunteer-based eco-farm (I half wonder - tho it's a longish way off - if it's same place saw poster for in Quepos hostel) so there might be "stuff to see" but at the same time I dunno, plus I suspect there might not be many non-volunteer guests and it might be vaguely cliquey and weird.

I dunno. I had been thinking this sounded like quite a cool thing to do, but I'm kind of going off the idea now. I am trying to fight it because I think it *is* irrational but I do also have this vague feeling that I have to be "careful" somehow as I'm coming towards the end of the trip.

I do have a vague and I think unreasonable feeling I'm wasting my time here. Not just today, generally. But really it's fine, while a minor faff/expense to get in/out, it's cheap enough to be here doing nothing (even if food isn't super cheap etc, accom cost is low and comfortable in a budget way) and the in/out expense is a sunk cost. Also I am not doing nothing - yday very full, I do plan to at least try toucan viewing this afternoon and the Drake Trail tomorrow. That is a fairly solid "two full days" of activity, and worst case I've spread it over four full days because I am on a long-ish leisurely trip and can do that kind of thing. I *might* ask about this Los Planos 9h hike, but it also kind of feels like doing a tour for the sake of it. It doesn't sound bad at all, but it also doesn't massively grip me as a must-do - if I had pre-booked onward transport/accom and didn't have time to do it I would probably not be too gutted, whereas (before the practicalities of being unable to hike solo - which as I think I said does seem vaguely sensible, if annoying) not being able to consider the briefly appealing hostel at that night walk site *would* have been annoying.

The rain is slow-ish now and I should maybe move towards getting some stuff to cook - if I want to be at the toucan place for 4ish I probably need to set out 3-330ish on my attempt to walk over, so want to have cooked and eaten not *too* late so I don't feel bloated etc.

I just might also (depending on timescales - don't intend to hang round tocan site until dark, if only because of dogs - owner chap said it's safe wrt people cos everyone is local and dogs, but don't trust him re dogs, he has 6 and I am not sure locals really "get" this aspect of things) take a beer down to the beach for sunset.

1817 Skipping past some mildly cool stuff, was at the beach pre-sunset with a beer and handed a voucher or a free beer and told about karaoke night 7-10pm tonight at Sukia Hostel. This all feels vaguely serendipitous - on my toucan quest earlier (of which more anon) I walked past a sign for Sukia Hostel so I know where it is, ish. I also only got the voucher/was told about event because I was on beach watching pre-sunset, which I had wavered about.

I came back (soaked) and had a shower and shaved and cleaned teeth - all of which I'd have to do anyway, of course. Spoke to accom owner and she said she wouldn't walk round in this weather because of lightning - and there is a thunderstorm with lightning going on, in case not clear, it rumbling away like billy-o as I write this in room. She said (tho she's local) dogs not an issue, but maybe write and tell them I'm coming and ask how to get there as you have to go down a bit from road.

I would sort of like to go. I'm not really into karaoke these days but it all feels kind of serendipitous. Also the fact the hostel is "desperate" /friendly enough to have someone out handing out free beer vouchers and telling random non-guests about the event makes me wonder if it might be small enough to be friendly. Then again, the voucher does say "valid Tue or Thu" so maybe (with slightly less pleasing "yes man" style serendipity) I could go Thu. And of course how many people are going to turn up from out-of-hostel if there's a thunderstorm/rain? And if there were a lot of in-hostel people would they even be advertising?

I dunno. Genuinely torn. However, I think TBH if this thunderstorm keeps up (it isn't raining that heavily right now) and especially if the lightning keeps up, I'd probably be foolish to head out against actual local advice

On plus side I also asked owner about bus (seen hints via OSM and also web search) to Puerto Jimenez - it would be cool and also less annoying not to have to backtrack to Sierpe. She says yes, but there's one bus a day at 4am (to La Palma, as I thought) and then another one bus a day (! but she says they wait for each other, and at a push La Palma-PJ *may* be walkable) LP-PJ. 4am (dark) is not appealing, but if I understood correctly I think she said she could phone them and they'd probably come and pick me up here. I will sleep on this and maybe ask her. While not epic adventure and not "story worthy" as such (not that I have anyone to listen to my stories), it would be sort of cool to take an obscure-ish bus across the Osa peninsula instead of backtracking via Sierpe, and I could I assume then get boat from PJ-Golfito etc once I'm done in PJ.

1829 Just opened room door to check on storm and a double lightning flash lit up the garden so brighly it looked like daylight for a fraction of a second! :-)

It could stop. But if it does it could come back. I dunno. Yes, serendipity. But I'd like to think I can take a hint from the universe that maybe I'll get a million volts to the face if I persist. No one (except maybe Tony C :-) ) likes karaoke *that* much.

1837 Looking at Sukia hostel on booking.com, it looks mildly swish (bearing in mind the perfectly nice hostel in eg Uvita could appear that way if you focused on the expensive glamping option) with no dorm beds tonight and 18 dollars a bed tomorrow night, and it also might have moderately extensive (just based on photos) grounds which might be a smidge awkward to navigate for the first time in the dark.

The storm seems to have mostly abated but there is still rumbling. I kind of feel I "should" go - as I say, it just kind of felt like the universe was dropping a series of small coincidences in my lap (OK, just had another lightning flash) and I'd be churlish not to follow up on them. On the other hand, there is essentially zero street lighting here (another lightning flash) and I have been kind of advised *not* to go if there's lightning. The street lighting/dogs issue feels like a bit of a mental block I should overcome - and did to a small extent last night heading out to/returning from night walk - so that pulls me both ways a bit (fear/overcoming fear - another lightning flash). Also having looked on booking.com there's also (not that I'd expect it to look anything other than successful, of course - no one gets pity stays on booking.com) this successful hostel vibe and so my visions of it being endearingly sociable just because there are only three or four people there feel implausible now.

Obviously this is not deathbed regret stuff. It's clearly not insane *not* to go. (I'm not bothered about the free beer - I'd obviously be morally compelled and instinctually desire to buy some beers anyway.) Also would I be able to relax if worrying about how to get back? Of course 10pm is hardly middle of night, but it sort of feels like it here.

(It's quite weird. This obviously *is* tourist central but it also feels kind of run down small town with the dirt roads and although there are eg groups of tourists around, it doesn't feel like everyone you see if a tourist or as if the place feels overrun. Montezuma had some charm and was a bit rundown in some ways, but it was still very obviously full of tourists/expats, and that doesn't seem to be the case here.)

1848 OK, non-executive near-decision. (Flash of lightning just as I was typing that.) I'm not going. It was very cool on the beach actually, there was a rainbow, also the overcast sky and light-getting-heavier (I had my bag with me and put shell jacket on, trousers got soaked but put electronics in jacket) rain gave this strange but attractive golden misty quality to the air at least over on the "sun side" of the sky. (Interesting that earlier the sky had been distinctly different shade either side of the rainbow, as if someone had done a flood fill on either side with a different colour and the rainbow formed the "join" .) As I say, it was cool on the beach, rainbow/golden mist, that's enough. I have been "open" to the pleasing serendipity of this karaoke night but given the weather and the possible difficulty of finding the place it feels a bit more "awkward" than I'd like to go. I did/do also want to be up early for Drake Trail (which I finally spotted on OSM earlier and which superficially looks like an epic journey, not something to be done in 2h each way, but we'll see how it goes), although strictly speaking a couple more beers and home by 2230 isn't a killer there. But as I say, I've been torn but I've decided not to go. It just doesn't feel quite right.

1903 Researching further options. Misc notes as I go before I waffle further:

- this accom is USD57 for two more nights, *way* more than I'm pay (10+tax/night) and that feels insane. Not that I really want to stay in this accom another two nights, but since it came up in the search... (To be fair, that's a double not twin room. Maybe the room I have now - a twin - is booked already.)

- Random web search turns up slightly wanky travel writing which says "stunning sunsets" here. It was nice tonight with the mist but "stunning" may be overdoing it - sun sets behind land (at least on main beach) so you don't get that "Tamarindo" effect. I am not saying it wasn't cool tonight tho, the writing just got to me a bit.

OK, what I was/am thinking is that the question really is "do I want to extend my stay here with somewhere 'adventurous'?" . The hostel mentioned by night walk owner might qualify but I wandered over there today (the toucan site - I remembered a ferreteria we passed as the guy mentioned it - is just a few mins walk round corner from here, so spotting a group of tourists with *huge* cameras and having got there about 1605 despite foolishly hanging on in room til 1550ish, I walked on to see if I could find this hostel "20 mins walk" out of town, and I semi-could) and although I found the steps (which we probably walked up - guy said it was a short cut as it was raining - at end of last night's tour) and spoke to a Costa Rican guy (one of two) lugging some cut wood up the staircase (who barely seemed to understand me or was maybe just knackered/surly, though I did my best to be polite and apologised for disturbing him etc) who said there might be a hostel down there and was fine with me going down, the path forked and one came to a sign saying "night tour" and forked again and another *might* have been a path to farm (eco farm, tubing and night walk signposted at various points, hostel not) I turned back and slogged up the stairs (fair play of those guys doing it lugging wood on shoulder) and walked back to have a look at toucan area (spotted one or two soaring over private road as walked out of farm, and did see on or two in area but high in trees - quite cool really to be standing "out in the country" all the same) and then went down to beach and dithered and watched sunset then came home. (No lightning any more and wondering if I gave up too easily. But I think it's fine.)

So while I didn't get to see the hostel and its existence on booking.com is confusing and/or it is probably booked up, I do now (assuming it is on the same site etc, as it almost certainly is) have reasonable confidence I could walk over with my pack even with it containing a few tins of tuna/beans to cook with. However, the earlier observations re solo walking of trails still continue to be valid. It would be sort of cool to stay "in" jungle/on this pseudo-working farm, but then again I've probably already kinda-sorta done this sort of thing before - and this place is a kilometre from where I'm staying now and I've stayed in all kinds of places on this tour etc.

Saw ads in town for some place with elevated tents, but Google and booking.com seem to be unable to actually show me a web site for the business itself or anywhere to book it or get a price - just review sites and mentions and so forth.

Incidentally at beach at 5pm-ish there were some hostel people with signs greeting some newly arrived boats. This felt *way* too late, maybe these were the 1530ish boats from Sierpe I guess, it does perhaps fit.

There's a hostel here on beach (boat access - so how would *I* get there from here already?) with a 12 bed dorm for USD10/night plus tax and jungle at the back, but is this really that appealing? And modulo its slight weirdness I have a recommendation for a cool private reserve near PJ, and there may well be other stuff there.

I would also like to get the bus to PJ for a weird kind of adventure and quirkiness and not backtracking - notwithstanding vague qualms, but I guess if I *get on* the bus I get to La Palma and that's close enough to PJ to sort *something* out, given I'd arrive around sunrise, and if I *don't* get on the bus I can probably re-enter my room here - I'd leave key in padlock on room door, and street gate has no lock - and sort something else out (eg dorm somewhere cheap here for the night) so I'm not going to get utterly stranded. And it kind of, rationally or otherwise, feels like letting the owner here sort me out with that is a good option, which I'll lose if I move elsewhere here in Drake for an "adventure" experience. But more to the point, the eco farm hostel place from the night walk feels vaguely impractical (the solo aspect mainly - as I say, I could ask at place round corner re booking/location if wanted - and FWIW (having noted number plate out of paranoia last night) the 4WD we went out to the night hike on last night was parked on the private road just before the steps down when I went to the farm/tubing/hoped-for hostel site this afternoon). And the vague idea of going to some merely inconveniently located hostel by boat and staying "on the edge of the jungle" doesn't feel super adventurous or interesting somehow. It's not like I can think of anywhere I've stayed that ticks that precise box right now, but I have slept within earshot of beach, I have stayed in rural-y areas, etc.

OK, so let's provisionally say I go to PJ when my five nights here are up - probably by arse o'clock bus, but if not presumably via nearly arse o'clock boat (730 if sign near beach to be believed, there's an afternoon one too but not ideal given further bus travel needed) back to Sierpe then onward buses from there. Is there any half-decent accom? I might book for just 2-3 nights and then maybe move to somewhere *like* that recommded slightly weird place. Let's poke at the booking site(s) re this.

OK, hostelworld only shows one property which is also on booking.com. Not checked airbnb at this point. Looks like there aren't huge numbers of places, at least with availability, but as of now I could get a dorm bed somewhere OKish for USD15ish a night. Although I might want to (try to) book the slightly weird place ahead of time, I don't want to be going straight there after the slightly stressful and early morning bus ride (or, should that be necessary, boat to Sierpe plus moderately faffy buses from there to PJ).

Gut feeling - OK, let me just read guide book before I finish this sentence. Right, it says that bus might go at 1330 as well as 0400 but to check with your hotel as it doesn't always run. Will mention this to owner here but she's probably right. It also says the full Drake Trail is 8-12h or so down to San Pedrecillo (? from memory, think there is where my tour went) but looking at map San Josecito is not that far from there, fuck knows. Just suck it and see how far I get and how it feels, I guess.

Anyway, it says lots of accom in PJ but maybe it's wrong or lots is booked up or not on booking.com/hostelworld. I do kind of have a feeling that modulo some possible "find a small trail on OSM" type stuff or this slightly weird place out of town, there isn't that much for me in PJ itself, given I've done these tours from here in BD. So probably - and I will probably sleep on this - the plan is to leave here for PJ after my five nights (Fri morning?), spend a night or two in a dorm in PJ, then (booking say tomorrow) if I am willing to risk the slightly weird hiking place book in there for say 3 nights, then depending on distances and times and so forth maybe one night back in a dorm in PJ town before getting a boat across to Golfito. I think this *roughly* fits in with my sketched itinerary even if I can get in that slightly weird place (risking this also something to sleep on) and doesn't see me rushing off the Osa peninsula feeling I haven't seen it (*of course* I could do more, there are loads of tours - a lot of them swimming-ish, of course, but also eg that Los Planes one for 9h I am *probably* not going to try to book - but nothwithstanding all this "could do more" I feel that while I could come back, I also don't feel I haven't seen a fair bit, and this is before doing Drake Trail tomorrow and maybe something from PJ).

Of course I could be knackered and/or late back tomorrow after this trail but we will see how it goes I guess.

2017 Just popped down to kitchen with a room temp papaya I bought at supermarket earlier as an experiment - had half of it, quite nice and vaguely familiar. Put other half in fridge (deliberately didn't do earlier as it might be more flavourful warm etc) for tomorrow.

Really need to get night hike down. Went over - already dark and took wrong turn but not too bad - about 6, he said it was on, paid on ccard no fuss, hung around chatting to him (all in English) and trying on a pair of wellies for size while we waited to see if a family would turn up (they didn't), then got in 4WD and went and picked up two other pairs of people, so tour was the 5 of us plus two guides (owner not one of them).

Tour was very good, a lot less "commercial" than the one I did in La Fortuna - no telescopes, not even sure about laser pointer. However, not that the LF one wasn't good (just different) this one didn't need it as it felt a lot more up close and personal. We were walking trails in the far less manicured private reserve here and walking across rivers etc, and eg the water spider sitting on the rock was right there next to us, and the fer-de-lance was just on the bank a few metres away, and when we saw the chameleon we took it in turns to go up next to guide and look through bushes and it was there about a metre away - so all naked eye viewing, which is probably more satisfying. Not sure my phone/camera ideal for any of this but did snap (without getting too worked up) quite a few photos, and I think some have come out OK. (On morning tour guide had telescope and would take pictures for us through it, as on night walk.)

He said banana spider had killed someone in England after a hospital stay two months ago - no idea if true. Apparently it only kills men not women, something down to testosterone? TBH take all this with a pinch of salt, eg LF guide said no CR spiders were fatal to humans. Apparently banana spider not aggressive though.

The red flower we were lucky to see on morning hike might have been pasiflor, but far from sure.

Rain mostly held off on night hike but did start to rain quite heavily towards end. I did just get a chance to put shell jacket on but already a bit wet before then as couldn't get it out of bag (didn't even try) without losing stuff while we were walking. Didn't really need overtrousers but didn't have that much chance to put on anyway. We all came back to town in benches in open (but not raining that heavily) 4WD rear, and bit of chat in process - two Dutch women in 20s IIRC and two German sisters in 30s who looked much younger. (I was asked my age and told them, they said I looked younger but as one joked maybe it being dark helped. :-) ) They were all on relatively short 3-4 week trips IIRC.

That's the gist of it on top of what I already wrote. May come up with misc extra reminiscences as time goes on, but wanted to get the basic flavour of it down. As I say, lack of telescopes and that hint of "professionalism" (not the right word, as I had every confidence in the guides) not being present as in LF hike not a problem and quite refreshing and it was all decently up close and personal as I think I said.

I did ask and guide said there were golden orb weavers there but we didn't see any, FWIW, despite them having seemed pretty common in San Pedrillo. (sp/memory on these names)

2148 Been watching bit of YT but going to head down and clean my teeth and have a piss and then go to bed - can read in bed but will set alarm for maybe-optimistic 7am with the idea that maybe I can get out on that trail before it gets too hot.

Was going to do some laundry tonight but didn't, not end of world.

2200 OK, bed. Do slightly regret not going to karaoke - weather did really settle down, as far as I noticed - but I am not utterly gutted and I did get some useful write up and onward travel research done tonight which I might not otherwise have done and I am at least going to bed early so some chance of early start tomorrow.