Arrive in Urique

Ireland

I'm off to Dublin today to meet up with my brothers for the Ireland vs England rugby match on Saturday. After that I shall be travelling to the west coast of ireland, beginning in Killarney. I wont be back until the 12th march.

This Time Last Year

Woke up at 6am after good night's sleep and walked down to the outlook that we were shown yesterday. I took a good few pictures as the sun rose and lit the gorge. Walter came later and we walked back together for a breakfast at about 7am.



The first hour was a very steep descent with plenty of scree. I was ahead when we reached the bottom of this section (though we would spend all day descending) and bathed my feet in a rock pool whilst waiting for the others. Amazingly I saw a salamander in the pool floating in that typical skydiver way.



Our descent continued on the shady side of the gorge on a fine track. Superb views.

Eventually the horses pasted us and we could see that the riders were having a tricky time on the steep descent. I think some of them walked on some sections. The descent continued and we passed some marijuana fields. It's grown a lot in small allotments high in the mountains, but it's not wise to hang about or take photographs.

Our descent continued and we took a break at a metal bridge across a small stream.

Pretty soon we arrived at the small village of Naranjo. We have lunch at a friends of our guide and enjoy the shade.

After that the descent continues only this time we are in the full glare of the sun. I use my umbrella as a sun-shade much to everyone's amusement.

Finally we get down to the road and are met my a truck of our ranch. They will drive us into Urique so we don't have to walk the hot dusty road ourselves.



Details
Start at 8.48 and walked for 6hrs 53mins
Low 849m at 15.41
High 1941m at 9.12
Descent 1299m
Ascent 216m

We stay at a small hotel in town and convene at a local restaurant for dinner later. I manage to upset a farmer from the USA who grows corn locally and then offers it as prize money to the locals for long-distance running. If the local tribes had not been thrown off their land and made to live in the mountains they would still be growing their own corn now. He didn't like my arguments. I didn't ask if he was growing GM varieties!

The dinner was very good and the company around the table fun. Later a bunch of bikers came in and joined us. They were boisterous and friendly.

This Time in 2007

Today we are to paddle the Tres Amigos. But first we must repair the damaged canoe.

We finally get away at about 9am after some hassle involving the credit card. After a two drive down a bumpy road we reach the small town of P. Here we spend an hour doing some shopping for lunch and then go down the ironmongers to get some nuts and bolt to fix the seat on the canoe, We already have some tape to fix the leak.

After everyone is back on board we drive around the maze of dirt roads in the pineapple plantations until we find the put-in for the Tres Amigos. This time we find it quite easily!



This river is a beautiful limpid green colour and runs in dappled shade as the trees lean over the river. Some people take a swim to cool off whilst we fix the canoe.

David and I take the repaired boat, and we take a bailer too. It still leaks in a slow way! We have a very pleasant days paddling on a very pleasant river. David has his first day without falling in! That's not counting the Rio Frio yesterday which has no rapids.



After the take-out we have another long drive to the Laguna del Lagarto which is a beautiful wildlife lodge. Its 7.15pm by the time we arrive so its a quick shower and change for everyone before dinner.

On the Trail to Batopilas

Birdi Boys

Last Monday I travelled to Brussels to visit Dharminder and his boys. As well as the usual escapades; building Lego, indoor ballon tennis and making camps from blankets and chairs we also took some photographs.

This Time Last Year

Today was the first day of our 11 day trek to Batopilas and Urique and back.




First of all I was up before breakfast to take some shots of the moon over the 'Yogi Bear' rocks.

After breakfast we got all our gear together and separated it into what we were to carry and what was to be carried by carried by our Mules. We were five on our hike, me, Jim, adrian, James and Catherine and we would be joined by our guide, Dave. Three travellers (from Germany) would be doing half the trip on horseback; Erich, Walter and Sonja. They would be accompanied onhorseback by our camp masters Hugo and Indio. Aaron and Beth would also accompany us; sometimes on horseback and sometimes walking with us.




We had a very pleasant days hiking, starting with a walk up through a narrow gorge - called Cajones, and then up through some woods. We took a lunch break in the woods whilst waiting for the horses to catch up. Although we waited an hour they didn't materialise so we continued walking for a couple more hours before we arrived at Huicorachi. We were camped just beyond the village school in someone's backyard!



It was a lovely spot and we walked out to an amazing outlook before dinner. Hugo and Indio did a great job here as they would every night.



Details:
Started at 9.30am and walked for 5hrs 21min.
Low point 1610m at 9.36
High point 2042m at 13.13
Descent 291m
Ascent 570m

This Time in 2007

Today we are to paddle on the Rio Frio, which is a slow languid river with almost no current. It usaully takes about 5 hours and can be quite arduous in the heat. To avoid the worst of the sun we try and make an early start.

We are up and packed and ready to leave at 6am. The van will meet us at the take-out later. We walk into the village and have breakfast in a small local cafe. On the way we take a look at the lagoon and see Roseate Spoonbills, Wood Storks and, quite rare, some Stilts.

Unfortunately the water is quite low so we cannot start in the lagoon but have to carry our canoes a couple of hundred yards to the river itself. We see several large Caiman hanging out in the canoe as we walk by. Today I paddle with Cathy as Brett has decided not to paddle today.

As usual along this river we see many birds, mammals and reptiles. This is easily the best river for wildlife that we paddle. We actually see a Basilisk Lizard running on the water - hence it's other name as the Jesus Christ Lizard!



We see many Caiman sleeping on the banks; we have to approach quietly as they tend to slip into the water when disturbed. We also saw many Howler Monkeys, a few glimpses of White-Faced Capuchins, but no Spider Monkeys at all.

All the usual variety of river birds are on show, but we do see two types of parakeet which are not often seen.

Cathy and I are drifting ahead of the others looking for the lagoon where we will stop for lunch when Carlos shouts to us to wait. Apparently one of the canoes is leaking and we don't have a bailer!

We take David on board our canoe as a passenger and the others swap boats so that Carlos has the sinking one!

When we reach the lagoon we discover that the water is so low that the lagoon has disappeared; only a trickle of s stream remains. This means sadly that there is no host of Roseate Spoonbills and other wading birds to see.

After that it's another 45 minutes paddling to the take-out just beyond the bridge. Carlos and Luis start loading the canoes onto the van and I prepare the lunch on the tables outside the cafe.

I put some fruit out to attract butterflies but am unlucky.

When lunch is over we pile onto the van for our long drive to the Lodge at Escondido. The latter part of this drive is through miles and miles of pineapple plantations.

We arrive in time for our guests to have a swim in the pool before dinner.

Yogi Bear Rocks

This Time Last Year

I was up before breakfast to take photographs of the moon and the sunrise.

Today we have a rest day at the hotel to get our bearings.



However we decided to stretch our legs by doing a walk up to the 'Yogi bear' rocks which overlook the ranch. Their was no trail up through the bush but it was easy enough to find our way to the look out point. Fabulous views. We searched in vain for a way to do a circular walk and bring us down another way, but we couldn't so we returned the same way.

After lunch I went for another walk down the local stream. Not many butterflies or dragonflies about.



I got back at 3pm and found that everyone else had left for a drive to the outlook over Copper Canyon and a preview of where we will hike. Never mind. I spent the afternoon sitting in the sun and chatting to a couple of guests from California.



Dinner in the evening was very pleasant as other guests had arrived on the train that day.

This Time in 2007

Up again at 7.30am for breakfast in the local cafe. Our hotel doesn't do food, but this cafe is great and offers all sorts of fresh fruit, eggs and amazing juices with water or milk.

Today we paddle on the Rio Arenal though this comes in to the Rio San Carlos and we go downstream from there, past where the Rio Penas Blancas enters for our take-out further downstream.



This river flows through agricultural land and has huge banks which are almost 2m cliffs. It also has a lot of fallen trees in it and a couple of places where the river narrows and flows faster. I paddled with May in my bow again and, as usual, we had a couple of capsizes. Donna and Ellen went over and then later Josh and David went over too. They had to swim for a while before we could get them to shore and I had to rescue a paddle too.

We stopped on a beach for lunch. Later at a rather sharp corner Amy and I got around but all the other boats when straight into the bushes. It took a little while to extricate everyone. Because of all the excitement the paddle ended up being longer than usual. It was 3pm before we came to the take-out. At this place you also have to carry the boats a long way to the van.

From here we drove to Cano Negra, the last hour of which is along a bumpy dusty road. It was just getting dark when we arrived. I did the washing up from the picnic in the swimming-pool bar whilst the guest relaxed in the pool.

All the guest had dinner at the hotel but the four of us, me, Luis, Carlos and Florence walked into the village and had a home-cooked dinner at Maria's place. We will be having breakfast here too tomorrow.

A Train journey on the El Chepe

This Time Last Year

Woke at 5am, got myself packed and was out the door at 6.15am. I jumped a taxi to the Mirador to take some shots. Amazingly James was already there. He'd jogged (or run!). I missed the sunrise but I still got a few shots of the distant mountains.



James jogged back to the hotel and I took the taxi down to the station to wait for the others to walk down

The El Chepe train was only 15 minutes late and we piled on-board to have breakfast in the restaurant car.



We all relax and enjoy the views. It's a spectacular ride. At Divisadero the train stops for 15 minutes so we can get out and enjoy the view over Copper Canyon.


We arrive at Bahuichivo and our hosts at the Rancho del Oso (or Hotel Paraiso del Oso) are their to meet us. It's about a forty minute ride along the bumpy road to the hotel. We checked in and then later had our welcome Margaritas before dinner.

This Time in 2007

We were all up for breakfast at the cafe for 7am. Four of the group are going horseback riding today and will also ride a zip-line through the canopy later. The rest of us are going for a hike through the Arenal National Park.

Our planned through walk had to be abandoned however as some people who own the access have closed the entrance off. Instead we went to the main entrance and hiked in and back, with a loop in the middle. It was a very hot morning and the birdlife was very quiet. We did a toucan and we did hear a Bell Bird though we couldn't locate it. For a change the weather was clear and we had a great view from the lava flows across the lake to the volcano.



We arrived back at the hotel about 1pm and decided to have a picnic lunch in the hotel gardens. The others arrived shortly after.

When lunch was finished we all piled into the bus to return to the Rio Penas Blanca. We would start todays paddle from where we left off yesterday. It wasn;t long after we;d started that Amy and David were once again in the water! We'd even give them special lessons before we started! In fact they came a cropper at exactly the same place where Harry and Cathy wrapped a boat around a tree-stunp on our last trip! Although the boat did sink this time it didn't get pinned. We let the boat go whilst we dealt with them and finally got them to shore at a small beach.

We then got them to sit in 3's in two other boats whilst Carlos and I went to find the lost boat. It was caught under a branch but we were able to empty it and rescue it.

At this point we decided that it would perhasp be best if we split the pair up! I took Amy and Carlos took David and Florence had to try and get on solo - a first for her!

Again the river was very quiet in terms of bird-life. We did however see a couple of troops of Howler Monkeys and an Iguana.

We pulled up on the beach at the confluence of the Rio Penas Blanca and the Rio San Carlos just to stretch our legs before paddling the last few hundred metres to the take-out. It's always a long way to carry the canoes at this take-out.

On the way back ti the hotel we stopped at the Iguana Bridge for an ice-cream.

Back at the hotel we had a very speedy 5 minute turn-around before driving to the Baldi Hot Spings. We stayed here a couple of hours and enjoyed ourselves immensely in the warm waters. I even discovered so more springs higher up the mountain.

Then we jumped back in the bus and shot back to the hotel for another quick turn-around before walking into Fortuna for dinner at a local cantina.

Mirador at Cuauhtemoc

At Home

I visit Brussels today and the Birdi family. Dharminder and I monkey about taking photographs of his boys using off camera flash and a variety of techniques learnt from the Strobist website. Alexandre was 9 years old yesterday. Unbelievable. We also manage to build some Lego, to have a game of balloon doubles tennis and build a tent!

Later on Dhar and I got out for a drink and I get the last train home to Antwerp.

This Time Last Year

Get up for breakfast at 8am and decide to head straight away to Cuauhtemoc. We walk down the street to the bus stop and soon find ourselves on the Rapido bus.

It's a comfortable bus (with TV) bt I read the Guardian newspaper that Jim has brought me from Lndon and look out the window,

The landscape is brown and dry. The weather is warm, very warm and the sky is a bright and clear blue. We pass miles of apple and pear orchards. In the distance are brown and bare mountains.

When we arrive, we find our hotel nd check in. We find the Railway Station but it is empty and we can get no information. We have have a seafood lunch and then walk up to the Mirador which overlooks the town. It has been nicely made and the views are spectacular.



After resting at the hotel we again vist the Railway Station. Again it is empty.

In the evening we have dinner at the Rancho Viejo. Very good. Nice Mexican wine.

This Time in 2007

Up at 6.30am for a breakfast of coffee and French toast. My ride turned up promptly at 8am to start me on my 3 and half hour journey. Apparently it would take 8 hours if I went around Lake Arenal on the bus.

The ordinary mini-van turned up promptly at 8am to pick me up and we scootered around town and picked up another couple. However as we were leaving town on a dirt road we smashed against the road and something underneath broke. We limped back into town and waited for a replacement bus.

I was concerned as it was important for me to get to Fortuna by midday to meet Carlos, Luis and the new canoeing group.

Fortunately another bus arrived by 8.30 and we were on the road again. Another couple had joined us.

The route, instead of going through the forest as I imagined, climbed over hills past vast coffee plantations and through large cattle ranches. The views over towards the Pacific Ocean were superb and the rolling green hills were very picturesque. Although the weather had started out warm and bright by the time we had crossed over to the Caribbean side it was overcast and cooler. It also rained a little.

After about two hours we came down to the lakeside and had to walk the last 200m to a boat that was waiting for us. The lake itself was quite choppy and the views of the volcano were obscured by low cloud. A pity. It was only a half-hour ride across the lake and soon we were clambering into another mini-bus to take us into Fortuna town.

Pretty soon I was at Canoa Aventura - Oscars place. Carlos and Luis didn't get there until 1pm and it took us until 2pm to get all the canoes and everything loaded. It was almost 3pm by the time we picked up our guest from the Hotel. I met Cathy, Josh, Nancy, Ellen and Donna again. I had been with them on a canoeing trip in France. I also met Brett, Amy and David for the first time. Florence was also here and would be joining us for the trip.

We finally got them in the water, but quickly had to rescue two boats as the went over at the first bend! We did a T and an H rescue in mid-river to get ourselves going again! Pretty soon after that we pulled up at a beach for a very late lunch. After lunch one couple went over again and Carlos and I had to rescue them but after that they managed to stay in the boat!

We managed to see a bit of wildlife; some egrets and herons, an iguana and a troop of Howler Monkeys, but the river was surprisingly quiet. We had finished paddling by 5pm and managed to get back to the hotel at 6pm just as night was falling.

We reconvened at 7pm for a short walk into town and a restaurant.

Arenal Volcano

This Time Last Year

A travel day. Up at 7am, taxi at 9am, arrive at airport 10, queue until 11 and find out that I'm allowed to fly on the earlier 2pm flight. Fine. Gives me more time at Houston.

And then the flight was delayed an hour anyway!

At Houston it takes me two hours to get through Homeland Security. Just how many time do you want to take my fingerprints?

Customs make a fuss with a bottle of duty-free I have. They confiscate it and then insist I have to check-it in which means I have to pay $10 to pack it! Great.The bottle only cost me $15 dollars anyway. But it's a gift for the rest of the crew and we'll enjoy this by a camp-fire on top of a mountain somewhere. So I'm determined to go through this whole stupid process. I have to go in and out and back in through customs to do this ... and I'm taking my shoes off all the time too. Complete and utter madness.

I just about make it to the Chihuahua flight and meet Jim, Adriana, James and Catherine at the gate.

It's a short two hour flight on a small plane. Poor Jim has to fold his legs up to fit!

When we arrive at Chihuahua all our luggage comes through except my duty-free. Great. I kick up a fuss and make everyone wait. Eventually someone brings it out. I just get the feeling they were hoping I would say 'don't bother' and they could enjoy it themselves. They must have known what it was!

After a short taxi drive we arrive at our hotel. It's fine enough. We have a couple of beers and crash out.

This Time in 2007

Up at 5.30am in anticipation of an early breakfast before being picked up at 6.30 for my early morning walk in the Cloud Forest. No breakfast was available in the hotel though so I got a coffee and cake at the road-side stall across the street.

The van arrives to drive us out of town on the bumpy dirt road. We are going to the Santa Elena Cloud Forest. We arrive about 7am and have time for a coffee before donning Wellington Boots for the walk. Our guide was Jorge and we were joined by Cecilia and Nicola from France, and by Richard and Mae from Quebec.

Outside the reserve entrance we observed a row of humming-bird feeders and saw four different species here before stepping into the forest. Although the walk through the forest was very enjoyable we didn't, in fact, see very much bid-life. The recent bad weather had apparently forced many of the birds down the mountain. This included the famous Quetzels. The guide also pointed out a sloth but it was way too high in the canopy to appreciate.

Back at the Park Headquarters I had an early lunch before setting off on a walk of my own in an attempt to photograph some butterflies. In this I was quite successful and saw several new species (for me!), although it was not a big return for a walk of three and a half hours. However I was lucky to get some good clear views of the Arenal Volcano which is usually shrouded in cloud.



Back at the Park HQ I had to wait for a group to come out of the forest before catching the bus back to town.

At the hotel I cleaned my boots before having a couple of beers and relaxing.

First Day in the Garden

Garden

At last a day warm enough to work in the garden. Firstly I cleared up the front garden. This always picks up a lot of litter from the road and I had a few leaves to pick up too. It's not looking too bad with plenty of crocus already flowering and the daffodils pushing up too.

In the new back garden - which in fact is a guerilla garden as the land doesn't belong to us - I completed the edging and the pathways. I've planted a small orchard here with 2 plums, 2 apples, 1 pear and 1 peach as well as 2 crab-apples. In-between I've also planted some soft-fruit. That's 6 currants; 2 red , 2 white and 2 black, 4 gooseberries; 2 green and 2 pink. 6 Myrtle bushes and 12 cranberries. These latter are planted at the base of the fruit trees each of which is in it's own small bed. these are also under planted with 100 crocus and 50 daffodils each. These are just coming through.

The ground around the orchard I intend to be a wild meadow. So I rake over the soil and will think about when the time to sow is. I'll look at a book tonight.

Later I put some manure around all the fruit trees. This is dried cow shit pellets, so I watered it in too.

My next door neighbour has been making a lot of noise today, but I can see he is building a greenhouse. This reminds me that I still have to prepare my raised beds. When I saw my neighbour later he told me that he intends to grow tomatoes and stuff. He also told me that he's going to try raising chickens too!

This Time Last Year

Another layover day in San Jose. I did some errands. Posted some stuf to Kristine; coffee and rum! Read in the afternoon and got all my stuff ready for tomorrow.

This Time in 2007

Up fairly early and enjoyed the luxury of a hot shower. Not something I can have in Santa Ana. after an American Breakfast I decided to walk up to the Butterfly Gardens.



First, however, I located the Tourist Information Office. I booked my ride to Fortuna on Friday - the quickest way is to take a 4x4 to the shore of Lake Arenal, then a boat across the lake and then a local bus! Otherwise its a 6 hour ride. I also booked a night walk tonight and a walk in the cloud forest tomorrow morning.



The day turned out hot and dusty and quite blowy as well. Apparently it was the tail end of a hurricane. The days before I had arrived had been characterised by torrential rain.



It was a long walk to the Butterfly Garden but I amused myself by photographing a couple of species along the way. The staff at the Butterfly garden were mostly students from the USA either on sabbatical or on a volunteer holiday. They were very helpful too as I had some photographs of some species to identify. They had DeVries Volume 2, which I don't have, which describes the Metalmarks. My exotic blue turned out to be a skipper though! Amazing. All out skippers at home are small and brown!



I wandered around all four of the Butterfly Houses and spent a good four hours there. They claimed to have about 50 species, but I could only see about half that and managed to photograph 17 and I didn't bother with Siproeta or Hamadryas. Also the Sulphurs were flying too high for me to shoot.



Whilst I was back at reception I got chatting to a couple of students who were just about to leave on a field-trip - to the meadows just across the road. They invited me to join them which I did. The first time I've ever been netting with others!



It was hot out in the field and I didn't have much luck - I caught one small blue. They had more luck capturing a couple of swallowtails. These were P. thoas a black and yellow species.



I then walked back to my hotel for an afternoon siesta. At 5pm I was picked up for my night walk When I arrived it turned out I was on the wrong night-walk and should have gone with another group. Oops. But they didn't seem that bothered and I joined them anyway. I was amazed by what we saw. Some Coatis, a red and black tarantula, some bats and four types of sleeping birds. The guide was interesting too and we had a very enjoyable two hours in the forest.