Corcovado National Park

A few people have mentioned this park, on the far southern Pacific tip of Costa Rica. C.G. in particular called this the "best park in Central America." That's a pretty strong statement, but it was coming from someone who spent a lot of time down here and knows what he's talking about, someone I could trust.

So, we took another long bus ride from San Jose down to a one-street town called Puerto Jiminez, which is our jumping off point into the park. It's another 2 hour truck ride from here, which only got us 32 km closer to the park. We then had to walk because the truck couldn't cross the swollen river (seven straight days of rain). We walked 10km to the beach, where we set up camp. The next day started with another 3.5 km along the beach to the park entrance. However, all this effort was well worth it as we saw more wildlife in one day than we have anywhere else (so far). It is the off season, so we nearly had this side of the park to ourselves. It was hard to take in all of the animals - too many to count. So, here's a few pictures. Will post more later, along with more details of what we're up to. Tomorrow we're heading back into the park, but via another entrance: Rio Tigre. This is more mountainous, less visited, and even rainier (is that possible)? Until then, a few photos to keep you wondering . . .

Hiking through the jungle, all to ourselves.

Making a new friend

Tons of hermit crabs. If only you could eat them . . .

Too much tree to hug!

Spider monkeys, eating and playing, just like us.

An interesting new shelter that has made me reevaluate the necessity of a tent.