Costa Rica

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Preface

Hi, my name is Stefan Stenfeldt and for me it all started in 2007. I planned to go to Costa Rica on my own in Mars 2008. I bought two books about Costa Rica's national parks, a couple of books about Costa Rica's wildlife and also a couple of books about reptiles and amphibians in Costa Rica. One of several places I wanted to visit was Santa Rosa national park up in the north-west of Costa Rica. It was however difficult to get information about Santa Rosa and it surroundings. I was among other things forced to buy a fax-machine since many hotels in the guide books didn't have e-mail addresses. The planning took quite a lot of time and I had to postpone my travel in the end of 2007 due to lack of time.

In the beginning of 2008 I got information from the reptile club, Göteborgs Herpetologiska Förening, that Fredrik and Pauline were planning a journey to Costa Rica. They were going to talk about it on a meeting the 10th of February. Pauline had been working there with biological studies and Fredrik had been there twice on long holidays with his girlfriend. They were of course also showing a lot of photos from their travels in the country.

Fredrik had put an advertisement on the Internet site www.repti.net. He had searched for people who would like to go with him and who shared his interest for especially snakes but also for other reptiles and amphibians. He had named the expedition "Bushmaster" since that was the snake he most of all would like to find.

Six other people were also at that meeting. They came from different parts of Sweden and they all wanted to go with him on the expedition. Two of them, Johan and Pauline, couldn't go with us for different reasons. Six of us remained and you can see all of us in the photo below.

In front, to the left, you have Fredrik. He is living in Gothenburg, 28 years old and working as a policeman. He has a lot of experience in handling poisonous snakes. He has for instance been working extra with looking after the extremely poisonous snakes at the museum called Universeum in Gothenburg.

In the middle, to the left, you have Max. He got the nickname bug-man during the expedition. He is interested in all kinds of bugs, especially spiders, which he has a lot of at his home. He is 29 years, living in Gävle and working as an ambulance driver. You can see some of his photos here.

At the back, to the left, you have David. He is 32 years old and living in Lund. He works with micro biology at a University. Ha has a lot of experience in handling for instance cobras.You can see some of his photos here.

In the back, to the right, you have Andreas. He is 22 years old and knows everything about frogs. He has for instance red-eyed leaf frogs at his home.You can see some of his photos here.

In the middle, to the right, you have Rickard. He is 29 years old and living in Västerås. He is an expert in boas and pythons.

Finally you have me, in front, to the right. I am 46 years old and living outside Gothenburg. I work as a system programmer and have always been interested in all kinds of animals but especially reptiles.

Friday 14 November

I checked-in on Internet 19:50 the evening before my journey. There was only one aisle seat left. Most of the seats were already occupied which I thought was strange. Are almost all people using Internet when they check-in since only about 10 seats remained? I couldn't check in the flight from NY to San Jose. A better name would be seat reservation and not check-in since you don't check-in anything.

My father fetched me at my home 4:00 in the morning and drove me to the airport. I tried to check-in again on a terminal at the airport but it didn't work. The man at the check-in desk managed to reserve an aisle seat also from New York to San Jose.

At Landvetter airport they had started to use fingerprints during check-in. They scan your right forefinger during check-in. When you board the plane you therefore only have to scan the finger again without showing any documents such as boarding card or passport if I remember correct.

A female pilot named Charlotte drove the plane to Stockholm where the temperature was 2 degrees Centigrade. They told us that SAS thinks about the environment so if you didn't want to keep the newspapers you got during boarding you should put them on a special place where they would be recycled. It would be better to use them again I thought. Anyway, I have always wondered if you could keep them or not and now I know that you could take them with you home if you want.

At Arlanda I should go to gate F62 which I couldn't find. On a monitor I found that gate F62 was at terminal 5 which was easier to find. They searched my handbag as usual at the security check.

A girl at the airport tried to sell a credit card to me. She said that I could earn over 1000 SEK but the card cost 500 SEK each year and then it was actually 750 SEK cheaper than normal. Two of my other three credit cards are actually free so even if it had the best travel insurance it would be really stupid to buy it.

On the flight from Stockholm to New York you got two alcoholic drinks free, one before dinner and one during dinner. I therefore ordered a vodka and cola before dinner and a vodka and juice to dinner. You got the vodka in 50 ml bottles so you could take them with you if you didn't want to drink them right away.

The food was good on the SAS plane but the video films weren't as good as the KLM flight to Peru. On the KLM flight you could see the movies from beginning whenever you wanted. On the SAS plane to New York you had to wait until the movie finished and started from beginning again. I think I heard that it worked better if you had business class.

One nice new thing was that the plane was equipped with cameras both in the front and beneath. You could watch the camera in the front when the plane took off and landed and you could use the camera under the plane to look down if there were no clouds.

On the flight you had to fill in two papers, one paper for the passport check and another paper for the customs.

At the Newark airport you first had to queue 30 minutes for the passport check at one of the 60 desks. The man who checked me was unfriendly. I had left one field empty in the form since I didn't understand that you had to fill in "transit to Costa Rica" in the field "destination address in USA". The man took all my finger prints and also a photo.

After the passport check I had to wait for my suitcase which I checked-in at Gothenburg. There was a security check or customs check but we could just pass it since we were not entering USA. We could then leave our luggage to a man before a real security check where you even had to take of your shoes. I had luckily taken out my digital camera and all my battery charges and put them beside my handbag and maybe therefore I passed the security check without problem.

The flight to San Jose departed from terminal C. You had to take a quick train to that terminal.

I had met Max, Rickard and Andreas at the gate in Stockholm. Now we met David and Fredrik at the gate since they had gone with an earlier plane.

I bought a yoghurt which cost 4.5 USD. It was really expensive for just a yoghurt.

At the gate they called my name when it was time for boarding. I had to go to the boarding desk so they could fill in some information from my passport and give me a new boarding card.

It took a really long time from the gate until the plane set off. I think it took 30 minutes. On the plane they served a chicken burger.

You had to fill in a new tourist visa and a new custom declaration for Costa Rica on the plane. Observe that you have to fill in the address where you will spend your first night in Costa Rica.

You passed the passport and visa check really quickly and the security check was also quick since they didn't search your handbag.

There was a taxi-desk inside to the left at the entrance to the terminal building. There was also a desk where you could change money. I changed 250 dollars into colones and that was enough for the whole journey since you cold pay most things with USD.

Fredrik booked a taxi-buss for all of us. It cost 30 USD to the hotel. An ordinary taxi cost 20 USD so it would have been more expensive since we in such a case needed two.

The hotel was really good. The only disadvantage was that it seemed to be located a little outside the center or at least on very deserted streets with no people after sunset. We were not going out so for us it was perfect.

Saturday 15 November

I didn't sleep well and went up 6:30. We ate a really good breakfast 7:00 which is included in the hotel cost. After breakfast, at 8 a.m., we took two taxi cars to the Caribbean bus station. We paid 4.000 colones for the taxi while the other guys only paid 2.000 colones. It is with other words good to check the price before you take a taxi or tell the driver to use the taximeter.

There was a bus going 10:00. We just took our hand baggage onboard the bus and put everything else in the baggage store. 8 persons had to stand all the way to Puerto Viejo so it is a good idea to enter the bus when it arrives to make sure you get a seat. Don't sit at the window if you are long. I am 1.83 cm long and there where not enough place for my legs. The journey was therefore not nice at all. If you get an aisle seat you can put your legs straight out in the middle and also stand up now and then.

The bus stopped one time just before Limon where you could take something to eat and also visit a toilet. I don't think they opened the baggage store so there was no risk that anyone could steal your luggage. The bus didn't stop at Limon, the only stop on the way was at Cahuita and there it was easy to watch your luggage to make sure that nobody took it out.

At Puerto Viejo we found a nice taxi driver who had a taxi bus. He drove us to Manzanillo for 17 USD.

There was a backpacker atmosphere over the places we passed by with a lot of lodges on the way.

We found the hotel in Manzanillo where Fredrik had stayed during his last visit. They had free rooms and the place was very nice. Manzanillo seemed quite deserted since it was low season.

We were lucky and found the guide called Tino who is recommended by Lonely Planet. Fredrik know him since he had booked him before. Tino followed us out for a night tour that evening from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. We found among other things 2 cat-eye snakes, one sleeping helmet iguana, some poisonous dart-frogs, one eye-lash viper and a common snail eater.

After the tour we ate a really good dinner at a nice restaurant. I think most of us ordered red-snapper which cost 5.500. A Coca Cola cost 850. You have to add 10% on that. Observe that you have to wait for ages before you get your meal.

Sunday 16 November

I couldn't sleep so I went down to the sea at 5:30 in the morning. There were a lot of mosquitoes so I had to return and fetch my repellant before I continued. There were a lot of fruits falling from one tree and I couldn't understand why. After a little while I saw the reason when quite a lot of parrots took off from the tree and flew away.

I crossed a little pond where a turtle swam away. There were holes in the ground everywhere which I think land crabs had made.

I returned to the hotel an hour later and saw that Rickard was up. At the nearby garden we saw a lot of howler monkeys which we took photos of.

We all went to the restaurant at 7 a.m. where we ate a typical Costa Rican breakfast which consists of scrambled egg, juice and pinto. Pinto is a mix of rice and black beans. The breakfast cost 2.750 colones.

We had a second guided tour together with Tino from 9 a.m. until around 2 p.m. We saw, army ants, land crabs, a sloth ( 'sengångare' in Swedish ), a hawk, lizards and different kind of frogs. Andreas found a red eyed leaf frog under a leaf which looks amazing so you just had to take a lot of photos of it.

Tino showed us a couple of crocodiles that lived in a pond. We just saw one of the adult crocodiles. They had 14 babies. I don't know how they have counted them but we saw some of them and took a lot of photos.

I quite big fer-de-lance snake turned up among us when we were focused on taking photos of the crocodiles. We had been standing just a few decimeters from it. Fredrik had actually almost been sitting on it while he took photos of the small crocodiles. It was Tino who saw it first when it turned up in the middle of our group. We run in different directions to avoid being bitten but the snake wasn't aggressive at all. It had been hiding in the vegetation close to the pond. Tino thought that it might have tried to catch one of the small crocodiles. The snake tried to get away from us and escape up in the forest. Fredrik was however quicker and grabbed its tale and managed to get it out in the open. He shouted "Get back, get back" to us so he got some space behind his back. If the snake decided to turn in his direction he had to retreat backwards to avoid being bitten. After some time he got the situation under control and had a good grip behind the head of the snake. We all took a lot of photos. Later we released the snake just a short distance up in the forest where it stayed still so we could take some more photos. A big fer-de-lance like that can bite through your rubber boots or bite you on the knee so you have to watch out where you put your feet.

Tino showed as a special tree which was covered with white insects. He also opened some coconuts for us so we could drink the milk.

Fredrik asked Tino if he was coming with us on the night tour that evening. We got the following answer, "Yes, I think so. I kind of mentioned it for my wife so she could think about it."

We went directly to a place where most of us ordered Spaghetti Bolognese. It took ages before we got it. It cost 2.500 colones and 700 more for a Coca Cola. You also had to add the extra 10%.

At 15:45 we were back at the hotel. The weather was nice but it had started to blow. Some of us went down to the sea and took a bath.

16:30 it was time for the second night tour together with Tino. We went to Tinos property. We had to walk a little while on the road where we had come from when we traveled with the taxi to Manzanillo. On the way we saw several sloths. We saw both two toed and three toed. In the forest we saw poisonous dart frogs and big scrimps in the water. Fredrik caught a lovely looking red snake. We caught 2 cat-eye snakes. Max found a thin snake which looked like a cat-eye snake. We saw a black and white snake on a leaf. Andreas almost grabbed a fer-de-lance since it looked like a cat-eye snake.

On our way home we found a huge beetle close to the road.

I, Fredrik and David found a snake which had been killed by a car. It lay close to the road not far from our hotel. We couldn't figure out what kind of snake it was. Could it be a sea-snake? We discussed it during quite some time before we saw that it wasn't a real snake. It was a snake made of rubber or something like that which children play around with. It was quite embarrassing so we decided not to mention this for anybody. Fredrik and David will probably kill me when they see that I have written down the whole episode.

On the roof outside our rooms and everywhere else on buildings you see geckos.

Monday 17 November

I went up 5:30 and went for a walk in the small village and along the sea. I saw a humming bird drink dew-drops from an electric cable in the sky. A lot of vultures ("gamar" in Swedish) searched for food among garbage on the beach and some passed by me less than 5 meters away. On my way home I took a photo of a lizard which warmed itself in the early sunshine.

The breakfast hadn't opened at 7 a.m. Behind the restaurant you have by the way the biggest shop which had opened. I bought most of my things at another shop which was run by two young, charming Asian girls.

We took some photos of the snakes we had caught yesterday. We had brought them with us home just for taking some photos.

I, Max, Andreas and Rickard snorkeled for one hour between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. The visibility wasn't good but it was quite okay nevertheless. I saw a small moray eel. It cost 2.000 for an hour to rent a good snorkeling equipment. You have to show them some kind of ID when you rent the equipment.

I phoned home and told that everything was just perfect. The mobile worked but I had to go down to the sea since it doesn't work everywhere.

At 3 p.m. we set of on our third night tour together with Tino. We decided to go back to his land since it was very good. A friend of Tino helped us to take a couple of group photos of the whole group.

Along the big road we saw sloths and monkeys.

Up in the forest we saw several black and green frogs which we searched for. Some saw bats inside a tree but unfortunately I missed them.

On the way we saw sleeping trees, if you touch them they fold down the leaves and it takes about half an hour before they wake to live again. Tino warned us for one plant which you shouldn't touch. You could get stung. Tino also showed us how you could get a nice tattoo by placing a leaf from a fern ("ormbunke" in Swedish) and slap it against your skin with your hand. It will be a white tattoo so it works best if you have a dark skin.

Rickard found a cat-eye snake, Andreas found a coral snake imitation. We also found a new very thin snake. Max caught a green vine snake.

On our way back someone shouted "Snake" which we use to do when a snake is found. The person shouted "A big snake". The reaction was the same all the time. Fredrik ran like a maniac with his snake-hook to be able to catch it and the rest of us followed after. Usually you look carefully where you put your feet when you walk but when you run towards a snake you have no time to look around. Luckily nobody got bitten. We caught two big snakes which we took some photos of before we released them.

Beside snakes we also found new species of frogs. An enormous moth ( "nattfjäril" in Swedish) came flying towards our headlamps at one place. I think it might have been bigger than a bat.

After the tour we paid Tino 300 USD for all the guided tours and invited him for dinner that evening around 20:30. It rained when we walked to the restaurant and on the way we bought things for the breakfast next day at the shop. Outside the shop I just had to catch a really big crab which ran on the road.

We talked with Tino during the dinner. I think that he is a very good husband but he didn't want to get married. He told us that if you are married in Costa Rica you have to have a written permission from your wife if you want to leave the country on for instance a holiday. He has no intention of leaving his wife but he wants to feel free.

We also talked about people who had "cleaned" their properties. More and more people cut down all bushes and under-vegetations on their land. They probably want to sell it and then it is easier if only the trees are left since you can get a good view of it. If you don't cut it down you can just view around 10 meters in all directions due to the dense vegetation. Tino told us that they were not allowed to do it. In tourist areas you are only allowed to use 40% of your land, the rest should be left untouched. Manzanillo is not considered a tourist area so there they are only allowed to use 10% of their land. The people at Manzanillo also had some kind of agreement that they should leave their land untouched so they could attract tourists who are interested in nature. People like Tino earn their living on tourists. I suppose that some people, who for instance don't work as guides, don't get their share of the money from the tourists and instead try to sell their properties to rich Americans.

We split the dinner cost which was 41.000 so that Tino didn't have to pay. Tino had previously told his wife that he didn't get any money from us since we were his friends. His wife might have been a little bit upset since Tino had turned down other groups and has told them than he was occupied all the days he was with us. We gave him of course the 300 USD but we had not discussed any money when he had agreed to guide us. I think that he actually liked to guide the crazy people from Sweden who searched for snaked. It was something he didn't do normally. He had for instance never visited his own property after sunset. Tino didn't like snakes but he never killed them. He told us that he had seen a lot of dead eye-lash vipers on the properties they had cleaned. They kill them with machetes which is very sad.

We had been very lucky with the weather during our stay in Manzanillo. During the rest of the holiday we would not be so lucky.

Tuesday 18 November

We took photos of some of the snakes we had caught the previous evening and taken with us to the hotel. It rained so we took photos just outside our rooms more or less under the hotel roof.

We phoned the taxi driver who had taken us to Manzanillo. He came 8:30. He first drove us to a suitable place where we could leave the snakes. He then drove us to Cahuita which cost 30 USD. We gave him 3 USD extra for the problem of releasing the snakes.

The lodge, where Fredrik had stayed before, had luckily free rooms. We just had to wait until people had checked out and the rooms were cleaned. We ate lunch and visited an Internet café while we waited.

We had planned to visit the nearby national park at 15:00 but postponed the visit since it rained quite a lot. Instead we took it quite easy and for instance deleted some camera photos which were not so good.

I and David went out for a walk at around 17:30. We planned to be back 6:30 back lost our way in the dark. I had a compass but it didn't help much. We found 3 snakes, one very lovely, yellow eye-lash viper, one cat-eye snake and another snake which we didn't know the name of. It was nice since now also we had found snakes like the other guys.

Luckily we found our way back to the lodge after some time. We heard the waves and saw some lights from distant houses. When we showed the photos for Fredrik he couldn't believe his eyes. The snake I had found and which we didn't know the name of was a very rare boa.

Max, Rickard and Andreas went out while the rest of us went to the village and ate dinner. Afterwards they told us that they had seen a little cat-eye snake and a 2 meter long fer-de-lance. Max wanted to run after it but Rickard had grabbed him and told him that it was dangerous since the vegetation made it difficult to see the snake.

Andreas had also gone out by himself and seen a coati ("tvättbjörn" in Swedish) and a sloth walking on the ground with a little baby attached to its body.

Fredrik just had to go out when he heard the news about the big fer-de-lance. He went out by himself and also saw a big fer-de-lance but not as big as the one the others had described. Fredrik did some dangerous attempts to catch it without success.

Wednesday 19 November

I woke up ten minutes passed midnight and saw that Fredrik had returned. He was in the toilet when the whole house started to rock. I was very sleepy and wondered if it was real or if it was just my imagination. I was too tired to get scared but it wasn't my imagination because in the next moment Fredrik shouted something and run out to the balcony. David just slept. The next day we heard that there had been an earth-quake in Panama. It had been level 6.2 on the Richter scale.

In the morning Fredrik told us that he had tried to catch a big fer-de-lance, around 160-170 cm in length. He had tried to directly press the head down to the ground but missed. The snake had escaped into a bush. He had tried to catch it with the snake-hook several times but after some attempts he lost sight of it. He told us that it was scare not to know where it was.

It had been raining quite a lot during the whole night.

After breakfast we visited the nearby national park. It was located at the sea only 5-10 minutes walk from our lodge. There is a free entrance fee. We decided to pay 2.000 colones each. You write your name and time when you enter and write the time when you leave so they know that you have left the park when it gets dark. You don't need your passport or any kind of identification. I suppose that they would search for you if you don't sign out to make sure that you have not had an accident.

There were two rivers which passed through the park on its way out to the sea. I think we could have passed the first one by going out a bit in the sea but we were not allowed to try it. There was a man who worked there who stopped people from crossing the river. Some people had crossed the first one earlier and were now stuck between the rivers and couldn't get back. The park guides told them to go to the other river where they should somehow be rescued, maybe by boat.

It was really sad that we couldn't go inside the park due to all the raining. There was another entrance but that was temporary closed. I think it would open again during high season. The best thing would otherwise be to take a taxi to the other entrance and enter there. You could then go inside the park and exit at the other entrance close to our lodge. There should be a lot of eye-lash vipers in the park. We heard that a group had recently seen 14 of them during one visit. They had seen three of them at the same place. Now we just waded in water and saw some howler monkeys and some white faced capuchin monkeys.

There was a path into the forest just behind the entrance. Some of us followed that path and came to the property next to our lodge.

We were tired and had some rest before we visited the property next to our lodge. It was for sale. The man who owned it had built a huge outdoor terrarium. I think it was around 10 x 30 meters big. There had been a lot of frogs in it but now it was more or less deserted. You just saw a small lizard and some red poisonous-dart frogs.

I, David and Fredrik ate Spaghetti while the others had been eating before and exchanged some money. There was a power failure in the whole town but luckily they could manage to make our food anyway. They put a candle on our table which fell down several times by the strong wind.

In the evening we all went out and searched after the big fer-de-lance snakes. I caught a really big crab. Max found a mantis ("bönsyrsa" in Swedish). We saw a pigeon hiding on the ground just a step away from the ground. We also saw a big, white-tailed opossum, maybe 80 cm in length including the tail. We found one more yellow eye-lash viper on the backside of the lodge property. Fredrik was lucky who didn't get bitten by it. He was holding a snake-bag when we slowly lowered the snake into it with the hook. The snake has sensors who can register temperatures so it stroke at Fredrik's fingers. Fortunately it missed and hit the bag but it wasn't many millimeters from a finger. I also caught a big lizard which had been sleeping and was about to run away.

I and Andreas took some photos of the toads and frogs around the small pond on the lodge property before we went to bed around 21:30.

It had more or less rained the whole day which was quite depressing.

Thursday 20 November

I went out for a walk around 6 a.m. in the morning just to take some photos of the village. Before breakfast we also took some photos of the yellow eye-lash viper before David returned it to the place where we had found it.

We took a bus to Limon at 11 a.m. The bus actually departed a little before 11 so make sure you are at the bus station in good time. The trip to Limon cost a little more than 3.000 for all of us. On our way to Limon a policeman entered the bus and checked our passports. The bus driver asked us where we where going and if we needed a taxi. We told him that we were going to Moin where we should take a boat to Tortuguero. The lady who owned the lodge had arranged a boat for us at 2 p.m. The bus driver was very kind, he phoned and ordered two taxi cars for us. He also told us to jump of at a bus station before Limon where the cars waited for us. The bus trip took about 50 minutes. Each taxi to Moin cost 4.500 colones to Moin and the trip took just 10 minutes. It was around 10 km.

The boat we had booked would cost 35 USD for each of us or in other words 210 USD for all of us. Some people were quite angry and there was a load discussion going on between the boat drivers while we waited for our boat. I think they discussed the prices. I think that some people were against different prices. They wanted that everybody should pay 40 USD without exception. There were also three girls from Belgium who also had been waiting for a boat for some hours. The girls told us a little later that they had found a boat driver who was prepared to drive all nine of us for 25 USD each. We accepted the offer and gave up waiting for the boat we had booked. We had more or less to sneak away to the boat so that the other drivers didn't find out that we only had paid 25 USD each for the ride to Tortuguero.

It rained a little but luckily we got very good raincoats from the boat driver. We got however no life-jackets. The boat went really fast so you could easily have water-skied behind it if you had the opportunity. I sat in the front and it wasn't nice at all. It just rained a little but due to the high speed you couldn't look forward when it rained. You almost had to close your eyes. A good advice is to sit somewhere else if it rains. The boat just stopped a couple of times where you could take photos of birds. We didn't see any crocodiles which was a pity. I suppose it was because of all the rain. The boat also stopped at one place where you could visit a toilet and buy some snacks to eat.

When we reached Tortuguero some kind of guide came to us when we had unloaded the boat. He was really good and answered all our questions.

Fredrik went away and searched for rooms. He returned quite soon when he had found a place where a double room cost 20 USD.

We were hungry and found a nice restaurant. Some of us ordered Pasta del Mar which wasn't so good. I think Fredrik and David shared a big pizza which was much better. The pasta with Coca Cola cost 5.500 colones.

Friday 21 November

Fredrik had talked with a man who had a boat which we could rent in the morning. We had planned to use it at 5:30 in the morning but it rained too much. I and David went for a walk instead along the beach. We found a lot of gropes where sea turtles had been laying their eggs. We also found some sea turtle babies which had been killed. They must have been born during the night.

The room cost 20 USD for two persons. We paid when we left it around 11 a.m. The boat to the mainland departed 11:30. Our baggage was piled in the front of the boat. I at least took for granted that they should fasten the baggage with ropes. Of course they couldn't be so stupid just to put the baggage in a high pile without securing it with ropes. They could! It was really crazy. A man, which I think was some kind of manager, signaled to our boat driver when we departed that the driver should keep an eye on the baggage. Keep an eye on the baggage, how stupid can they be!? It was a very long boat and if something fell overboard it would surely sink to bottom before the driver could do something about it. If you take this boat to the mainland make sure that your luggage is safely stored in the front of the boat.

We had not travelled halfway when our boat had a motor failure. Luckily another boat came after us so we could jump over onto that boat. The journey to the mainland took around 1.5 hours and cost 1.600 colones per person. You had to change to a bus which took one more hour and cost 1.250 colones per person. We all jumped of when we thought that we had reached the final bus station. There were however two bus stations in the town so we had to get onboard the bus again and go with it to the next stop. We almost lost Max who had gone to the toilet at the first bus station.

Fredrik found a taxi-bus from Cariari to Horquetas which cost 50 USD. It took some time before the taxi driver found the lodge office. One guy at the office gave us directions to a nearby hotel where we could spend the night. A two bed room cost 20 USD per person and a 4 bed room cost 15 USD per person.

We went to a restaurant which also was used as a discotheque. Most dishes cost 2.000 colones. Rickard was however hungry so he ordered the most expensive dish which cost 3.000. It was seviche, or in other words raw fish with lemon and onions. He didn't like it so the cook came out and wondered if there was something wrong with it. We had to explain that Rickard didn't know what he had ordered and that the seviche was otherwise okay. The man who worked in the kitchen and the girl who served us were very kind and we gave the girl a lot of extra money. She was really thankful for the money.

We charged all our batteries at the hotel since they had only electricity during the evening at the lodge.

It rained more or less the whole day. We all hoped that it would stop the next day.

Saturday 22 November

We went up 6:30 and it had been raining a lot during the whole night. The owner of the hotel told us that it wasn't normal with all the rain. It had been raining for 6 whole days he told us. The bad weather, according to him, was caused by some hurricane outside Honduras and Nicaragua.

We went and had a breakfast at another restaurant. We had to be at the lodge office 30 minutes before the departure which was at 9 a.m. Somebody told us that we had too much baggage so we had to leave something at the office. We didn't pay any attention to this since all of us only had things which we really needed. Luckily we didn't have to leave something at the office.

The tractor passed two bridges where we had to walk over. We also had to leave the tractor a couple of times when it went steep uphill.

At one place the tractor got stuck when it tried to pass a steep hill. We had to start walking while the tractor driver fetched some people who came with pickaxes and spades. At one place we had to decide if we should continue to walk or if we should wait for the tractor. We all decided to walk except Max who had a bad stomach and couldn't walk more in the heavy rain. Luckily it took just only around 30 minutes until the tractor could continue the journey. When it was 2-3 km left to the lodge we could choose if we wanted to walk the rest of the way to the lodge or continue with the tractor. I, David and Fredrik decided to walk. It wasn't so nice. The rain poured down and you had to walk in mud and make difficult crossings over creeks. It felt like you were on some kind of jungle survival camp. The only good thing was that you really could test your equipment. I found for instance that my expensive rain coat made by Fjällräven wasn’t as good as I had hoped. It wasn’t much of a protection when it rained as much as it did. My clothes under the coat were soaking wet. The coat was also to short so it didn’t reach down to my rubber boots. Water therefore poured down into my rubber boats so my socks were also soaking wet. In fact, everything I was wearing were soaking wet. It was a mistake not to bring my real rain clothes with me.

The dinner was ready when we reached the lodge. You got cold rice, cold cooked carrots and cauliflowe ("blomkål" in Swedish), beside cold meat which was so leathery that you could hardly cut it with your knife. No spicy at all and no sauce to the rice. We had to eat the dinner in our wet clothes. I was really cold and would have preferred to at least change clothes before the dinner.

The persons who worked there carried our baggage from the tractor to the restaurant. We then had to carry it to our house. We got a cabin for ourselves with a beautiful location which you would have appreciated if it hadn’t rained so much. It was also quite a long way to walk in the mud through the forest. The cabin was a real shit-hole, excuse my language, but at least it didn’t rain in.

17:30 they started the diesel generator so we could turn on the light. The others went and ate dinner but I refused to go out in the rain again. I had put on warm and dry clothes and wouldn’t like to change to my wet clothes again.

I spent the evening in the bed reading a good book. An awful lot of insects kept me company, I found for instance a big beetle under my pillow and a really big cockroach not far from the bed. An awful lot of mosquitoes and other insects gathered around the light over the bed. More and more insects fell down from the lamp into the bed. I saw a big rat crawling on one of the walls inside my room. Luckily we all had bought mosquito nets otherwise it would have been difficult to sleep in the room with all insects.

Sunday 23 November

The rain continued to pour down. We had breakfast at 7:30 which consist of pinto, fried egg, water melon, pineapple and a really good nut-cake. Beside tea and coffee they of course also had juice.

We took a lot of photos of humming birds ("kollibri" in Swedish). One of the little humming birds looked like a little flying meatball. It was really cute. It was so fond of the sugar water that you could even touch it when it drank the water. There were quite a lot of different species of humming birds. A brown humming bird was really aggressive and chased the other humming birds. Sometimes there were real duels between the humming birds and it was really fascinating to see them at such a close distance. You could probably stand 30 cm away with your head and you felt air movements when they passed your head, sometimes just a couple of decimeters away.

All of us wanted to leave the place due to the rain but the tractor wasn't going that day. Luckily we arranged so we could go the next day. From the beginning we had booked three nights.

We took more photos of the humming birds. We took an awful lot of photos of humming birds.

When I left the restaurant I saw a snake crossing my path. It was probably the most beautiful snake I had seen during the holiday. It was really colorful and must have been a coral snake. I called the other but didn't know if they heard me or not due to the raining. The terrain was quite open, just some leaves, so when I shouted "snake" one time more I looked up to see if they where coming. Maybe I looked up during 2 seconds and when I looked down again the snake was gone. It was so embarrassing and I was really disappointed since it was such a beautiful snake. We all searched for it but it was gone. A woman saw a black snake and called us. Some of us also saw it before it also disappeared. Both snakes we saw at a couple of bushes only some meters from the restaurant entrance. It was obvious that there were a lot of snakes in the surrounding area.

We saw a coati several times. One time it passed the lawn and went under the restaurant. There were a couple of waterfalls close to the lodge which were really nice.

Everything became more or less wet inside our room since it hadn't any real windows. Instead it had mosquito nets. One time David came into our room with his headlamp on. You could se a light beam in the air from the lamp. If you have seen lights at a disco when they fill the room with smoke you know what I mean, or if you have been driving a car with headlamps on in mist. The toilet paper was wet but who cared since the toilet didn't work half the time. There was some problem with the water so we couldn't even take a shower. I could barely write in my diary since the papers was so damp so it was difficult to write. After I had read in my pocket book I put it aside beside my bed. After a couple of hours the first page was so damp so it had curled into a circle. I had dry jeans and a warm jacket but I was afraid of wearing them inside our bedroom since I didn't want them to become wet. I only had them on when I was lying under the blankets in the bed.

The guide showed us an eye-lash viper at the place where the tractor was parked.

At dinner they served overcooked spaghetti with tomato sauce or boiled rice, beans and some kind of fruits.

When we went to bed that night I remembered that Fredrik found a bullet ant under his pillow which had borrowed its huge jaws into the pillow. It was really lucky that it was the pillow it had bitten and not one of us.

Monday 24 November

I went up before 6 and packed all my things, longing to get away to the pacific coast. We all hoped that it would be beautiful weather when we reached the coast. We got really good, homemade bread for breakfast and we saw the coati for the last time.

The tractor took us down from the mountain to the village without further problems. Thank God for that. The trip downhill with the tractor took 2.5 hours.

The visit at the lodge cost 60 USD per person and night. Luckily we didn't have to pay for the third night which we had originally booked.

We had arranged so a taxi should take us from the lodge office to the Pacific Ocean bus station in San Jose for 140 USD. At the office they informed us that the main road to San Jose was closed due to the heave rain and probably some landslides. We had to take a smaller road instead which should take three hours instead of two hours. On our way we saw several places where the road was partly blocked, or had previously been blocked, by landslides or falling trees.

There was one bus going 14:30 and we had calculated that we should be at the station in time if the taxi trip took 3 hours or less. At first they didn't find the bus station so we had to search for it. Why hadn't they checked that up in advance since they know beforehand where we were going? Luckily we arrived at the station in the last seconds, and I really mean the last seconds. The bus was just about to drive out on the street from the station when we managed to stop it. We threw quickly our baggage into the baggage store and entered the bus. The tickets we could luckily buy aboard the bus. They cost each 5.000 colones.

On the way we saw a lot more places where the road was partly blocked, or had been blocked, by landslides or fallen trees. I really needed to visit a toilet to pee before we had even entered the bus and the journey became more and more a torture. Fredrik had told me that we should stop at a restaurant on the way but where was that f...g restaurant. After two hours the conductor said something about 30 minutes. I first thought he said that it was 30 minutes more to go before we reached the restaurant. I could never wait 30 minutes, maybe at most 5 minutes so I was prepared to go and tell the driver that they had to stop the buss. Then the bus slowed down and stopped. The man had said that they stopped during 30 minutes. Thank God for that. I just rushed out of the bus. There was no time to search for a toilet and if I was unlucky it could be occupied. During that moment I was really grateful that I was a man and not a woman. I probably spent more than 5 minutes out in the rain. The other guys wondered where I had been when I came inside the restaurant.

The bus continued the trip towards Palma Norte at 17:00. After some time we reached a city and the bus stopped at a bus station. Some people unloaded their baggage from the baggage store. I kept watch over them so they didn't take anything which belonged to us. They had to show the driver a receipt to be able to get their luggage. Maybe we didn't get a receipt since we had just thrown in our things in the last second. The bus stopped several times more but I don't think they opened the baggage store during those stops.

We arrived at Palma Norte after 5 hours and 50 minutes. It was dark outside but it looked as if it should be nice weather tomorrow since there were a lot of stars in the sky.

Some taxi cars waited at the bus station. We booked two of them and they drove us to Sierpe. Each taxi cost 15 USD.

We found a hotel and luckily they had at least three double rooms free. A double room cost 10.000 colones.

I washed my wet clothes and took a really hot shower. I heard later that Rickard and Andreas got a room without a hot shower. The electric heater was probably missing.

In the evening we went to a nearby Pizzeria. I ordered 1/4 chicken together with French fries which was more than I managed to eat. Normally you could be two on a medium pizza. The owners of the restaurant were very friendly. The man was however drunk during the time we stayed in the village.

Tuesday 25 November

I went out for a walk in the village 5:30. I took some photos of an iguana and a couple of macaws.

I bought one liter yoghurt and just ordered a Cola at the restaurant where the others ate breakfast.

Poorman's office was next to the restaurant and Fredrik went over when he heard that Pincho was coming. Fredrik arranged a boat tour at Poorman's for 30 USD each. It was a 3 hour long tour which started 11:30.

We saw a lot of birds, basilisks and some green iguanas. In a tree we saw six macaws and a little later four more in another tree.

We caught a snake which was lying on a branch over the water. Fredrik was bitten twice. He didn't know what kind of snake it was but he knew that it was not deadly poisonous. At most you could get ill during a day or something like that. The snake fell into the boat which caused some chaos. It was really quick and went behind the boat battery. It took a little time before we had caught it and everything was under control.

We saw three boas up in the trees over the river. We managed to catch one since it wasn't as high up as the others. We put it at another branch where we could take some photos of it.

We went back and passed the office in the direction to the right down the river. We now looked for crocodiles. We saw some of them basking in the sun. We went into a small channel where we saw two small alligators, less than one meter in length. We tried to catch them but they were too quick. It is easy to catch them when it is dark.

We saw some capuchin monkeys and some howler monkeys. One howler monkey used two branches as a toilet. Luckily the boat wasn't under it.

Back in the harbor we saw a big iguana at a house when our boat passed by. A man passed the lizard just a couple of meters away. All it did was changing direction and slowly walked away from the man.

We relaxed after the boat tour. We had planned another boat tour in the dark after sunset. The boat tour was however changed to a tour in Pincho's car in a nearby, huge oil palm plantation.

We ate pizza at 6 p.m. and were waiting for Pincho, the owner of Poorman's Paradise, to turn up since we had planned to have dinner with him. Pincho turned up after dinner but a quite charming girl called Chelsea turned up instead. She wanted to go with us when she heard that we were going to look for snakes in the plantation. Pincho drove the car and she sat beside him. I, Andreas and Rickard sat in the backseat. Fredrik, David and Max sat outside in the back of the car.

The first thing we did was to get stuck with the car in a mudpole. Fredrik jumped down and tried to push the car backwards. He didn't succeed. Luckily the car had 4 wheels drive but you had to switch it on at the front wheels outside the car. Fredrik switched over to 4-wheel drive and then we managed to back out from the mud.

The first thing we saw was couple of eyes glowing in the dark some distance in front of the car. Pincho stepped on the gas and in a few seconds we reached the place where the animal had been seen. It was an opossum. We saw glowing eyes a couple of times more and Pincho stepped on the gas both times. It was just a small kitten. Luckily I was sitting comfortable in the backseat since the guys outside had it quite ruff when Pincho stepped on the gas and the car drove at full speed on the bad road.

We drove on the small roads in the plantation while our headlamps searched the ground on both sides of the car. A couple of times someone at the back banked on the car roof and shouted snake. We found one smaller snake and one fer-de-lance. We also saw one dead snake which had been killed by a car. It was a boa. Max and Andreas, I think, went away when we took some photos of the fer-de-lance. They told us that they had seen a coati family up in a palm.

After our tour in the plantation we went directly to the nearby bar, dirty with rubber boots on. We sat and talked during some time. I ordered a Cuba Libre and got it on a can. I and Fredrik remained at the bar a little longer than David, Max, Rickard and Andreas. Chelsea, the American girl, asked us if we would like to follow her home together with some other guys when the bar closed. She wanted to play some kind of Nintendo game if I got it right. Some game where you sang and played a guitar. We followed her to her house but didn't go inside when the others went in. Her boyfriend was at home and I wonder what he thought when she came home with a bunch of guys.

Wednesday 26 November

I bought a yoghurt to breakfast and played chess with Max. I lost. The hotel cost 20 dollar per person for 2 nights. Fredrik bought two machetes which together cost only 4 USD. I think that it is a good idea to sharpen them before you use them.

The boat to Isla Violin departed from Pincho's office at 11 a.m. We traveled together with some other people who where going to Poorman's Paradise. On the way we stopped not far from Sierpe so we could take some photos of a crocodile.

A very nice guy called Mario waited for us in a smaller boat on Isla Violin. We changed to his boat and traveled through a narrow channel in the mangrove swamp before we reached our camp.

The day before, they had built a roof, and set up the tents under it. The arrangement was very professional and very good.

We ate some rice before we looked around at the camp ground which Pincho owned. We saw two snakes but both quickly disappeared before we could catch them. Mario showed us some paths through the jungle. At a waterfall Fredrik saw a colorful snake which he caught.

Fredrik wanted to go down and investigate a path he had seen during his last visit to Isla Violin. David and Rickard followed with him. The rest of us headed for our camp since it had started to rain a little.

On our way home we passed by a couple of houses. At one place we saw three colorful macaws (parrots) but we couldn't get any good photos.

Back at the camp, Mario told us that he had a family. He gets 600 USD a month when he works for Pincho. He works 7 days every week and often from 6 in the morning until 6 in the evening. Poorman's is usually closed in October when they do some maintenance. During that time many of them have their holidays but Mario had worked with maintenance instead. Mario was 26 years old.

I walked around the camp ground and saw bats eating insects from a tree. They seemed to fly and catch them when they were on the tree. Normally you see bats when they catch insects up in the air.

We ate a vegetable soup before we went out again after sunset. We found one snake which looked like a cat-eye snake and 8 fer-de-lance snakes.

We found most of the fer-de-lance snakes in a nearby small banana plantation. All of them were small. I saw one which all the other people in our group had passed by without seeing it. David had almost stepped on it. We took some photos of it when we suddenly spotted another fer-de-lance at a nearby palm tree.

The three largest fer-de-lances we saw when we followed a creek upstreams. They were about a meter in length. One came against some of us. It was not aggressive, instead it had probably been scared of some people upstreams. Fredrik caught it so we could take some photos.

Another snake most of us just passed by before David saw it where it lay on the ground without moving. It was the first fer-de-lance we had seen when it had been laying still. It was a bit scaring since all the other snakes we had seen when they have been moving. How many snakes have we just passed by without seeing them since they are very difficult to see when they lay still? How many dangerous snakes have we almost stepped on?

On our way home Andreas spotted a small fer-de-lance which was lying a bit up on a small branch. Small fer-de-lance snakes cannot bite through rubber boots but this one would bite you directly in your leg if you came to close. It was really something to think about since I think most of us had expected to find them on the ground.

During the night tour we also saw same kind of mammal up in a bamboo tree and also an opossum.

At one place we lost Fredrik and David when they had stopped to take photos of a tree-frog. Later they found us and told us that they had seen a huge, male iguana.

During some ours in the morning and some hours in the evening small, black gnats were very disturbing. They were worse than mosquitoes.

Thursday 27 November

I went up 5:30 and walked around the camp ground without seeing anything special. Later however I saw an orange colored snake not far from our tents. It was the same kind of snake we had caught at the small waterfall.

The water was very low so the boat was lying on the ground. It would be a real problem if anyone got bitten by a poisonous snake. We had calculated on using the boat to get to a nearby house where they had a faster boat. There was a doctor living upstream which we could visit. Fredrik had read somewhere that it was very important that you came under hospital care within four hours after a fer-de-lance bite. If it took longer time you could die.

After breakfast we decided to go out and check if we could see any boas in the trees at the river now when the water was low. It was difficult to walk in the mud and Max almost got stuck in it. There were crabs everywhere on the ground. Unfortunately it started to rain so we decided to go back.

Mario had heard that an old man at a nearby house had seen a boa. We decided to pay him a visit when it had stopped raining. On our way we took photos of a lovely poison-dart frog. We also saw a lizard and a dead iguana. The iguana Fredrik and David had seen was bigger.

Mario told the old man that we had seen a lot of fer-de-lance snakes the night before. The old man thought that we were crazy since we hadn't killed them. We were on holiday but he was living with the dangerous snakes. They had many times entered his house since he didn't have an ordinary door which could hold them out. For him it was a matter of life or death. If he didn't kill them and reduced their number they might kill him one day.

Mario told us that the man only needed rice since everything else he had on his ground, for instance a lot of banana trees. Fredrik said a funny remark that women wouldn't be bad either.

We searched after the boa in the vegetation but couldn't find it. I didn't see that a branch was covered with ants. I got the branch on my neck and got bitten of an ant almost immediately. I then noticed that the back of my t-shirt was covered with ants. Luckily Fredrik was nearby and could help me to get rid of them.

Before we went home we took some photos of the creek where we had found the larger fer-de-lance snakes. On our way back Rickard found a fer-de-lance lying in the water. Had we passed it without seeing it on our way up-streams or had it come recently? I suppose that we had just walked by previously without seeing it since nobody expected to find one of them in the water. We took a lot of photos of it.

Fredrik took a nude bath in the water just a few meters up-streams from where we found the snake.

I and David took some photos of leaf cutting ants on our way back to our camp.

Back at the camp Mario had prepared a vegetable soup with bananas. Afterwards Fredrik and Rickard took the boat together with Mario to get some more food and also some extra water bottles.

A family turned up after they had gone with the boat. An old man, some women, a couple of young boys and some small children came to our camp. They didn't understand English so we all wondered who they were. The women started to wash clothes and also wash themselves and the children. The man and the young boys started to remove leaves on the ground and clean up around our camp.

Mario later told us that the people didn't own any ground themselves. They were living in the mangrove swamp. I suppose that they had a house build on poles. The children therefore loved to visit Pincho's ground where they could play for instance football. The man earned quite a lot of money by collecting mussels in the mud when the water is low in the mangrove swamp. The man also worked as a gardener and kept Pincho's ground clean.

The gardener had told Mario that he had seen a 2.5 meter long and about a decimeter thick bushmaster at the tree close to our boat during the morning. Was that really true? We had to investigate but couldn't find any snake.

In the evening Mario prepared fish, red snapper and some other kind of fish. It tasted really good.

It rained a lot during the evening so we waited until 8 p.m. when it stopped and we went out for our last night tour on the island.

Max found a pond where tree frogs where making small babies. I, Max and of course Andreas took some photos of them. We lost contact with the other guys but found them later. They had found two cat-eye snakes. We went up the creek. Andreas saw a scorpion which Max tried to catch but it unfortunately disappeared so we couldn't take any photos of it. We didn't find any more snakes, maybe due to the rain. We also looked for the boa in the old mans garden without finding it.

On our way home we found a basilisk sleeping on a branch. Max also caught a turtle in the water which we took some photos of.

Friday 28 November

We packed our things in the morning and after breakfast we helped Mario to pack the tents and store everything in the boat. Mario got some extra money since he had been really nice. Take care of him Pincho if you read this. When that was ready we walked to a nearby house since we had all been invited to eat pig which they should kill and prepare during the morning. It was a tradition they did in the beginning of December each year so it wasn't just for us. It was very kind of the man who lived at the house with his two lovely daughters to invite us.

Mario went back to our boat when the water was higher enough so he could drive out through the mangrove swamp at around 1 or 2 o'clock. The boat to Poorman's Paradise arrived at the same time so we moved all our things into the bigger boat and headed for Poorman's Paradise. It would be really nice with a shower and a real toilet.

On our way the boat engine just stopped. Not again I thought. We were about to throw the anchor into the water when the engine suddenly started again. Thanks God for that.

When we arrived at Poorman's Paradise we had to wait for a smaller boat which should take us to the beach. Some of us couldn't wait and jumped into the water and swam into the beach.

When the smaller boat arrived we put our luggage into it and afterwards we also jumped over into that boat. It made some turns to the beach before all of us was at Poorman's Paradise. I have to mention how we reached the beach. The boat went with full speed towards the beach. I thought that it have to slow down before it hit the beach but it didn't. I probably held very hard on the boat since I was sure that I would otherwise be thrown forward when we hit the sand beach in such a high speed. It was so fast so you could probably water skiing after the boat. To my surprise the boat slowed down quite nicely when it went several meters up on the beach. Some men then turned it around. The waves were quite high so they had to wait for a suitable time to push it out into the sea again. A guy jumped into the boat and started the engine as quickly as possible so he could drive out from the beach before the boat was hit by the next big wave.

I took a bath in the sea after I had put my things in order in the room I shared with Rickard. The water was warm and it was wonderful with a bath after two days in the jungle on Isla Violin.

In the evening we sat in the bar and waited for the dinner to be ready. Pincho gave us tuna-fish and biscuits and also some seviche (raw fish served with lime and onions).

I bought two Cuba libres for 5 USD each. Pincho told us about how he started Poorman's Paradise. He started from scratch without almost anything except the clothes he had on. He bought the land which was very cheap at that time and put up some tents for tourists. In the beginning only a few persons came but later more and more came so he could build houses and turn the place into the nice place it is today.

I just relaxed that evening but Andreas, David and Rickard went out with the headlamps and looked for frogs. They saw at least one frog but otherwise nothing special.

Saturday 29 November

It rained the whole night, as usual I might add. I saw some white-faced capuchin monkeys early in the morning just outside our room. They were eating coconuts up in the palms. It was very early so the light was not good for taking photos with my camera. I managed nevertheless to take some photos of them.

At 6 a.m. it was time for breakfast and you could see humming birds eating nectar from the flowers in the garden. High up in a tree I saw an iguana catching the early sunshine.

I ate a continental breakfast alone 6 a.m. since I was hungry and couldn't wait for the other people to wake up. Fredrik might already be up running along the beach. Beside continental breakfast they also had American breakfast and Costa Rican breakfast. Unfortunately they didn't have a breakfast buffet.

After breakfast I went snorkeling at the next beach. The other guys rent small surfing boards which you surfed lying down on.

The snorkeling was quite god despite the circumstances. The water was for instance not so clear since all the rain had washed muddy water out into the sea.

I saw two or three porcupine fishes ('igelkottfiskar' in Swedish). I also saw puffer fishes, one blue and some yellow but most dark brown with white spots. I saw some parrot fishes and a few lovely butterfly fishes. At one place I saw a shoal of 30 cm long fishes. It would have been a nice place to take underwater pictures during better circumstances when the water was clear, probably during high season when it isn't raining much. The nicest thing I saw was a big langouste. I had only seen one of them quickly before on an island outside Isla Margarita on the Caribbean side outside Venezuela.

I went back to Poorman's Paradise and left the snorkeling equipment and went back with my camera to take some photos of the lovely beach. On my way back to Poorman's Paradise I saw a macaw which I could take photos of from a really close distance, maybe 5-10 meters.

We all ate lunch at 12:30. Afterwards Max, Andreas and Rickard went out horseback riding to a river and back. It was a two hour tour which cost 20 USD per person. David went out with his camera and took some photos. Fredrik just relaxed and dived a lot into the big waves. I snorkeled a second time but couldn't se anything. The water wasn't clear and it was more difficult now when it was high tide.

Before dinner I took a Cuba Libre. Pincho and Fredrik talked about a guy which looked like a beautiful lady. He, or maybe you should say she, lived in Drake Bay.

At the dinner they served fish which tasted really good.

After dinner I, David and Andreas went out and looked for animals in the nearby surroundings. It was of course dark so you had to wear the headlamps. Andreas found a lot of funny looking caterpillars at the backside of our house. He also found a frog sitting on the top of a branch. We saw three or four sleeping humming birds which you could take photos of really close. You could even touch them I suppose even if I didn't do that.

Pincho showed as where he had seen a boa recently not far from our hose. Another American guy told us that he had seen a boa up in a palm tree that morning. Unfortunately we couldn't find any.

On a field there were some water ponds after tractor wheels where you could find different kinds of frogs. We found some tree frogs which we put on some branches so we could take some good photos before we returned them to the ponds.

Just outside my room a big giant-toad ('agapadda' in Swedish) jump before my feet when I came walking. By mistake a hit it with my foot so it went away like a football one or two meters. Luckily it survived the accident without any problem.

At 10 p.m. they turned off the light.

Sunday 30 November

It was difficult to sleep due to all the noise outside when the rained poured down. There were no windows which could keep the noise away, only mosquito nets. I put in earplugs and after that I slept well the rest of the night. At 6:30 I woke up and found that everybody was gone. I hurried to the restaurant where I found them eating breakfast.

Andreas and Rickard had been thinking of going with the boat to Drake Bay where you can see a special poison-dart frog at a creek. It started to rain again so they gave up the idea to see the frogs. It turned out to be a good decision since it rained the whole day. They would otherwise have to walk back which took at least three hours if you walked quite fast.

David and Fredrik went with the boat to Sierpe at 7 a.m. since they were going home to Sweden one day before the rest of us. Their baggage was packed in the smaller boat which drove out to the bigger boat in the bay. There were quite high waves so all passengers had to go to the left side of the beach where they could take the smaller boat out.

We saw fishes in the waves which were chased by other fishes or maybe was chasing smaller fishes. They looked quite big. Rickard had seen a couple of guys fishing at the beach and they had caught quite big fishes which looked like tuna fishes. If I go back to Poorman's Paradise I would definitely take fishing equipment with me.

We heard that busses couldn't go to San Jose due to some problem with the road up in the mountains. When I write this I therefore don't know how Fredrik and David traveled from Sierpe to San Jose.

At 10 a.m. the rain stopped so I, Andreas and Max decided to go to the other beach and snorkel. The sight in the water was very bad due to all the raining but it was still better than the afternoon the day before. On our way back it started to rain again so we run the last part to our house. A dog followed us and it looked very sad when we left it out in the rain and went inside our rooms.

We played a card game called plump during the whole afternoon since it rained quite a lot. Before dinner we also packed all our things and told Claudia, who seemed to be some kind of manager, that we wanted to wake up at 6 a.m. the next morning.

I paid for myself cash and gave 410 USD to Claudia. 185 USD for the two nights at Isla Violin including the night tour with the car in the banana plantation. 5 USD for the rent of the snorkeling equipment. I think I didn't have to pay for the last day due to the bad weather. 40 USD for the boat tour between Sierpe and Poorman's Paradise. 180 USD for the three nights at Pooorman's Paradise.

At dinner we asked for more rice which was no problem.

After dinner I and Andreas went out for a short night-tour. First we searched after the boa but couldn't find it. Andreas found instead an opossum which posed for our photos on a branch not far away. I saw the sleeping humming birds exactly at the same place as the last evening. I touched on of them and then it opened its eyes and looked very sleepy. I quickly went away since I didn't want to scare it more. Andreas found a red-eyed tree frog which we took a lot of photos of.

After our 1 hour tour we returned to the bar where Max and Rickard talked with a little sweet girl they had met on their horse tour the day before.

Monday 1 December

I went up 5:30 and took a shower. It had not been raining during the night which was unusual for us. We ate breakfast at 6 a.m. and the boat departed at 7 a.m. We had to do the same thing as Fredrik and David, or in other words first put our things in the small boat and then walk as far as possible to the left of the beach where we could take the smaller boat, at most 4 passengers at a time, out to the boat which should take us to Sierpe. You had to wear a life-west which is really good. It is actually a law in Costa Rica that people who arrange boat tours also have to supply you with a life west. One very good thing with Poorman's Paradise is that they take your security seriously compared to other companies.

It took 40 minutes before our baggage and all persons had entered the boat to Sierpe. The boat to Sierpe had a 150 hp engine and we passed by a boat with two 60 hp engines. The trip to Sierpe took one hour and we arrived 8:40 at Pincho's office. They had no electricity in the whole Sierpe when we arrived. Max and Andreas therefore couldn't pay with their credit cards at the office which they had planned to do. Pincho had to drive us to an ATM in Palma Norte where they could take out money and pay him. Observe that they could only take out colones and not USD.

We first planned to take the 10:00 bus from Palma Norte to San Jose. Pincho told us however that the 11:00 bus was better since that bus didn't stop so many times. He also mentioned other busses which I think departed 10:30 and 11:30. I couldn't se those buses on my time-schedule which I had printed out from Internet. I therefore went to the bus-station and checked the schedule. There were only buses departing at 10:00, 13:00 and 15:00. I asked the man at the ticked desk just in case when the next bus departed for San Jose. The time had passed 10:00 so I got the answer 13:00. He also told me that the ticket cost 4.800 colones. Why did Pincho mention other busses?

Luckily we didn't have to worry about the time schedule for the busses since on our way to Palma Norte Pincho decided to arrange so we instead could go there by car. A man, who he called Negro, would drive us to San Jose. We just had to pay 10 USD each for the drive to the capital. It would cost the same if we had gone by bus. Negro didn't know San Jose so he would leave us at some place so we could catch a taxi the last part to our hotel.

We had some interesting talk about women in Panama on our way to Palma Norte.

We set of towards San Jose around 11:15. On our way we passed a car which had smashed into another car quite hard. We stopped at the same lunch place as last time when we took the bus in the other direction. It took us about 2 hours and 45 minutes from Sierpe before we reached the place on the right side of the road. It was called Giorgiona or something similar. The four of us ordered something to eat but Negro didn't turn up. We wondered what he was doing. A man had told him that the water in the car was boiling so he had to fill in more water. I bought some snacks for him so he had something to eat when we continued our trip to San Jose.

We thought that we had to take a taxi the last part but Negro had arranged so that a relative of him met us on our way into San Jose. His relative drove us the last part to our hotel while Negro sat outside on the back of the Jeep. A car, in front of us, run into the car in front. It took some time before we found our hotel and there was a lot of traffic. I think we arrived around 17:30. It was very kind of them to drive us the whole way to our hotel so each of us gave them 10 USD extra.

I had booked two rooms for the four of us when we were at the hotel last time. We paid immediately since we were leaving early the next day. A room cost 26 USD or 7.000 colones.

There was a petrol station if you went to the right and then two blocks immediately to the left. At the petrol station you could buy for instance beer or rum and cola.

I spent 1-2 hours uploading photos and writing the last part in our travel diary. The other persons went out eating. Later we sat down in the garden at the backside of the hotel and drank some beer or vodka together with some other people. I know that at least Andreas got quite drunk and I suppose that Max and Rickard also had been drinking quite a lot.

Tuesday 2 December

We had decided to go up 5 a.m. but I couldn't sleep very well and at 4 a.m. I noticed that Rickard couldn't sleep either since he put on the TV. We had a shower and all four of us took the taxi when it arrived around 5:50. We could store most of our luggage in the back. The drive to the airport cost 23 USD and we arrived around 6:15, 3 hours before the scheduled departure. On a screen we could however see that our plane was delayed and should depart 9:50 a.m. instead.

You have to pay the departure tax before you check-in. The desk is to the left when you come inside the terminal building. It cost 26 USD or 7000 colones. You get a receipt that you have paid the tax. Observe that on the backside of the receipt you have to fill in a lot of information before you go to the check-in desk.

I could only get a boarding card for the plane from San Jose to New York. My friends got boarding cards also for their next flight to Stockholm. I prefer an aisle seat when I fly long trips so I can get up and walk or go to the toilet without disturbing other people. I had therefore tried to check-in on SAS Internet site without much success. I couldn't reserve a seat, instead I got a lot of problem and couldn't get boarding cards for my following flights with SAS at the check-in desk.

After passing the ordinary passport and security checks you enter the gate area. It is recommended to bring breakfast with you if you haven't eaten already since food is very expensive. A very little sandwich and a bottle of water cost almost 10 USD.

There is yet another security check at the gate when you enter the plane. They go through all passengers handbags to make sure that you haven't any water or other liquors with you. I had forgotten to check in my sun-lotion and had to throw it away since the bottle was 200 ml and max bottle size is 100 ml. It is really stupid. The person who invented that law must be mad or something. I can bring an empty 200 ml bottle with me on the plane and I can easily fill it with two 100 ml bottles.

An elderly man got angry when he couldn't take a water bottle with him which contained pure spring water he said. He said that he was allergic and couldn't drink the water onboard the plane. He was not allowed to take the water with him.

The plane was delayed and departed 1 hour and 15 minutes after schedule. I was really nervous since during normal circumstances I had two hours to change plane in New York. Due to the delay I only had 45 minutes left. I talked with a stewardess and she told me that I didn't have to worry. The plane would arrive in time. Could they really catch in that time? No, but they actually arrived only 30 minutes late. I then had one and a half hour to change plane which is not long time in the Newark airport.

Onboard the plane you had to fill in the two forms again.

Luckily I got a place in the front of the plane so I could get off the plane quickly. I run to get as quickly as possible to the passport check. On the way I met a man who worked there who informed me that I could get a boarding card after the customs at a transfer desk.

Luckily there was almost no queue at the passport check where they took your fingerprints and your photo as usual. I went quickly to the baggage claim where I unfortunately had to wait a long time for my suitcase. I then passed the customs quickly where I just gave them my customs declaration form. After that there were two queues, one for people entering New York and another for people who are continuing with another plane. A man asked me where I was going and told me that I should leave my suitcase nearby and take the train to terminal B. I explained that I needed a boarding card and he got irritated and said again that I had to go to terminal B. I asked another person where the train was and caught the first train to my terminal. At the terminal I saw immediately a place where SAS where selling tickets. I asked if they could give me a boarding card which they could. The man told me however that I had to contact the persons at the gate for some reason. I hurried to the gate and ended up in the end of a really long queue for a security check. It was now only 30 minutes left until my plane departed. I asked a man who worked there if it was possible to pass the other people since I was in a hurry. The man told me that he couldn't help me. I could only pass the other people if they called my name in the loudspeaker. Some other people, who also had a plane to catch at the same time as I, started to pass by other people. I just followed them and luckily could pass by half of the people in the queue. It took some time before I passed the security check and at the same time I passed it I heard that they had started to board my plane. I hurried to the gate and found that I had no seat number on my boarding card. It was therefore I had to contact the people at the gate which I did. I got a real boarding card with a seat number, unfortunately not an aisle seat but I was so happy that I had made it that I didn't care.

Wednesday 3 December

I luckily slept some hours during the night. They put the lights on a couple of hours before we landed and served the breakfast. We landed around 6:50 in Copenhagen, 20 minutes before schedule. It only took some minutes to pass a security check and if I remember correct also a passport check.

8:10 departed my plane for Gothenburg. There was no security or passport check in Gothenburg.

My suitcase, which I had checked in, never turned up on the conveyer belt. I had to report it missing which was quite easy. I just had to give them my receipt which I got when I checked-in. I also had to fill in a form with my address and phone numbers. The woman showed me a paper with a lot of photos on suitcases and I told her that my suitcase looked like number 22. I also told her that it was an Osprey suitcase which she wrote on the report. I didn't have to write down what it was in it. She told me that it was still in New York and that I would receive it later that day or the next day.

My father waited at the airport and drove me home.

Thursday 4 December

I slept quite well despite the change of time-zoon. The alarmbell woke me up at 6 a.m. I raised my arm and found a light-switch for a bedlamp at the same place as in my room at home. I didn't turn it on since I didn't want to wake other people. It took some time before I realized that I actually was at home, alone in my room, and it was time to go to work.

A woman called me from the airport at 11 a.m. and told me that my suitcase had arrived from New York. She asked if I was at home some hours in the afternoon. I told her that I was working, and was about to give her the address to my work or to my parents home, when she instead asked if I was at home between 19:30 and 22:30. I said yes. 21:50 the suitcase arrived and I signed a paper when I received it.

It was really good that it didn't take longer time since a lot of clothes in it were wet and I am not sure if they had survived more days.

Summary

I have traveled a lot lately and you get new life-experiences with each journey you make. I will try to write down something I learnt from this journey.

Books

Many of us had Lonely Planets guide book which is good. Rickard had a good book about snakes which I think was called "Snakes of Costa Rica".

Group size

Six persons might be the best size of a group. It is of course best to be an even number since then all can share double rooms which makes it less expensive. It was easy to find three double rooms during the low season when we were there. All of us could also share a taxi bus. It was difficult to keep together during night tours but six pairs of eyes are better than one. Eight people would probably also be okay but it would be more difficult during the night tours. Maybe you can share a taxi bus or otherwise you can go in two ordinary taxi cars. Ten persons would most likely be too many.

Equipments

Here follow some good advices regarding the equipment.

Small rucksack
Don't forget a small rucksack which you can use on day tours in the jungle.

Water
You have to bring water with you when you make a tour in the jungle. You can of course use ordinary bottles but it is much better to use a special plastic bag with a tube. You keep the plastic bag in your rucksack and you simply use the tube to suck in water without having to stop and take out a bottle from your rucksack. It is of course no problem to pick out a bottle when you are on a day tour in a city. It is however much more difficult if you are in the jungle, maybe in the night, it is raining and you have a headlamp and are carrying some other equipment.

Fishing equipment
People fished quite big fishes from the beach at Poorman's Paradise. They looked like small tuna fishes. Bring some fishing equipment with you if you like fishing.

Sleeping bag
I bought a special jungle bag with mosquito net which I intended to use on Isla Violinas. It was however to hot so one made of silc would have been better.

Group id on luggage
It is good to have some common id on your luggage if you travel in a group. You can for instance attach a piece of plastic in a special color. It is then much easier to keep an eye on all your friends luggage to avoid that somebody steals it. An example is when you travel by bus and without the common id it is difficult to remember how all your friends luggage looks like.

Diary and USB-memory
I always keep a diary when I travel. Both the diary and my photos are very important for me. I often transfer my photos to an USB-memory at places where they have computers to make sure I have a bakup of the best photos. In future I will probably also take photos of the pages in the diary and save them on the USB-memory so I also have backup of my diary.

Electric cable
Normally there is just a few electric points in hotelrooms so you cannot charge all your batteries at the same time. It is even worse if you share a room with another person. At some places you only have electricity a few hours every evening. It is therefore very important that you bring a cable which can be used to connect all your equipment at the same time.

Battery charges
Make sure they work from 100 - 240 V.

Small towel
It is nice to have a small towel when it is hot so you can remove sweat on your forehead.

Rubber boots
Everyone use rubber boots in rain forrests and not leather boots. In Sweden we have shorter, blue rubber boots which we call sailing boots. They can be very slippery since the pattern under them are not as goos as on real rubber boots. You have to wear thick socks inside rubber boots otherwise you will get sores on your heel.

Vaccination and malaria
I had my vaccination book with me but I have never showed anybody that I have a yellow fever vaccination. We didn't have to eat malaria tablets.

GPS, compass and communication radios
It is easy to get lost in the jungle when it is dark. Many times you just see one or two other lamps since the other guys are spread out. If you just see a couple of lamps you never knew where the others are. The group can easily be split into several parts if you don't have some plan to keep all together. We were only six people but several times our little group couldn't keep together. Two of us had GPS which was really good to have. You just add the location where you camp is and then the GPS can show you the way back. Don't trust mobile phones since mostly there was no connection. A whistle can be good but I am not sure how effective they are in the jungle. There are a lot of sounds and the vegetation can be quite thick. The question is how far you can hear them.

I would really recommend communication radios, at least a couple of them. The best thing would of course be if everybody had one. It is also good to be able to recognize different people. If you just see a light you don't know who it is. You can for instance wear different kinds of luminous tapes or tags ("reflex" in Swedish). Some days ago I saw a dog which had a blinking light. Maybe that would also be good on a night tour. It would at least be good if the guide or some other person had it so you can always have that person in sight. Some kind of signal horn would also be good. I don't think you can take signal horns which use pressurized air with you on the plane but otherwise they would be perfect, especially during emergencies such as a snake bite or if somebody got lost.

Rain protection
I had bought an expensive rain poncho made by "Fjällräven". I have to say that I was really disappointed. First of all it didn't keep you dry. You were soaking wet after one or two hours in heavy rain. I think it was mostly rain falling on your shoulders which penetrated the poncho. I think you can make a temporary improvement by making a circle of for instance a big plastic bag. It should be big enough so it covers your shoulders. Make a hole for your head and put it outside or inside your rain poncho. The second problem was that it was too short. They only make it in one size. How can they be so stupid! The rain poncho wasn't long enough to cover the top of my rubber boots. The consequence was that water came into my rubber boots and my socks became soaking wet. A temporary solution would be to attach plastic bags on your legs between your rain poncho and your rubber boats. Next time I travel to a rainforest I would definitely take real rain jacket and rain trousers with me beside a good rain hat.

It is good to have a small umbrella with you especially if you want to take a photo outside when it rains.

Many times you have to put your luggage in plastic bags when you for instance go by boat. Take black plastic bags with you. It would of course be even better if you make bags of thin tarpaulin ( "presenning" in Swedish ).

Mosquito repellant
You have to use special repellant which contains DEET. I used only a stick but next time I will also bring a roll-on or something similar which you can put on your clothes. I used MyggaA but next time I think I will also test US622.

Light
Most of us used Silva headlamps with 10 and 20 W lamps. They are probably perfect in Sweden but there are things you never think about before you actually use them. Have you seen a light outside during a summer night in Sweden. A lot of insects are flying around them. In the jungle it is much worse. Sometimes if was difficult to breath since there were so many insects around your head that you got them into your mouth. Many times I just had to turn the lamp of just to get rid of some disturbing insect. Some of the Silva's battery chargers work with voltages between 100 and 230 V even if it just says 220 V. I will probably take a strong flashlight with me beside some headlamp if I go back.

Total snake count

Below you have a list of the snakes we found. I will try to update it before the end of 2008. Observe that the weather was quite bad during most part of our journey. I can almost guarantee that we would have found more than 100 snakes if the weather conditions had been good.