I took a loop connected by the Ollas, Espaveles, Guanacaste and Sirena trails, about 4km in all. All were mostly muddy and had stream crossings now and then; all those funny rubber boots people were wearing made a lot more sense now, but I got by fine with my amphibious runners. Along the way the light poured through the trees like something out of a LOTR movie. I didn´t see much wildlife at first, a few giant spiders, a couple monkeys and small lizards sunning themselves in the trail. Eventually I came to a river crossing and almost stepped right onto the brightest green iguana I´d ever seen. He was staking his claim, unmoving as I stepped around him. Pretty bummed I didn´t have a working camera for it.
The rest of the trail was pretty uneventful, but the giant trees with roots like walls and the interconnectedness of the rainforest made for a great sight in itself. I decided that James Cameron must've done a hell of a lot of research for Avatar here.
After a lunch break I set out for the other side of Sirena, which ended up being an uphill climb along a ridge through the rainforest. I was glad for the challenge, but didn´t see much in terms of wildlife. The trail descended down and back towards the Rio Claro, where it opened up to an amazing spot where the water was clear and blue, two herons wading in the center.
Squirrel monkeys came crashing through the trees on the other side, completing my viewing of all four indigenous monkey species. Eventually the trail spilled back into the area I´d walked into Sirena from, where I saw two curacao birds, big black and turkey-like with curly mohawk crests. At a river crossing I saw for a split-second a Jesus Christ lizard, who performed his miracle of walking on water- fast. All the lizards here seem to have a habit of jumping into the biggest pile of leaves possible and making heaps of noise, making you jump and think you´re about to have your thighs gnawed on by a puma.
Back at camp, I met Alejandro, a biology student from San Jose out to study and photograph animals. The day before he and others had gone out just before dusk to the Rio Claro and saw a tapir swimming in the river before disappearing into the trees. We headed out that way again to see if he´d return. There were a few guys out there with giant cameras like they worked for Nat Geo or something. We waited for a while but the tapir still hadn´t shown up, and Alejandro headed back to catch dinner at the station´s cafeteria. Minutes later he came running back, yelling, "The tapir!" I ran with him halfway to Sirena where I saw it. It was so much bigger than I thought, hippo size and shape but with a tiny stump tail and a floppy snout like an elephant. They're an endangered species, seeing it was a mystical experience. A family of coati showed up too, a mom followed by four little ones that followed her up into a tree. Later, a second tapir came from the other side of the trail, the male with scars on his side that Alejandro had seen the day before at the river. I watched the two of them as they came together, until they got spooked and ran off into the trees. I started running too; it was nearly dark and I didn't have a light.
Back at camp, I met up with David, the guy who gave me directions in Puerto Jimenez. He made it to Corcovado after all; his uncle surprised him with a free trip. After dinner we talked about going out for a night hike. It was strictly forbidden, but many had already done it, including some of the guides. The problem was getting across the airstrip and onto the trail without being caught by the rangers who had a clear view from their house. We headed out on a trail out the back, the one I had done earlier that day that went uphill for 2km. But after about 15 mins we decided it wasn't worth going up the sketchiest trail illegally at night, and planned to go out on the airstrip once the rangers had gone to sleep. Only we wanted to go to sleep too, which won out over our nighttime puma hunt. Still, it was cool to see the forest with only a light to guide your way, while hundreds of eyes are likely focused back on you.
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