Month: February 2023 Page 2 of 4

Today we decide to walk much further around the headlands. This involves an early departure to benefit from as much cool air as possible. It may be cooler but the rainforest is still very hot and humid. There is not a breath of air so sweat doesn’t evaporate. You just get stickier and stickier! We definitely seem to have acclimatised though and this seems much easier than yesterday.

The path weaves its way up and down the coastline and every so often we emerge onto a pristine and totally deserted beach. There are long beaches and tiny inlets where the waves crash onto the rocks and surge there way inland.

Wildlife is tough to spot in the forest but any sign of movement and my camera is there.

I spotted the lizard above by its flash of turquoise. The tail was so long I initially thought that it was a snake. I moved to photograph it and it shot behind me and stopped directly behind my right foot. I knew I couldn’t move so had to contort myself and point the lends behind me. Quite a good result considering, but there is no way I could fit the extra foot of tail in.

There is always lots to photograph if you sit still for a little while. Nature appears around you.

By 08.30 we were hungry and in need of sustenance. We found a very basic adventure camp that welcomed us warmly and served us fruit, eggs, pancakes, juice and coffee. It was so welcome and tasted so good. We had worked up quite an appetite. We were relieved as we had tried another little hotel en route and they would not serve us. It seems strange to turn away business in such a remote location. When we made it back to our beach we stopped for a well-earned beer. Turns out we walked 11km over the last 5 hours. No guilt for doing nothing else all day!

Dinner was at the same restaurant as last night as the food was so good. I had teriyaki tuna which was very fresh and of course another affogato.

We sleep really well and decide to go for an exploratory walk before breakfast and before it becomes too hot. It is already 29C and only 07.00. Surprisingly, for such a tiny location, Drake Bay has a small police station set back from the beach. We presume it is necessary because this is close to the Panama border and very remote and would be an ideal location for drug running. That is only our guess but would seem likely.

We see pelicans flying in formation above us and vultures are abundant in the trees and on the beach.

I’m particularly grateful to this guy who lets me get really close.

There is no jetty so all boat trips involve a wet embarkation.

At the end of the beach we divert to the road that then turns into a track with a path off through the rainforest.

We see the hugest bamboo and beyond that we enter the forest. Birds and butterflies dart from bush to bush. Tantalisingly difficult to photograph.

We’ve been walking for an hour or so and are now hungry. We stumble across a luxury hotel and decide breakfast here would be an excellent idea.

Feeling much refreshed we set off once more. Paul spots a couple of green parrots in the bushes. It’s takes me a while to see them. They are so well camouflaged.

This tanager is not so well-camouflaged but still hard to spot!

We cross a very rickety hanging bridge and can see monkeys in the trees above.

The path now went steeply uphill but at least had some crude steps and a handrail to make life a little easier. We then go the same distance downhill and arrive on a beautiful deserted beach.

Above us I hear squawking. I am being watched by a cheeky red macaw.

Hermit crabs scuttle along the sand. We sit and watch them for a while and soak up the magnificent view before heading back to our hotel.

We now change rooms and are delighted to find that our deluxe room is a huge improvement. We have a balcony with chairs. It is yards from the beach with a lovely view and breeze. We even have bedside tables. Hoorah!! Still no glasses though….. We skip lunch and drink beer and eat nachos on our terrace. We then swim in the sea and laze on loungers until it is sundowner time. We head down the beach in the opposite direction to this morning. We find a bar with a great view where we sit and drink our pina coladas.

We find a little restaurant tucked away behind the beach where we have a really excellent meal. There are specialist coffees here and the affogato to finish was delicious.

Our next port of call is very remote and 217 km away. This does not sound that far but we know that the last 33km from Rincon to Drake Bay will not be on good roads. We make good progress for the first section down to Palmar Norte. Here we turn off the main highway expecting to find a pot-holed track but are delighted and surprised to find a good road, albeit bendy!

This takes us all the way to Rincon where we stop by a beautiful bay to have lunch.

There is very little at Rincon but we find a tiny and very welcoming little restaurant.

We feast on freshly cooked snapper and homemade lemonade. Delicious.

Feeling fully replete we set off and shortly turn right on our final leg. Shock and horror. This road is terrible and goes from bad to worse. Loose stone and huge quantities of dust. Very uncomfortable and vibrations that shake you from top to toe.

This road progresses to include steep inclines with apparent ravines running down them. This is not for the faint-hearted and 4×4 is essential. I could not take photos as both hands were required to hold on. Very extreme terrain and apparently in the wet season is almost impassable. Still despite the complaining we do like a good adventure!

2 hours later and we make it to Drake. Unbelievably the road has deteriorated further. There is a steep descent down to where Waze tells us we’ll find our hotel.

Well, without Waze I think we could still be looking for it. No signage whatsoever, just a beach restaurant with reception as an office at the back of it. The road into the hotel is the worst of all with a broken drainage pipe that you could not see. We hit it hard and there is a loud bang as the front of the vehicle crashes over it. It sounded like we had done a lot of damage but it appears the running plate had detached and clipped back on easily. Phew!!

However by this time we were hot, tired and not in the best humour. I could not book the same room for 3 nights so we have a superior tonight and deluxe for the last two nights. It is hard to see what was superior about the room. Granted it was clean and newly re-furbished but it was really spartan with only the bare basics. Just a bed and towels. Not even a cup or glass…. To cap it all, as Paul points out, this is the most expensive place we are staying.

We lie on a lounger, have a beer then walk down the beach to find a back-packers bar that serves the best cocktails. We’re starting to feel much better. Palm trees, blue sea and rum can have that effect.

We go to the restaurant for dinner where we are ignored and sit next to a large group who are talking loudly. We look at each other and say “What are we doing? Dinner isn’t included. We can go anywhere.” We don’t want to walk into the town centre as it is up a rocky 1:3 slope so we drive up. This place looks dreadful. Really tatty and rundown. Paul says he will eat anywhere that looks like it has a soft seat. Strange way to choose your dinner venue but that is what we did. We found padded chairs, there was music, efficient staff and great food. Never judge a book….

We stocked up on water in the adjacent supermarket and then slept and slept.

Today’s drive is scheduled to take 3.5 hours. We have coffee on the terrace and leave at 08.30 with the intention of breakfasting on route. We watch the abundant bird life and an agouti grazing on the lawn.

We are travelling on the intercontinental highway and initially we make good progress, even on the sections that are single lane and under construction. We had some great views on this section.

We stopped briefly for breakfast and then hit a jam slowing our progress. The journey eventually took 5 hours. We did make a second brief stop at the crocodile bridge where we bought sublime fruit smoothies and eyed the large crocs in the river below.

We arrived at our hotel at 13.30 but the room was not ready so we headed to the restaurant for lunch, which was good. I stayed here before on my trip in 2020 and knew the accommodation was of a decent standard. Our room was lovely – close to reception and with a small pool outside.Even better there are comfortable loungers with big fat cushions. Luxury. We have spent a lot of time sitting on hard seats. Nowhere seems to believe in cushions and our bottoms require something soft. Our terrace is quite shady so we head down to the main pool for a swim and afternoon siesta.

We head for sundowners at El Avion which is a cool bar with an aeroplane but it was pretty noisy. We had a painkiller and took some sunset shots.

Then we drove down to the beachfront in Manuel Antonio where we found an excellent restaurant, with efficient staff, great ambience and live music. We ordered the special – snapper with salsa topping cooked in a banana leaf. It was delicious washed down with a cheeky chardonnay, which was the only wine option!

After a full on day yesterday we decide to do very little today. This is a holiday after all! It’s a glorious morning. We have breakfast of pancakes & fruit then hit the road. We are heading down to Canas just south of the continental divide where the weather should become more stable. The road from Canó Negro was much better than expected although not without a few impressive potholes. The scenery is pleasant and the trip fairly uneventful apart from the encounter with drovers and their herd of cattle.

The weather changes dramatically as we pass between the mountain ranges. Here it is much drier, hotter and a brisk breeze is blowing. We stop at a supermarket to buy essential provisions of wine, beer and snacks and are hit by the heat and wind as we exit the car.

Waze took us to our entered location of Hacienda el Pacifico. It did not feel right and clearly was a working farm and nothing like the booking.com pictures. We re-entered our destination – this time with Hotel in front of it and were pleased to see we were only a couple of miles away from the correct destination.

Our room isn’t ready so we relax by the pool and drink the recently purchased beer. The grounds are tropical and it is easy to relax.

We have lunch which is bigger than required then just chill. We swim and hear howler monkeys close by. We also spot an agouti in the nearby undergrowth. We have sundowners on our terrace, where we play music, drink wine and watch deer grazing on the lawn outside our room. It’s particularly enjoyable as the terrace has leather rocking chairs. So comfortable!

A pretty perfect day….