Corcovado Adventure Part II: Drake Bay

PART II: Sierpe and Drake Bay

I woke up Wednesday to the sound of birds chirping in the tree outside my window.  The sunlight was pouring in through the roof and it was beautiful.

We slept under a mosquito net because our tree house was open to the elements.  I woke up early and went exploring.  Here's another tree house:

This was the smoking area:

The bathrooms with dorm beds above:

Random cool signs:

Doesn't it remind you of Neverland?

Finally, the moment you've been waiting for, our penthouse:

Ladder to paradise (we even had a private hammock):

Patio with a great view:

The room itself was simply a bed, fan, some shelves and outlets.  Quaint and cozy.

We shared a veggie omelette for breakfast:

Then we packed up and hit the road!  We had a bus to catch!  Bye bye Flutterby!

Our next destination is a place called Bahia Drake (Drake Bay), which is the town closest to Corcovado National Park.  The problem is that to get to Drake Bay, you have to take a water taxi and the water taxis only come twice a day (once in the morning and once in the late afternoon).  Miss the boat and you're stuck in Sierpe (the furthest you can go south before taking a boat), which is even smaller than Montezuma and without any of the appeal.  It's an itty-bitty, podunk town in the hottest part of the country.  I can't stress how much we NEEDED to catch that boat.

We walked to downtown Uvita in the heat with our backpacks (brutal) and got cash and snacks because we heard in Drake Bay it's slim pickins (and NO ATMs).  Then back to the bus stop.  We saw a random burro on the way:

Hey buddy!  Wanna give us a lift??  

A bus arrived, but it had a different destination than where we were going (a place I've never heard of), so we asked the bus driver if he was going to Sierpe and he said no.  After the bus left, some nice people helped us ask a local in Spanish where that bus was going and it turns out that WAS our bus and we missed it.  OMG kill me!  So, now we're panicked because there isn't supposed to be another bus for hours, meaning we will miss the boat for sure.  In our weakest moment, we contemplated calling it quits and going back home to Jaco.  In the end, we decided to get some lunch and then decide.  While wandering aimlessly looking for a decent soda, a bus was coming towards us.  I flagged it down (buses will stop anywhere for anyone, it doesn't have to be a bus stop) and it turns out it was going south!  It was a miracle!!  We're back on track.  On the way south, there are fields filled with palm trees (for harvesting palm oil):

Yup, that's part of my finger in the top left corner.  Genius.

We made it to Sierpe with hours to spare until the boat arrived, so we sat at the only restaurant in town and waited.  They had glass cases with random trinkets, but the best were the packs of cigarettes.  They had tons of gross images from victims of smoking:

Man, I quit before I even started!  EWW!!!  

This is the channel the boat takes:

It was really tranquil, with lily pads and little flowers just floating by.  Then the boat finally came!

We had the worst seats (squished right in front), but I tried to take pictures.

We drove (I still don't know if that's right.  Do you drive a boat?) through a mangrove channel and it was amazing!  It reminded me of that ride at Disneyland where you get in a boat and ride through the "jungle."  

It was incredibly beautiful.  I took a pic of this sign because it just creeped me out:

No idea what it said, but it was probably something like "All ye who enter here DIE!"  Spooky!  Then we exited the channel and connected with the open ocean:

The views were gorgeous, the land filled with lush, thick jungle.  I've never seen anything like it!  It both excited and terrified me.  I quickly came to the realization this is the most remote place I've ever visited in my life.  It's not easy to get into or out of Drake Bay and Corcovado, even if you get on the boat, the waves are so choppy, it's like a Perfect Storm experience (I'm just now noticing I reference a lot of George Clooney movies).  The beach landings were also sketchy and difficult because the waves were so strong.  While attempting to exit the boat, Aaron almost cut himself on the motor propeller when a wave pushed him onto it.  Ouch!  

It took an hour and we probably almost died, but we made it to Drake Bay!

We walked around until we found a hostel called:

Martina was lovely and totally gave us a fantastic deal.  If you're ever in Drake Bay, go to Martina's Place!  It's a really simple, quiet and cute place.  Here's the kitchen/dining area:

She has two super sweet dogs.  Here they are napping (I hope):

We had our own private hammock:

Check out our awesome room.  

Bed #1:

Bed #2:

Beds #3 and #4:

Private bathroom and shower with hot water (most showers don't come with hot water, especially in hostels):

Pretty amazing for only $35/night!  We were very impressed.  Thanks again Martina for the awesome deal!

After settling in, we got a romantic dinner at a local restaurant:

For some dumbass reason, I ordered tacos (I was in the mood for Jack In The Box 2 tacos for $0.99).  These were not JITB, that's for sure.  They were horrible.  It was 2 taquitos totally burnt black and covered with cabbage and some mayo and red sauce.  OMG gross!  I hate sending food back, but this was a joke.  It was charcoal.  I tried to stomach it, but Aaron being the gentleman that he is, couldn't watch me choke it down and had them remake it.  Even then, it was rough.  Nothing ruins a romantic dinner like burnt taquitos covered in mayo.  Even just typing that made me dry-heave.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that Costa Ricans do Mexican food well.  We have found very few good Mexican restaurants here (and the ones we have found are big tourist restaurants).  There's no such thing as authentic Mexican-style food in Costa Rica.  They do Italian WAY better than Mexican and Italian restaurants are a dime a dozen for some reason.  They're everywhere!  I guess there's no reason they should have good Mexican food, they're not Mexicans.  I get it, but I still just can't wrap my mind around it.  I'll never let it go, Costa Rica!

Then we got a few drinks at a local bar and hit the sack because we had to wake up early for Corcovado the next morning.  

Get excited!!