Day 1: “Camino de Costa Rica”

 “Camino de Costa Rica", the 165 mile trek across the country from ocean to ocean…

The very first “Camino of Costa Rica“ marker. This is where the trail starts, on the Caribbean/Atlantic ocean. From here it’s about 280 km to the Pacific Ocean and the town of Quepos, Costa Rica.

My guide, Jairo, and I at the start of the track, at the Caribbean/Atlantic ocean

The first 200 meters or so of the Camino of Costa Rica

You actually have to take a boat out to the Atlantic ocean through the canals to the start of the trail and then take the boat back to the trail. 

With Julio Knight and Juancho on the Rio Madre de Dios river

Kid taking his cow on a trip… In a boat

Lodge that we ate breakfast at for stage one, the Atlantic ocean is across the canal and about 200m away

The “blue jeans” frog. Poisonous, so you don’t pick them up 

And this is an example of the newer “Camino De Costa Rica” signs everywhere on the trail, that show you how far you’ve come, and how far you still have to go 

Sloth

We stopped to get some coconut water, which is just like it sounds, you can buy cold green coconuts, and they chop a hole in the top and put a straw in to drink the coconut water. This particular vendor had a couple of nice parakeets.

My guide and I drinking coconut water, one of my favorites, if you get a good one, and hanging out with a parakeet, on the side of the road

These are the “rollers“ in the banana plantation, where they take the huge bunches of bananas, and put them on this track system to move them around more efficiently than carrying them one by one

Banana plantation factory

Basilisk lizard on the road, I didn’t even move after we got super close

One of my very favorite things in Costa Rica, living fences. They plant sticks in the ground, and most of them sprout and grow into trees, providing a buffer and safe space for small animals, while keeping the cows in or out at the same time.

We had a massive wind and rain storm while we were out hiking on day one. It blew down trees all around us, and this was a tree that blew down on the road in front of us.

Poison dart frog

Blue Morpho butterfly

Grasshopper

Train track leading into the town at the end of stage one, Cimmarones

The first nights dinner, at the house of Yolanda and Manuel in Cimarrones, Costa Rica. Absolutely incredible Caribbean style “rice and beans”, cooked in coconut milk. Wonderful people, great conversation, and a fun time, we watched the Costa Rica versus Guatemala soccer game until Guatemala went up 1-0 and I went to bed.

This is Yolanda and Manuel in their house in Cimmarrones, Costa Rica. They cooked the most delicious “rice and beans“, which is the Caribbean version of the Costa Rican classic “Gallo pinto“, cooked in coconut milk.