The second night in my hostel, I met a German girl named Nora, and a Swiss guy named Silvan, and after a few beers, decided we’d rent a car and travel down to Bahia Drake together for a little scuba diving and exploration of Corcovado National Park. The next day, after finding out it would cost over $500 to rent a car, we decided to take the bus. When we found out the bus would take over 12 hours, we decided maybe we can fly. Lo and behold, for $42, the cost of lunch at Breckenridge, we be booked our flight.
The next day we arrived at the airport for our 50 minute flight and after telling the woman at the counter only our destination, we were greeted by name. Evidently, the other 3 passengers on the flight had already checked in so by process of elimination… Our puddle jumper had 4 rows of seats, enough for 12 passengers, and 2 pilots that looked like they just started shaving. We were in the front row so when the pilot wanted to move his seat back, it affected our leg room. It was nice being able to see everything they did, and since they didn’t feel the need to pay too much attention to anything, I knew things were going good. We landed in a rain storm but thankfully that was the last we saw of it for 3 days.
I recently heard the term “dirt road town” and this is definitely an accurate way to describe Bahia Drake (but in a good way). It has one road that winds through the area and everything is connected to it. It was pock marked with puddles from the rain and the rain forest jungle rises up on both sides. Sporadically it opens up to show the beach and coastline it traverses. The “the street” was our 1km walkway from our hotel into town that had 6 or 7 restaurants, a couple supermarados that were actually mini, and a helado stand where I recommend the oreo cookie ice cream.
The first day we went scuba diving. When I was in the Galapagos I got accustomed to swimming around sharks and it was good that I did because this was the first time I was near sharks while scuba diving. They were the same type we saw in the Galapagos, so while I wasn’t arms length to them again, I was comfortable and didn’t have the theme from Jaws playing in my mind.
The next day we “hiked” through Corcovado National Park. Unfortunately the hike was actually just a very slow walk a few kilometers long, but during that time we saw a bunch of monkees, a sloth, and an anteater. We were ferried back and forth on a motor boat and on the way, for the second day in a row, we had dolphins swim along side our boat.
At night we sat around eating some incredible Mahi Mahi caught the day after we arrived and prepared in the local style, and challenging each other playing the game Jenga. Unfortunately, the term Jenga Jordan (JJ for short) was created and not as a sign of appreciation of my jenga brilliance. If you are a German girl or Swiss guy playing Jenga, you don’t want to be called JJ.
Life is good.