Feliz Nuevo Año

Ok where do I start?

Sorry still no pics until we get a good internet connection.....

So the first day in Drake Bay we just stuck around the area. We were told there was a small beach not far from our hotel where the snorkeling was pretty good. We took it easy in the morning, went for breakfast, and then took a walk through the forest to find the beach. We first stopped to check with another tour place to see about getting an overnight in Corcovado. This guide, Kenneth, said he could probably take us the next day, but he would have to call the park to check. He told us to come back before 3 to check. We were hopeful.

There is a large beach right outside of our hotel where the boats land, but its not terribly nice for swimming or snorkeling. To the south there is a trail that passes a number of small beaches. Our first stop was at one that had the most amazing shells on it. We spent a little time shell hunting there and then continued on. We found one that looked promising as far as snorkeling went and we stopped and spent a few hours. It was actually quite interesting--not spectacular, but also not like snorkeling in Arizona. There was a lot of coral that looked to be just new, parrot fish, ras, trigger fish, a lobster, and some other beautiful creatures.

We walked a little further down the trail just to check it out. We found all these eaten and uneaten orange bean pods on the trail. We were just wondering about them when one of us looked up and noticed a chestnut mandibled toucan sitting above us. Isaac got some wonderful pictures of this guy. We saw another trogon --seems to be Isaac´s bird he spots them everywhere--and some more white-faced capuchin monkeys. We made our way back to town to check with Ken and saw another agouti.


Ken informed us that there were no spaces for the 30th--but there were some for the 31st. The problem was that, like all Ticos, he wanted to be in town for the party on the 31st--not camping out in a park with a bunch of gringos. We told him we understood and discussed our options.



That evening, we spoke with our hotel owner and one of his guides, Everest --yep that´s his name. What Everest suggested was going for the day tour --he was going to take two people the next day-- and when we got to the station, he would ask his friends if there was room for us. If there was, we would stay the night there; and if not, we would come back. This seemed like our only possible chance to get to stay there--without spending the rest of our trip waiting--so we took a chance. We crossed our fingers for the next day's luck.