Day 11. Sierpe to Central Valley

Submitted by maria on Tue, 20/09/2022 - 13:02

Today we leave Drake, we are very sad, it is an amazing place. Our boat leaves at 7.15 am for Sierpe.

Sierpe

On the beach we meet Carlos and Sara and in the boat Jose and Rosa, what a pleasure to see them again.

The trip back to Sierpe is much calmer than the outward journey. The passage between the sea and the waves is calmer today. We make a stop to put three people off and pick up another three a little further on.

Sierpe

Once in Sierpe we said goodbye to our friends as from here we went our separate ways. We take the car out of the car park, we pay 18$, 6$ per day or 12.000 colones.

Tomorrow we leave the car in San José to continue along the Caribbean coast by bus so we approach the Central Valley. We are actually going to be on the road all day. We drive along highway 34 (the coastal road) to Dominical where we take highway 243 until we reach highway 2 near San Isidro de El General.

Ferry

The scenery is spectacular although the rain does not allow us to admire it as much as we would like. The Talamanca mountain range separates the Pacific and Caribbean coasts and is home to the highest mountain in the country, Cerro Chirripó. The trekking looks very good but as it is the rainy season we were advised against it, the best time to climb is from December to March.

We also pass through the Quetzal National Park. Carlos and Sara visit it and leave disappointed. The breeding season for this animal is between March and May and in September it is practically impossible to see them. The guides have located three specimens and ask 60$/pax to show them. Instead they saw dozens of hummingbirds.

Four and a half hours later we arrived in Cartago, the old capital of the country, thinking that our accommodation was nearby when we realised that we had booked it in Zurquí, which meant an extra hour's drive.

We were undecided about what to do tomorrow, we were originally going to climb the Irazu Volcano but as we are closer to the Braulio Carrillo National Park and we have been given very good reviews we will visit the latter.

Petro-sphere

We stop to buy fruit at a roadside stall.

It is 4.30 pm and we stop for dinner at the bar-restaurant Las Juntas in Heredia 8.272 colones, picadillo de acarrache (minced meat with a tortilla and spices), roast chicken and lemonade, all delicious, especially the grilled chicken.

A few kilometres before arriving at the hotel we run into a big traffic jam. After a while we see that we can get to the accommodation by another route and we are right, although the traffic jam goes all the way to the door of Villa Zurquí. We see some reporters interviewing some of the stuck drivers and think that there is a problem at the toll booth. Later we learn that road 32 between San José and Limón is blocked by a landslide and has been blocked for three days. This road crosses the Braulio Carrillo Park dividing it in two and due to the rains there have been landslides.

Chicken

Bad news because the day after tomorrow we have to take that road with the bus to Tortuguero and there are not many other options to go by bus without a 10 hour journey.

Costa Rica has a rather precarious road infrastructure, although they are improving, they only have two main roads connecting San José to the Caribbean and San José to the Pacific coast. So when one of the roads is closed due to a landslide or accident, the other collapses.

Villa Zurquí hotel

We cannot visit Braulio Carrillo either, the Quebrada González sector is inaccessible and the Barva Volcano sector requires a 4x4 for the last three kilometres, so the decision is easy. Tomorrow we will visit the Irazú Volcano and cross our fingers that road 32 will be opened the day after tomorrow.