GETTING lost HIKING IN A JUNGLE IN COSTA RICA

Updated: 11/11/2018 | November 11th, 2018

“Let’s go hiking in Arenal,” I said one early morning at breakfast.

“OK, we’ll go after lunch,” said Gloria and Lena. Gloria was a thirty-something olive skinned Spanish woman and her pal Lena, a short Latino with jet black hair from Chicago. Both were the only native Spanish speakers on the tour and helped me greatly improve my Spanish.

“Gracias,” I replied.

We were in Arenal, a small town up in central Costa Rica famed for its active volcano of the same name, caving, lake, hot springs, and gigantic waterfall. It was a stop on everyone’s itinerary, a place to embrace that pura vida lifestyle. during the day, smoke rose from the volcano as lava oozed out of it casting a dusty appearance to the mountain. At night, flashes of red let you know lava is oozing down its side.

It was our second day there and I wanted to hike some of the (safe) trails around the mountain and catch the sunset over the lake. Hiking in Costa Rica is one of the top things to do in the country and I wanted to do as much of it as possible.

We told the cab driver we’d be back at the park entrance at six and started off on our adventure to watch the sunset over the lake. We headed into the jungle, which typically quickly thinned out to rocky trails spreading out like spider veins from the side of the mountains. These were remnants of eruptions long past. Dead earth that was slowly coming back to life. We wandered off the train and down these gravel paths, finding where they led. This was an adventure. I felt like Indiana Jones. I jumped over rocks and climbed boulders, getting Gloria and Lena to take photos of me. I followed unknown local animals around.

Returning to the official trail, we walked towards the lake. On the way, we consulted the vague trail map our hotel had given us.

“I think we’re at this cross-section,” I said pointing to a spot on the map. “We passed these lava fields a bit ago so I think if we keep going a little more down that way, we’ll get to the lake.”

Gloria leaned over. “Yeah, I think so too. We have a few hours until sunset so let’s keep hiking. We can loop around these side trails and then get back to the main trail.”

As the sun began to set, we turned back towards the lake.

Consulting our map again, Gloria said:

“Hmm, I think we’re now here.”

We weren’t a 100% sure what cross trail we were on. The map was vague and had little reference to distance.

“Maybe we walk back two junctions and we’ll hit the main trail. There’s this other trail but I dunno if we are close.”

As we consulting this map, a few hikers passed us.

“Excuse, can you tell us where we are? Which way to the lake?,” I asked.

“Just go back and take a left at the sign,” said one of the guys as he passed, gesturing vaguely as he pointed.

“Ok takk!”

As they continued on, we looked at the map.

“If he said that way, then we must be at this crossroads,” I said pointing to a junction closer to the main path. “That left must be this other path we were just looking at.”

We proceeded in the direction he told us and took a left.

But, instead, our trail instead kept going and we soon found ourselves deeper into the forest. There was no junction, no turn-off. Our guess at the junction was wrong. As the sun set overhead and sky turned a deep pink, we became more and more lost. We went down trails that ended abruptly. We doubled back, found new trails but kept going around in circles. Day turned into night. Mosquitoes came out to hunt their confused prey (us), and animals came out to frolic, no longer scared off by a thousand hiking tourists.

Twilight set in and our flashlights batteries died. All we had to guide us was the light from our cameras. We had no food or water. This trip was only supposed to last a couple of hours. We were unprepared.

“We need to find a point that we recognize and then work from there. We’re going around in circles,” Lena said.

She was right. We were making no progress.

The thought of spending a night in the jungle was making us edgy. Our tour group would be feasting on a substantial dinner while we found our way out of this mess. would we have to spend the night here? When would they start to worry about us? would it be too late by then? The park wasn’t that big but we were essentially wandering in the dark.

We came to a fork in the road.

“I remember this place,” I said.

“I think we go….that way,” I said pointing to another path. “The map shows a dirt road at the end. roads mean cars. automobiles mean people. people means back in time for dinner.”

“Let’s hope,” replied Gloria.

Following the trail, we eventually came to a dirt road. It was on the map and had a science station marked on it. One way led to it, the other to the main road. Figuring we were at least in the right direction, we turned left into the darkness.

We’d picked the wrong way though. in front of us was the gate to the science station. ConversiNg på spansk med vakten, Gloria og Lena fortalte ham vår situasjon. Han informerte oss om at vi ikke kunne ringe en drosje derfra, og vi måtte gå tjue minutter tilbake til hovedveien, prøve å ta en tur dit eller gå tilbake til byen.

Veien var tom da vi kom dit. Slitne og sultne begynte vi vår lange tur hjem i stillhet. Etter hvert hentet en bil oss.

Når vi var inne, ble vi animert igjen, snakket og lo om hele opplevelsen.

“Du vet, i ettertid har vi en god historie å fortelle gruppen,” sa Gloria. Hun hadde gått stille i sinne under turen.

“Ha ha! Ja, men først trenger jeg å spise, ”svarte Lena. “Jeg sulter.”

Tilbake på hotellet var turgruppen vår på dessert. Alle så på oss i våre skitne klær og spurte: “Hvor var dere? Hvorfor savnet du middag? ”

Vi så på hver.

“Det er en interessant historie, men først trenger vi litt mat. Vi sulter, ”sa vi med et smil.

Det var et Arenal -turnerventyr jeg ikke ville glemme.

Bestill turen: Logistiske tips og triks
Bestill flyet ditt
Bruk Skyscanner eller Momondo for å finne en rimelig flytur. De er mine to favoritt søkemotorer fordi de søker på nettsteder og flyselskaper over hele kloden, slik at du alltid vet at ingen stein blir igjen. Begynn med Skyscanner først, men fordi de har størst rekkevidde!

Bestill innkvarteringen din
Du kan bestille vandrerhjemmet ditt med HostelWorld, da de har den største varen og de beste tilbudene. Hvis du vil bo et annet sted enn et herberge, kan du bruke booking.com, da de konsekvent returnerer de billigste prisene for gjestehus og rimelige hoteller. Mine favorittsteder å bo er:

Arenal Backpackers Resort.

Howler Monkey Hostel

Ikke glem reiseforsikring
Reiseforsikring vil beskytte deg mot sykdom, skade, tyveri og kanselleringer. Det er omfattende beskyttelse i tilfelle noe går galt. Jeg drar aldri på tur uten det, da jeg har måttet bruke den mange ganger i fortiden. Mine favorittbedrifter som tilbyr den beste servicen og verdien er:

Sikkerhetsving (for alle under 70)

Forsikre turen min (for de over 70)

MedJet (for ekstra hjemsendelsesdekning)

Leter du etter de beste selskapene å spare penger med?
Sjekk ut ressurssiden min for de beste selskapene å bruke når du reiser. Jeg lister opp alle de jeg bruker for å spare penger når jeg er på vei. De vil spare deg for penger når du også reiser.

Vil du ha mer informasjon om Costa Rica?
Sørg for å sjekke ut vår robuste destinasjonsguide på Costa Rica for enda flere planleggingstips!

Fotokreditt: 2 – Ariana