To Casa Corcovado

We now had the longest drive of the holiday,Waze ( which worked amazingly well there ) estimating 6 hours plus, with uncertain road conditions at the end.Fuelled by the local excellent coffee of which they are justifiably very proud and empanadas and by now used to the road conditions and local traffic quirks we made Sierpe mid afternoon to pick up our boat transfer to the Casa Cordova lodge, by boat ( because there’s no road access), our home for the next  nights.
The local boats are small around 8 seater (because there are no jetties so beach landings are required) with large outboard engines required  for the sea conditions.
After almost an hour powering through the estuary, a tour in itself, we entered the ocean which made for a very bouncy experience.

The beach landing was as exciting as billed as boatman steered through the rocks around the beach and the surf but not as exciting as the shout of “puma!” which went up as we walked away from the boat. For a moment we were unsure whether this was a warning but then realised it was a call to approach them and to join the group of lodge guests excitedly pulling out their cameras to photograph the pair of pumas on the outskirts of the hotel gardens.They looked at us, we at them, they seemed curious if anything and after a few minutes they sauntered away.Given that most guests never even get a glimpse of these big cats we were terribly lucky 

The lodge is an amazing place; 14 cabins over a large area of gardens facing the bush, ours a good 10 minute walk from the reception and dining area.
All inclusive as there’s nowhere else to dine!
We had a night walk ; it had rained there recently, so more chance of good for stuff to see, though more difficult to hike and wonderful for bringing out the insects but we had a close up view of a Fernández viper the most poisonous snake in the country and just off our hiking trail. Also the red eyed frog which we had really hoped to sight.

No AC in the cabin tho overhead fans were just sufficient to keep the cabins cool, at least at night.
We woke up early with the sound of the jungle around us.

We hiked into the National Park, seven miles in warm and humid conditions. Many birds, sloths ( frankly not exciting by now) lizards,flowers, tiger herons and great views of macaws at our lunch on the beach upon our return to the hotel.

Much washing to be done; shirts are a write off even after half a day. All the cabins have washing lines.
On our final day we took a boat to an island, El Cano, an hour away, for a snorkelling trip. Another bouncy trip and then into the warm Pacific Ocean. Actually quite hard work because of the swell but swimming with turtles, rays, a reef shark and many reef fish.