Bolita Hostel - Don Brasos near Corcavado NP, Costa Rica

This is an awesome cheaper alternative to hiking in Corcavado National Park which is an $80+ cost for an 8 or so hour hike with a tour guide, which is necassary if you want to get into the park. Theres no way around it unless you want to risk it and may or may not get eaten by a jag. Joking. Haha . I've heard both good and bad reviews about the guided hikes but I wasnt willing to take that $80+ risk. So back in December when I was in Quepos I stumbled apon a poster for Bolita advertising its 14km of trails and upon more research i found it as a succluded tranquil alternative to Corcavado.

Without further adew, Boilta

The office of Boilta is located about a 30 minute min-bus ride away from Puerto Jimenez in the small town of Don Brasos. This is where everyone unpacks the unessentials and only take a few items of clothing, toiletries and food (Which is you should buy in Puerto Jimenez, but Don Brazos does have a two small Pulperias and there few things for sale at the actuall hostel). The office will be your last stop for Wifi(all though was not completley reliable) and the last chance to charge you appliances (They have solar panels up at the hostel, however I found it didnt have enough juice to charge anything) They also have some beer for sale!

From here is a relativley easy hike over 3 mini bridges and through a bit of bush for about 10 minutes until you get to the river, where if your wearing sandals is fine but if your wearing boots, ya gotta take em off. Once you've crossed the shin deep water (deeper and faster in the rain season) From here the hike gets a little steeper, not too bad but its usually hot n humid and you have weight on your back! Eventually after 15 minutes or so I made it up there.

This accomodation is basic but if your a fan of nature, you will love it. The main area is a double story kind of tree house. On the bottom is a kitchen with gas stove top, sink, cooking equipment and plates, cutlery etc. Pretty basic but its all you need. No refrigeration. Theres a few hammocks, a table to eat at.  Above, there is a dorm with 6 beds in one room and 4 beds in another, they provide you with bedding, towels and mosquito nets. Up here is also a private room. Along from this hut is el baño x2. Two open showers but with enough bush on one side & wood on the other to cover your lady bits. And offcourse refreshing cold water. And along from there is another set of 5 private rooms, although they are not super private, most sepatated by 2 walls with a magnicenfent view of the valley, why would you want a door anyway!

The first day I fucked around trying to recharge my camera battery at the office, after I return I did a small hike to a small waterfall.
The following day a german and I set off for the longest hike, which visted 2 waterfalls you could swim at and the to return to the hostel we walked alongside/in the river. I didnt think I was going to return via the river but when I got there I changed my mind. I was wearing my gripless hiking boots, so I decided to navigate over the slippery rocks in my barefeet which was fine apart from those few sharp rocks. Bastards. Apart from my stupidity, it was a beautiful hike, scenery was amazing.
After a few hours of naviagting the river we found a pub in town. I also brought a few more of those beers for later on ;)

The best thing is I can honestly say I had the best sleep everynight out of my whole trip.

Tips for Bolita

• Charge all your camera, phone, etc before you even get there.
• Buy food in Puerto Jimenez, things that dont need a fridge and things that arent super heavy.
• If you go on the river hike, wear rubber boots they provide for you.
• Only take what you need, change of clothes, swimming gear, sandals, hiking boots mosssie spray, essential toiletries, camera, flash light, book, food and leave your other crap in the office!

24 days of Boquete!

Boquete, Panama is a small town nestled in the mountains 1 1/2 hours from David on the bus. It has a quite big ex-pat population but still is filled with friendly locals.  There is a lot to do in Boquete but they are also expensive for a backpacker, i was happy to find ways to do things and save money.

#The three lost waterfalls

A mini bus ride away ( 1 block from the park, $2-3) $5 entrance takes you to 3 beautiful waterfalls. The hike was about 2 hours return, muddy and some parts steep which required a climb!

# Boquete Brewing Company
Some local beers, about $4.50 a pint. No girly beers for me but I still found one I liked ;) A non-alcoholic ginger beer which will clear your throat and get rid of that cold! Popular place for ex-pats & locals.

# El Explorador Jardin
$5 entrance to walk around these beautiful gardens owned by a local family. Great place to chill out and read a book or eat cake!

# Semana Santa & Boquetes Birthday weekend

During my time here we managed to catch the local festivities, Santa Semana (Easter) which last 1 week, only really saw the parade in town one night, town was super busy! The following week, it was Boquetes 104th Birthday. There was a concert in the park, food stalls, horse parade &  a rodeo.

#Other hikes & chocolate!

On our attempt to find The 3 lost waterfalls we found another hike to a water fall, along the way there was goats, sheep and a berry patch!

Not sure how much chocolate I brought in this town, it was so good! Chox chocolate

Other things to do in Boquete!

# The Library, free wifi, nice place to hang

# If your not a vege Franks Meat Truck, really f-ing good food!

# Volcan Baru. 

From my lack of motivation, I didn't conquer the 3474m beast. There are tours between $75+ with a guide or $175+ a guide and camping over night. The best thing to do is to go to Mamallena in town and sign up to take the minivan to the trail start. Every night at 11pm so you catch the sunrise, don't forget warm clothes! (I dont remember how much exactly but less than $15)

Retro Post#1 Hiking Volcano Telica

Last year in October I arrived in Leon, Nicaragua straight from Honduras. I booked in to stay at Sonati, a hostel close to the centre of town. Sonati is a non-profit and runs many tours for us back packer types. The following day after much deliberation as too whether or not I would make I up there, I joined a group of hikers to Volcan Telica, Nicaragua. In this bunch of international strangers, it included quite a few tall fit German doctors and scientists, an Aussie, a couple of Americans and we were all led by a 1 kiwi and 1 German as our guide.

We left Sonati Hostel Leon at around 10:30am, after re-packing a tent and sleeping bag plus 6 litres of water back into my bag. My bag was fricken heavy, urghh.
We then piled into a pre-organised jeep (since there were so many of us, otherwise we would have to have taken the Chicken Bus) 5 minutes later, the driver discovered we had a flatty, luckily we were still in Leon and right by a tire shop!

10 minutes later were back on the road to the entrance of Volcano Telica. Excellent. Could not wait to start the hike with my heavy back pack and the humidity. Absolutely stoked. Not! 

At the entrance, there were thermal pools of mud splattering boiling hot mud everywhere, although, not as strong smelling as Rotorua! We set of by 11:30am and started walking, we past farmers with horses and cows, banana plantations and other food crops. I made it about 45 minutes and had to give some of my weight away to the guide, I was dying!

Big storm cloud ahead, thankfully we only had about 15 minutes worth of rain in the whole trip.

A few hours later we made it to the half way point, which consisted of a Mango Tree for shelter & shade and a bench to have some lunch and rest for a bit. Up until this bit was relatively easy-moderate, it was about to get steep!

Here a few random creatures and strange mushroom like things we saw along the way.

I have no idea what this is!

A grub of some sort, about the size of an index finger

So another 2 hours, hiking up the steep trail and into a cloud forest.

And we got to camp around 4:30pm, just before dark and set up our tents. There was a local guy with a cooler bin which was full of beers however when we arrived, he only had four left. I was one of the lucky ones. All I can say is. Best. Beer. Ever!

When it was dark and had camp set, we walked up to the volcano to see if we could see lava, as it was a clear night we had a pretty good chance and so here is the picture captured by one of the guys

And another picture captured of the spectacular lightening in the distance

after an hour of so checking out the top of the volcano, we headed back for dinner and an early night.

The following morning of what felt like no sleep, we woke up at 4am and walked back up the 15 minute track to the volcano to watch the sunrise. It was defiantly worth the pain of getting there! My pictures don't do the sunrise justice, it was breathtaking.

Smoke escaping from a vent inside the volcano

After the sunrise we visited a bat cave on the volcano, located about a 15 minute walk downhill in another direction.

After avoiding being hit by batty bats we set back to camp for tea and breakfast before heading back down to the track and to Leon.

Arriving in Leon at around 1:30pm (or whatever time it was), I was pooped. I had a great time but man was I ready to catch up on some sleep! 

Sonati Hostel Leon is a non-profit organisation. The tour I took was $35USD including transport, entrance fee to the park, water, and we were provided with a sleeping bag and tent. This price didn't include food. The volunteers who take the tours aren't paid and all the money you pay go to support enviroment education to local communites.