Gandoca-Manzanillo

Up for today, hiking through the gorgeous Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Reserve, named for the Manzanillo tree, which sadly died out around 30 years ago, a stunning reminder of how precious every species is in these forests. The city of Manzanillo, like many of the local Caribbean towns, is one that is timeless; the locals don’t want McDonalds, or Taco Bell, opening down the corner. The rising popularity of the Caribbean side of Costa Rica as a tourist spot is bringing its own changes; as we were driving to the reserve, we ran into a traffic jam due to construction on the roads. They are widening them, and adding a bike lane, to accommodate the ever-increasing flow of traffic through this sleepy town. Limón recently signed a large trade agreement with an international cruise company; our tour guide, Luis (from our Cahuita hike!) told us he was excited for the opportunities the agreement will provide, but fears a little for whether the increasing commercialization will change the way they do things in the Caribbean. I can understand his misgivings; we have truly fallen for the Pura Vida lifestyle out here, and hope nothing ever changes that.

(How could anything top this?)

The first thing that strikes you about the Manzanillo shoreline is the peppering of coral reefs sticking out of the water. Luis told us that this phenomenon occurred during a big earthquake, their equivalent to Northridge; Costa Rica is a hotbed of tectonic activity, the Arenal volcano, roughly six hours away, is the result of the subduction of the Cocos tectonic plate under the Caribbean plate. As we crossed the rickety bridge into the reserve, we passed a vulture drying its wings in the sun; they do not have the waxy surface on their feathers that many birds have, so they need to, in essence, lay themselves out to dry after a night of rain like the one we had!

The pathways of Gandoca-Manzanillo are peppered with seed pods which, as we learned, are actually almonds from the almond trees! Ironically, one of the most prevalent trees in the rainforests of Costa Rica didn’t even originate here; it comes from Asia. The almonds, and the moisture in the seed pods, nourish sloths, squirrels, raccoons, and monkeys. Another dominant variety of tree is the Uva de Playa (Beach Grape,) for which the neighboring Punta Uva is named. This tree is valuable to the reserve because of its strong roots; these trees help fight the impending erosion caused by encroaching shorelines, a sobering reminder of the effects of global warming on this precious land.

We also saw the fantastical, ancient Javillo tree, many of which in this reserve are around 150-200 years old. It is also known as the Iguanas’ Tree, because only iguanas can safely scale its spiky exterior, and the Dynamite Tree, because its seed pods explode when ripe, to disperse the seeds as far as possible. Our guide told us you can hear them explode from up to 500 meters away! We also saw the mysterious Chilemata tree, whose flowers are rumored to be seen only by pregnant women. Our guide testified to this urban myth; he walks this trail almost daily and has seen the fruits, and the seeds, but never the flowers on this tree. ¡Escandalo!

The trail we hiked bottomed out at a tiny piece of beach, quiet and secluded, with almost no current. We swam in the quiet, clear waters while some canine companions watched over our belongings. That’s another thing about Costa Rica; for dog lovers like ourselves, it’s paradise! Dogs are everywhere, they’re like citizens themselves, independent and neighborly. Almost every hike we’ve been on, we’ve been accompanied by some canine tour guides; one even hitched a ride with us as we kayaked through Punta Uva. Can’t have Pura Vida without perros, after all.

This one goes out to all of our doggie friends we’ve made on our trip. ¡Salud!