Cockscomb Wildlife Sanctuary

Cockscomb Wildlife Sanctuary, the world's only jaguar reserve, is about a three hour bus ride ride from Hillside. After Matt made a quick call Saturday morning to make sure we had a place to stay, we walked down our gravel road to the bus stop. When arrived at Maya Center, the village gateway to Cockscomb we discovered that all of the hotel owners where gone for the morning, which meant no place to stash our stuff before heading into the park. Oops. We pondered and decided to take a taxi in and perhaps stay the night in the jungle in the parks cabin. The back-up plan was to pay to stash our stuff for the day in the park and then either take the bus back to Hillside or find the hotels open on our way out and stay. We headed in after a quick grocery stop and decided to stay the night for $5 a person. Not bad. We hiked to a waterfall, swam, and then hiked up Ben's Bluff (named after one of the original jaguar trackers in the park) and viewed Mountains. It was a pleasant day, at least for me. When we got back to the cabins, decisions split about what to do... Emily didn't feel well and decided to head back to Hillside. Eventually Kara and Tim decided to go back as well. Matt was in a world of indecision but eventually decided to stay with me.

Matt and I did a couple hikes after they left, including a night one in hopes of seeing a jaguar. Of course we didn't but we could hope. We did witness the evening howling of the howler monkeys but only glimpsed the braches moving as the monkey jumped from tree to tree. Today we hiked to Twin Falls. It was so hot and humid. I cannot remember the last time I have been drenched in so much sweat. And the sweat refused to evaporate because the air was so humid. In the end, I think the hike was worth it. We came upon a beautiful fall in the middle of the jungle and had it completely to ourselves unlike the falls the previous day. We hiked out, ate same mac and cheese for a short of brunch and then bunkered down to hike out 10 km. It wasn't bad except for the heat and the fact that my patagonia courier bag is grossly mis-proportioned for me. For some reason the model I got for the trade-in of my old pack which was malfunctioning is sized for a giant. The highest it can go on me is my butt, and is not the most comfortable way to carry a load. I ended up deciding to carry it with the strap upon my head like a sherpas. It was a thousand times more comfortable, and not nearly as awkward as I though it would be. I need to do something to fix the straps, though, either trade it in, return it, or take the sewing machine to it.

That was my weekend in short. Take care.