1st Stage: Hiking start from the Atlantic with animal sightings and heat

Today our adventure on the Camino de Costa Rica begins, which will take us 280 km from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast in 16 stages, crossing not only the country but also, as the only long-distance hiking trail in the world, a continent. Since the Camino was only opened in 2018 to strengthen tourism in the rural population inland and since not so many tourists have found their way here due to Corona, we are probably among the first few hundred people to walk the trek at all (most of them rather with organized group tours). We booked the tour for the first three days through a provider (Urritrek) and then we will continue to walk with our luggage. This morning we set off very early at 4 a.m. with the transfer to the eastern Caribbean coast. Afterwards, we took a boat through dense forest for a short distance on the extensive waterways to the starting point of the Camino to symbolically touch the Atlantic. Already on the first stretch, we saw more animals than expected: numerous colorful birds including toucans, capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, a crocodile, basilisk lizards, a poison dart frog, and even a sloth in the distance. Afterwards, we walked about 23 kilometers to the west along a country road in scorching heat of around 30 degrees with little shade. For safety reasons, a car followed us at a distance, as this remote corner of Costa Rica is also used for drug transportation, albeit primarily by water. There were no restaurants in between, so we only had small snacks along the way, and so the Camino demanded everything from us right at the beginning. All the people we met along the way waved cheerfully and one even gave us water because the 5.5 km were a bit too short in the heat. Most of the time, the path led us past endless banana plantations, and we also passed the tracks of a former railway line that brought goods from the plantations to the west. Completely soaked in sweat, we arrived at our destination, where we were served a dish in a local residence. The tents for the overnight stay were already set up on small plateaus in an idyllic campsite (because of the snakes), and after a refreshing shower, we could marvel at countless fireflies and stars.