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Sign up  for my email list (see above right) and get  my real adventure novella free, entitled, "The Lost Lagoon or Why I Decided to Go Off the Path in Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica." Funny, scary, and full of surprises. Please read the sample below first, make sure to sign up above, and click on the link at the end of the sample to download the full short story which is a work-in-progress. Comments and shares appreciated.

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Excerpt: 

 

The Lost Lagoon or: Why I Went off the Path in Corcovado National Park

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 by G. Dorion
 

My dad used to say, "Gary thinks that the grass is always greener on the other side of the hill."

Not quite. I just wanted to know what was on the other side and haven't changed that way much over the years.

 

I guess that has something to do with my inclination to want to return home, or to wherever, using a different way than that from which I had come. I've done this in cities such as Bangkok, Mumbai, Lima and Istanbul - even Los Angeles, and in many wilderness areas. I snap a lot of photos on these excursions that can last a whole day, sometimes longer such as the time I ventured off the path to locate a lagoon in Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica. I had followed a river away from the ocean to see what was what. A biologist friend once told me in the Amazon forest in Peru to always make sure you know where the sun is when you venture - especially alone - into the jungle. Wise advice.
 

It was mid-afternoon in Corcovado when I decided to walk deeper into the jungle - I was already a mile off the Pavo Path - to see if I could spot a jaguar or an anaconda. I had my Nikon binoculars and camera with me, a canteen, and a little food, no compass, and my buck knife. My original goal was to look for a wet lagoon - I wanted to see snakes and crocodiles. I formulated that plan back in New Hampshire a few weeks before that. I had no idea that the lagoon would be dry, a fact that helped steer me a little too deep into the jungle.

 

The day after I arrived at the Sirena Ranger Station after an exhilarating speedboat ride 20-30 miles down the Pacific Coast I ventured off the Pavo Path to try to accomplish my objective.

 

I had kept quiet about my plan and gave no hint to the rangers because I had seen wooden signs prohibiting adventurers, no doubt, from wandering into the jungle unaccompanied. So my former girlfriend, a friend, and I took a walk down the Pavo Path that morning and I was semi-prepared for a solitary hike into the jungle. I knew it would be too dangerous to take my then girlfriend so I left her with my friend and, Bon Voyage, I was off. Alone. Besides, if I had taken her, and once we got in deep, she just would have complained the rest of the way home and it would no doubt have been a real drag.

 

I had a hastily-drawn copy of the map of the lagoon area that I saw on the wall in the Sirena Ranger Station. A couple of hours later after trying in vain to find the lagoon, I came upon a very shallow area of the Sirena River and I knew then that the lagoon was dry and I was practically standing in it. That surprise or lack thereof probably had something to do with the decision keep going rather than reverse direction. Onwards.

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So I was standing in water one foot deep at that point - trying to decide whether to go forward or return home - that being the Sirena Ranger Station which just so happened to have dozens of professional trackers and scientists for training sessions during that weekend back in 1994.

 

Good thing I had the foresight to hand draw a copy of the Sirena map located on a wall in the station that outlined that section of Corcovado. The only problem I later determined about the Sirena Ranger Station map was that the Pavo Path and the river did not really intersect which they very much seemed to do on the map but were in fact - as I later realized - about 100 meters apart at the closest point. Minor details, I guess. That's a tough negotiation in the middle of the night. Lesson learned. Don't trust maps 100%. (I almost never used maps but made an exception this time due to the potential dangers, etc.) One quick question to one of the Rangers would have resolved the issue on that but then, they would have become suspicious and no doubt would have ruined my plan.

 

Anyway, there I was in the middle of the river. I could easily find my way back at that point as it was still light at about 3 PM. It was such a nice day. Then I saw these large mounds - about eight to ten of them, three feet high each on the other side.  Wow, they were the biggest ant hills I had ever seen. I had seen plenty during my two excursions into the Amazon forest in the early nineties. Nothing like these though.

 

So I left the river and wandered into the middle of these monster hills that seemed so peaceful and, being very careful not to disturb anything, I decided this would be a cool place to have a snack so I took out a package of peanut butter crackers. Big mistake.

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Who would have thought that such an innocent act would have drawn hundreds of these ferocious red ants from their nests in what seemed like seconds? I only noticed them because a dozen or so were already crawling - actually a dozen or so were biting - on my legs, having charged up over my socks. Believe me I lost those crackers faster than you could say, “Yikes!” and I flailed my arms because somehow they were already on my t-shirt and biting my limbs.

 

A bad omen? Not really. Not being superstitious, I still got the hell out of that ant metropolis and rushed back into the water about 50 meters more up river where the water now was getting deeper and blacker. Night was beginning to close upon me. Should I have reversed my course to relative safety? Soon, it would be too late. Even today, I likely would have made the same choice though, given my curious nature.

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Get the full novella by subscribing to the site. Here is the link to my home page (or click HOME above). HOME LINK. Scroll down to the very bottom and click on the image of the wild Corcovado Pacific shore. I will send you periodic promotions of my books and my newsletter and you'll also get the full Corcovado novella once it is complete. Your email address will only be used by me to send you my author updates including links to free chapters or whole books of mine. Happy reading. Any problems getting the novella or if you're an author wanting to be featured in an upcoming Silverlight Cafe magazine, please contact me at gldorionauthor@gmail.com.

 

 

 

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