Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Two AA batteries that were dead on arrival- $1.50

“Does anyone know when high tide is?” I ask as we walk across a dry riverbed.
“Maybe dinner time…I’m really not sure,” my girlfriend says. This is bad. We are hiking into the jungle, on a little worn path, and no one knows when high tide is. It can rise up quickly, unexpectedly, and with dire consequences. Once again, I am ill prepared for what was supposed to be a fun hike into the rain forest.

My husband doesn’t say a word. He’s  great if you need your alternator changed or something heavy moved. But he is not the go-to guy for predicting when a flood is headed your way. In fact, when we first got to the park and hiked to the ranger station, all he was concerned about was asking where to buy batteries for our camera. He walked up to a woman bent over holding her stomach; she drank river water in the jungle and was at the beginning of what I suspect was a long and uncomfortable intestinal calamity. Having some guy come up and complain he has no batteries for his camera did not go over well. Let’s just say, Rob didn’t make a friend that morning.

As we walk over another dry river bed, I can hear water in the distance. We cross quickly and hike up the trail to higher ground. Five minutes later the tide rolls in, a force so strong it pushes logs and brush out of its way. We find a clearing and watch the water roar through.

“I don’t know what you were so worried about, at least we can all swim, what’s the worse that could happen?” my husband says. And at that moment we see a crocodile float down the river…a crocodile I would have been face to face with.

I’m all for a hike in a park. I can even get behind running across a dry river bed with water at my heels. But never, ever do I want to get into a wrestling match with a crocodile.

I’d rather drink river water.