The Osa Peninsula was our second stop on a 2-1/2 week road trip through Costa Rica and part of Panama. Our first stop had been Bocas del Toro, Panama, and now we were off to the Osa. Since the Osa is on the very southern tip of Costa Rica, is was definitely a bit out of our way, but I felt that I could not go to Costa Rica without visiting this wild and remote corner of the country. I was so glad that I did!
We got back to San Jose in the mid-afternoon and planned to get a ride to our car rental place and then head toward Golfito in southern Costa Rica. Long story ensued here with customs and finding a ride, but we finally ended up in a van with several other people who all needed to be dropped off at different locations in San Jose...ours was the last stop, of course. As we headed into San Jose proper the traffic became a complete nightmare. It was so bad, that it made Los Angeles freeways look mild. We finally made it to the car rental place 4 hours....4 hours!..after getting into that van. We grabbed something to eat and hit the Pan-American Highway to the Osa at about 9 PM, thinking we could find a hotel/motel along the road to sleep when we got tired. After we got out of the traffic in San Jose, we pretty much had the road to ourselves and we headed up into the mountains and started driving some really steep windy narrow roads. When we reached the pass at Cerro de la Muerte (Death Peak), the stars were unreal! I had never seen anything like it before. They covered the sky and they seemed so close, like I could literally reach out and touch them. We stopped and got out to stare for awhile, even though it was very cold and windy. This brought us to about 1 AM, so we decided that we needed to focus on finding a place to stay the night. There was no way we were going to make it out of these mountains, let alone to Golfito. On the other side of the pass, a heavy fog rolled in. I must admit it was a little nerve-wracking driving in heavy fog along steep mountain roads not knowing when (or if) we would find somewhere to sleep for the night. About an hour later, we saw a little sign saying "Cabins for Rent." We followed a crazy little dirt road to a motel-looking building that had no lights on, but since there was a car out front, we rang the bell. A very nice, but sleepy, Costa Rican man came out and showed us to one of the tiny cabins, which, by the way, had no hot water (the morning shower was a serious wake-up call) and no heat (they gave us a tiny little floor heater, but it was still very cold). The first thing I noticed when walking into the cabin was an enormous black spider on the wall...ecks. Ah well, I guess I couldn't really afford to be picky under the circumstances. The first picture below is the motel office and restaurant where we ate an amazing home-cooked breakfast the next morning, and I was mercilessly teased about my spider reaction the previous night.
After a long and beautiful drive through the valley to Golfito, we boarded a ferry to Puerto Jimenez and drove south to the end of the peninsula. I remember falling in love with this place the minute we pulled into the parking area. The Iguana Lodge. Everything about the place was lush and colorful.
Not 10 minutes after our arrival, there was a loud commotion outside the lodge reception area. To my amazement, at least a dozen white-faced monkeys were swinging and jumping all over those trees. They put on quite the show for about 30 minutes. What a great greeting Osa! We saw this group of monkeys every day we were here.
These two Scarlett Macaws lived in a tree outside the lodge and had lived here for many years. They were so fun to watch....very playful with each other and, of course, very chatty.
The resident cat. This was taken in the breakfast area. By the way, the Iguana Lodge serves up a wonderful breakfast! Everything is so fresh and delicious. The fresh fruit was out of this world...mangoes, papayas, star fruit, melons....and the chef would whip up eggs and specialty crepes or pancakes daily.
One of my afternoons was spent right here in one of these hammocks with my book and a fruity drink or two (my cousin went to town to watch a soccer game, so I was on my own). This little shelter is right on the beach at the Iguana Hotel. On this particular afternoon, a guy with a guitar came and sat in one of the chairs, asked me if I minded if he sat and played (which of course I didn't), and he played and sang the most beautiful music for a good hour. I was literally in heaven. It was one of those moments in life where I had to pinch myself to make sure that I was really there....and I was!
The next morning we set out on a wildlife walking tour with a guide. He took us to one of the most amazing beaches in Matapalo. We walked several miles to the beach spotting wildlife here and there. We saw lots of monkeys, both white-faced and howler, we saw sloths, coatimundi, falcons, iguanas, lots of beautifully colored butterflies and hummingbirds. This tree pictured below was simply amazing. It was HUGE...I wish I had stood next to it...I would probably have been as tall as one of it's roots. It was crazy big.
Here is one of the sloths we saw. This was taken through our guide's telescope.
Here is one of the sloths we saw. This was taken through our guide's telescope.
This was a soccer game in town. It was apparently a big match-up, but it was hot and I opted to go back to the hotel to lounge around and take some photos around the grounds.
The next day, it was time to leave. As you can imagine, I really didn't want to, but we had to be moving on. We wanted to get as far as we could up towards the Nicoya Peninsula today. This picture below is of a bridge that we had to cross to travel between our lodge and town. This picture doesn't quite do it justice. It was extremely narrow and falling away at the edges. When it rained one day, we couldn't even tell where the edges were.
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