Costa Rica

Costa Rica had long been on our list of destinations; the tropics, the wildlife, the beauty, but we could never get ourselves there. We had planned a trip here a few times before, but these plans got scrapped, mostly because it is very expensive to travel there over the Christmas season. There was also this other nagging feeling that the country was overrun with tourists, which often keeps us at bay. Lastly, the country, perhaps because of the tourism and that it’s a destination for expats to retire, never really seemed to offer the exotic that we are more often than not drawn to. But here we were in 2022 and having spent time thinking of a place to hit over the holiday season, decided to just pull the trigger and finally get down there. So armed with our newly minted guide books promising spectacles of Resplendent Quetzels, toucans, howler monkeys and more, we got set to plan a trip.

We had allotted ourselves about 12 days for the trip, and with that limit, divided up which national parks we could visit considering the travel distance between them. We landed on three parks that made the cut, partly because they were in a relatively straight line and thus somewhat easy to get to, The three parks were Corcavado on the Osa peninsula, Manuel Antonio which was about half way between Osa and the airport, and lastly a park close to the Liberia airport in Vieja de Rincon. Corcavado was the jewel for us, but as we read more about it, it seemed a decent effort to get to.

Costa Rica really grew on me once we got out of the over touristy areas and got into the Osa Peninsula.

We picked up our car the morning after arrival, and set southward for our first five-hour drive. The driving was not as simple as you’d have hoped. It was mostly two-lane roads and a lot of truck traffic, which required constant passing, at times fairly dangerously. So at the end of that first day when we got to our hotel Hotel Espadilla in Quepos just by the to Manuel Antonio park, I was glad that we had two nights here to decompress a little. The park was, well, okay. We did sign up for a tour, and I’m glad we did as we would not have been able to spot much of anything on our own. The experience was a little spoiled by the monkeys that lived there, which were acclimated to visitors and were always looking to grab wrappers our of tourists’ backpacks. We ended up on a beautiful curved beach, and took a refreshing dip after the hot and humid walk from our tour and extra walk. The hotel itself was a delight, and we would highly recommend staying here if you are ever in the Manual Antonio area. The dinners were excellent, we enjoyed ceviche, tuna tartar, and other fish dishes. We liked it so much, and for the paucity of other options, ate here both nights.

Next up we headed south, on another roughly four-hour drive to Puerta Jimenez on the Osa Peninsula. Our itinerary here was pretty straight forward, and had been organized by Osawild, our tour operator.  A boat that left the following morning, at around 5:30, would take us to the Sirena ranger station in the middle edge of the Corcavado National Park. From here we would spend Christmas Eve in a dorm-style room with mosquito nets around our bunk beds. We had stayed in similar accommodations once before when we had taken a trip to the Amazon river in Ecuador, but I digress. The one-night stay included two walks around the station with a guide to see many different animals including the Baird’s tapir, Costa Rica’s largest mammal, and the other three species of monkeys (spider, macchiato (actually the white-faced capuchin), and howler), and many, many other species such as peccaries, sloths, coatis, to name just a few. The next morning we awoke at about 4:00 a.m. to start our trip across the Rio Claro, which reportedly has either crocodiles, or bull sharks, or both, depending on the tides. Apparently, the best time to cross is at low tide, but that event was not scheduled until around 10 or 11 am, which would be too late to finish the 20-kilometer walk out of the park to Carate (an airstrip where the road back to Puerto Jimenez starts) ,where we were to jump off from our tour to stay a few nights at Luna Lodge. The walk was really something, but also very exhausting, mostly because of the heat. But it was beautiful, and I really enjoyed the two-kilometer stretch that we just walked on the sandy beach without shoes, and at the end of the park we enjoyed a chilled coconut water sipped straight from a freshly cut coconut. We saw a crocodile upstream from us before we crossed the croc/shark river, which then disappeared and wasn’t seen again (a bit unnerving), but everyone crossed safely, whew!  I should take a moment to mention the family that we did this trek with. We had met them the day earlier as part of our little tour group. I was really amazed at how well the two younger boys did, the elder being the most precocious and seemed to really enjoy listening in on the conversations of the adults around him. I was initially quite worried about having to do this and other walks with the two young boys and maybe a certain kind of entitlement that goes along with it, but everyone was such a trooper that my worries quickly melted away.

Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula was the very clear highlight — absolutely worth the time and difficulty to get to it.

After a very long day, we made it to the airstrip where a driver for Luna Lodge awaited us. The rough, rocky drive upward absolutely put to rest any long lingering notions that we could have driven a rental car to the lodge. At long long last, we did finally make it to Luna Lodge. We were greeted with a cold glass of water and a tour around the main building, after which we were led to our room where we could enjoy our first shower in a few days. Bliss. We stayed here for three nights in total, one of which was a night walk to go look for the various night creatures of the jungle. No snakes seen, but a few frogs and spiders and other creepy crawlies. We did an odd – try as I might to keep an open mind – sort of anamalistic, sound therapy, cacao-drinking ritual. It’s hard to describe, harder still to admit I did it, but here goes. A group of twenty or so lodgers were seated in a large circle after having chosen one card and a rattle-type instrument. Now we were led to a kind of prayer of sorts, blessing the sun, the moon, the ancestors, maybe some fauna too – I can’t completely remember. But then, we were all to assume the role, the action role of a tiger and crawl around the floor growling as it were toward and at each other. Me and my bad knees, well, I had a merciful reason to kind of slide around on the ground on my hip and just observe and wonder at it all. Next up, snakes. This time I couldn’t play the injured card, and had to squirm about like everyone else on their bellies, and make the occasional pantomime of a venomous python. You can picture it.  Having finally finished the dance, and were now treated to the main event, the cacao drinking. Here we were all given a small mug of cacao, and then we gathered out under the sky on the jutting platform to give thanks to the west, the east, the north and finally the south. Words were spoken, and a tip to the spirits given. But drink the cacao we did. Cacao, as you probably know, is the bean like thing that is used and transformed into chocolate, usually by adding copious amounts of sugar or other bits like nuts or salt or whatever. But in the raw form, cacao tastes…well, exactly like dipping your finger in a jar of cocoa that your mom used to make brownies with. So anyway, after that, our final event was up next. We resumed our sitting positions in a large circle and were told to lay down on our backs with our eyes closed, and what proceeded was a strange arrangement of interesting sounds that sometimes sounded like falling water.  At other times a small ding from a triangle would echo around the space. I think my favorite was a small dong-like strike on a thick copper bowl, as though a call to meditation. The resonance in your ears was just so peaceful and made my body relax. This went on for about twenty minutes, and afterwards I felt completely relaxed. Ahh, I forgot, there was one last event and that was to go around the circle and tell everyone what animal card we had drawn, and to describe images or experiences we may have had of that animal during the sound therapy session. So yeah, that was it. It was fun. I’d recommend it, even with the weirdness. Honestly, you’ll never see these folks again, and we’re all in it so what the heck!

Other than this, our stay at the lodge was just incredible. The food was great, the views, the birds. So many toucans – what an amazing beak. We were woken every morning by the call of the howler monkeys at approximately 4:51. I even started looking forward to going to bed at 8:00. I had overheard one of the guests describe the sleep cycle best: “The circadian rhythms really take hold here.”

Scarlet macaw being a messy eater

Last up, was a two-day drive back up the coast to Rincon de la Vieja, which resides about 45 minutes northward of our airport in Liberia. The drive was mostly uneventful, and we again spent two nights, with the one stop being mostly a disappointment, but we did get a chance to see the scarlet macaw, which sadly was eating from a tourist-attracting feeding platform at the hotel. We made good time and even had a chance to go see the museum where some long-ago battle had taken place.

Our stay at Casa Rural Aroma de Campo, near the Rincon de la Vieja National Nark was nice too, and our Dutch hosts put on a delicious and fun New Years’ Eve dinner. The night prior the hostess suggested we take ourselves out to this little restaurant on a large hill over looking the lowlands below and the sea further on for a drink and a bite to eat. This had a great vantage point and we were glad we did it. To get there and back however, we had to cross a river or two, and doing this after nightfall was extra exhilarating. The following morning we went into the Rincon de la Vieja park to go on a couple of walks (the gps track is here if interested), but nothing too eventful. The first leg was quite pretty, and we ended up at a really nice pair of waterfalls. The second part was not quite as nice as the first, but it felt good to get into the water there. When we got back to our room, we freshened up and got ready for the splendid New Years’ Eve dinner.

After all these aborted attempts to see Costa Rica, I’m glad that we finally found a way down there. I’m not sure we would return, as there are just so many other places to visit in Central America, and there are similar trips to be had at probably 1/3 the price in places like Panama. But for ease of organization and just plain fun factor, I’d recommend a visit. But really, do visit Corcovado National Park.  Sure it’s hard to get to, but it really is the crown jewel of parks in the country known for outstanding national parks.

Categories: Travel