fcfarmgirl

Returned a few weeks ago from our 5th trip to Costa Rica. My husband and I have twin boys who are 16. We spent 3 days at Bosque del Cabo and 4 at Iguana Lodge. This turned out to be a good mix of accommodations/locations for our family. Our redeye flight from Denver arrived about 20 minutes early to San Jose on June 21. We walked over to the Sansa terminal and found that there was a flight leaving for Puerto Jimenez at 5:45 a.m., which was 2.5 hours earlier than our scheduled flight. For $15 each, they moved us to the earlier flight. We arrived in Puerto Jimenez at 6:30 and decided to head to a soda for breakfast. Soda Valeria served us a good breakfast with piña batidos, and called Bosque del Cabo (BDC) for us. BDC was able to pick us up early, so we arrive at BDC by 9:30. Our room, the Manglillo deluxe cabina, wasn't ready yet. Husband and sons decided to sleep by the pool, while I took a short hike on the trail behind the pool. To be honest, I was so excited to finally be at BDC that I couldn't sleep despite the redeye flight. I have been reading about BDC on this forum for years! About 5 minutes into the hike, I saw a couple of groups of spider monkeys and knew that this place would not disappoint.

volcanogirl

Wow, good wildlife right off the bat. Sounds like you were off to a great start!

fcfarmgirl

We were a little nervous to travel to CR during the rainy season (June 21-June 29), since our other trips have been in March through February, but the rain was not an issue. It didn't rain at all the first couple of nights. There was one day that it rained HARD from 1 p.m. until about 8 p.m. but we had planned surfing lessons for that afternoon, which were no problem in the rain. The next 5-6 nights, it started raining between 6-8 p.m. and rained for roughly 2-4 hours. So I would definitely travel to the Osa again this time of year. Be prepared, thought, it is quite humid. Re Manglillo cabina, there was a fantastic view of the Pacific from our cabina. To be honest, all the accomodations at BDC looked fabulous. So back to the chronological report....after napping, we moved our things into the Manglillo cabina. After an excellent lunch (food was terrific at BDC. Lunch and breakfast are ordered off the menu. Dinner is served buffet style with seating with other lodge guests.), we decided to hike the Pacific Trail down to the ocean. This is quite a strenuous hike, so I wouldn't recommend for everyone, but we all enjoyed seeing the beautiful beach. The surf is quite rough, but my husband and boys ventured out to play in the waves. We hiked all 500+ steps back and saw a lot of spider monkeys in the mango trees, plus mama agouti and her baby in the trees by the pool. Having dinner with other guests is a bonus, because it is interesting to hear what activities people enjoyed. On day 2, I woke up early for a 6 a.m. birding hike with guide Carlos. We saw toucans, scarlet macaws, several other birds, tent=making bats, and a sloth. Carlos was an excellent guide! After breakfast, we had booked waterfall rapelling at BDC. It hadn't rained in a couple days, so there wasn't a huge flow of water on the falls, but it was enough to be fun for all of us. On the way back, guides located an eyelash pit viper for us to see. The afternoon activity for the day was horseback riding with Miguel. We have done horseback riding in Colorado and other places in Costa Rica, and this was by far the best experience we have had on horses. This may have been our favorite activity of the whole trip. BDC drove us about 10-15 minutes to Miguel's home. Our horses were saddled up and waiting for us. We mounted the horses, which were very well trained and behaved, and rode through a river on our way to the ocean. Once we got to the beach, the boys took off galloping on their horses. It was stunningly beautiful and fun. After riding on the beach for awhile, we rested the horses in the shade and climbed on the volcanic rocks, took photos, and chatted with Miguel. He didn't speak much English, but this was not a problem. We really enjoyed communicating with him in our rudimentary Spanish. His two cute little dogs, Bobby and Sebastian, follow us on the excursion. We headed back to the horses and Miguel opened some cocunuts for us. We drank the coconut milk and ate the coconut. His little dogs loved eating the coconut. On the ride back through the river, we saw white-faced monkey. Back at Miguel's home, there were many squirrel monkeys in the trees. Kim from BDC picked us up and we were back at BDC to relax and shower before appetizers and drinks at 6.

fcfarmgirl

Day 3 at BDC...did the tree climb with Carlos at BDC, which was a fun activity for all four of us. Carlos invited our guys to play soccer with the employees, who have a game at noon a few times per week. My guys had a lot of fun participating, plus chatting with all the guides and employees about World Cup soccer. Then, the 3 guys headed off to take surf lessons with Pollo in the afternoon while I read a book on the deck. It started pouring at 1 p.m. Quite a strong storm. Just realized I missed a day 2 activity. We did the one hour sunset/night hike with Phillip from 6-7 p.m., right before dinner. This was an excellent tour. Saw several interesting species of frogs and a marine toad. Phillip was an extremely knowledgeable guide. Next time, we will be sure to do the 4 hour primary forest hike with him...it was just too long to do with the 16 year olds.

On to day 4... after an early morning hike on the Titi trail where we saw howlers and a peccary, we had breakfast and packed up to head to Puerto Jimenez. I loved BDC and it absolutely lived up to the billing it receives on this forum. Owners Phil and Kim and their employees do an incredible job of making sure your stay is enjoyable. I could have stayed at BDC a couple more days, but with teenagers, I feel that 3 full days and nights was about the right amount of time there.

tully

Sounds like a wonderful trip, happy that Bosque did not disappoint. I too love the horseback riding with Miguel. One of the off site activities I always feel it is worth leaving the grounds for.

emmajm

You're making me miss BDC! We stayed at Manglillo in early December. Thanks for the report. How did you like Iguana Lodge?

alisa23

Can't wait to hear about Iguana lodge!

fcfarmgirl

We arrived at Iguana Lodge in time to watch the Costa Rica World Cup game. Owners Lauren and Toby moved a TV into the bar/restaurant area for guests and employees to watch. Our family of four stayed in a casita which had an ocean view. It was two stories with a bathroom on each floor. The casita was charming and very well appointed and fairly private i.e. not too close to other units. Prices included two meals a day...breakfast and dinner. The dinner meals were particularly good....one night wasabi grilled tuna and the other was a Moroccan chicken dish. My kids even commented on how amazing the VEGETABLE dishes were. It was fun to have a restaurant there on site, too. We enjoyed lunch, appetizers, and drinks there during our stay. For the first day, we just relaxed, hung out by the ocean, and did boogie boarding. Day 5-We did a 1/2 day deep sea fishing trip with Tropic Fin, which was arranged by Iguana Lodge (IL). IL had a very helpful staff who helped us arrange a few other tours during our stay. I thought we would be entirely in the gulf the whole time, but we actually fished mostly at the mouth of Golfo Dulce. We also went maybe 20-30 minutes north up the coast and fished for grouper. I think we caught about 7-8 fish total...one large roosterfish, a couple of grouper, a tilefish, a needle fish and another pretty bright orange non-edible fish. Our captain cleaned the fish for us, and we took them to a restaurant, Marisqueria Corcovado, to be cooked for lunch. I would give this restaurant 4/5 stars. Ceviche was very good.

fcfarmgirl

Day 6-My back was sore from riding on the boat, bouncing on the waves the day before, so I decided to splurge on a massage. Tracy gave the best massage I ever had, although it wasn't cheap at $100 for an hour. While I had a massage, the 3 guys hung out by the ocean. I think this is a good time to share more about the setting of Iguana Lodge. It is located on a pretty stretch of beach about 10-15 minutes outside of Puerto Jimenez. We saw A LOT of scarlet macaws and a sloth on the property. I think they have howlers nearby, but we didn't see or hear any while there. I don't know if this was due to rainy season, but I also thought it was fairly buggy there. We liberally used our bug spray, but I still came home with bites all over my legs...a couple of mosquito bites and A LOT of other bits..."no see-ums"? The property also has two resident dogs, Spike and BamBam, that we loved. So back to Day 6...this afternoon, we arranged a kayaking tour in the mangroves and on Golfo Dulce. The mangroves were OK, by which I mean...they didn't seem as lush or an interesting as hiking trails we have done in CR...didn't see a ton of wildlife, although our guides managed to find a boa constrictor which was interesting. Kayaking on the Golfo was fun and very scenic. Came back that night for pasta night and salsa dancing at IL.
Day 7-We took a great tour to chocolate farm, Finca Kobo. Owner Alex was very engaging and we sampled several fruits (rambutans, a few varities of citrus, star fruit) in addition to seeing and learning about cacao. The tour ended with more chocolate sauce and fruit being served. Highly recommend this tour. Spent a little time in the afternoon checking out Puerto Jimenez. Had typical Costa Rican lunch at Carolina's, including banana con leche and piña batidos.

fcfarmgirl

Day 8-spent the morning on the beach, then packed up to fly back to San Jose. Had lunch at Soda Valeria on the way to the airport. Sansa flight back to San Jose was on time, very smooth, and beautiful. The flight is almost worth the price just for the views of Costa Rica alone. We typically would prefer to stay in a local place, but because our flight was so early the next morning, we stayed at the Hampton Inn. Also, our favorite, Las Orchideas, is under new management and closed for remodeling. Our taxi driver told us there were some issues with getting permits, and he wasn't sure when they would be open for business again. For dinner, we went to C-Vichito y Mas. The four of us spent $120 for dinner, which was pretty pricey but the food was quite good. This included ceviche, 4 entrees, a couple of desserts, 6 fruit drinks and a glass of wine. I guess I would call the food fusion. My seafood pasta was OK...a little too al dente, but the steak and marlin that my kids ordered was excellent.

Overall, the itinerary of Bosque del Cabo (unbelievable wildlife, beautiful setting) and Iguana Lodge (beach location, access to town i.e. shopping, sodas, etc. )provided a nice balance for our trip. The owners of both properties do an outstanding job of making sure guests have an enjoyable visit. Food was excellent at both places, as were the tours that we booked through Bosque del Cabo and Iguana Lodge.

alisa23

Thank you for the report! Could you swim at IL? Were the waves very big or not?

fcfarmgirl

Alisa23, my 16 year olds did some boogie boarding and spent hours in the water there, so it was perfect for them. I think the size of the waves depended on the day and low vs. high tide. There were times I was out playing in the surf, and it was too rough for me. You had to time it just perfectly and dive under the wave to not get really bounced around. Other times were calmer and it would be fine for swimming.

alisa23

Thank you!

Dyer

Thank you fcfarmgirl. A very interesting/enjoyable post.