Suzie2

Recently returned from a very short trip (for us) to CR. Not your usual tourist report. For those of you who are wondering who Orlando is....he is a driver/guide/tour operator that we met a few years ago and have become really good friends with.

Wow! we really wanted to see the Osa in the rainy season. We just happened to pick the rainiest rainy season they have had in years.

Trip started out okay other than the wiring on our Delta flight being a little bass ackwards. My button turned on my husbands light and his button turned on my light. Plus, our side of the plane didn't get the audio for the movie. No big deal on the movie as we had planned on some serious down time and had brought plenty of books. After some silly light turning on and off we settled down to a wonderful airline meal (yeah right) and our books. I had packed some sandwiches and snacks for us thankfully.

Arrived about on time mid afternoon. Even with all the extra stuff we had hauled down for one of the lodges we were through customs and baggage claim in 30 mins. As we walked out, the driver for the lodge was there to pick up their loot and Orlandos smiling face was right behind him to pick us up. In no time we were off on our new adventure.

Orlando is building a new house down south around San Isidro in pineapple country so we headed down that way for our first night. As is usually the case that time of day, the road was clouded over so we spent the trip just talking and getting caught up on our lives since last Feb. Made a quick stop for groceries in San Isidro and headed into the pineapples. I have never seen so many pineapples! Miles of them. Boy did it smell good around there as we drove through the ripening ones. Roads down around San Isidro are excellent.

Arrived at the house to get lots of hugs from the welcoming committee consisting of Orlandos wife, his father and father in law. Kids were back in Escazu with Grandma while finishing up exam week. Can't imagine a better way to start the trip. Jessie is a great cook and our first beans and rice were wonderful.

Next day, headed back up to San Isidro, car suspension messed up. After about 20 minutes at a Taller (repair shop), a measuring tape, and a wrench, Orlando's car had been realigned and we were back on the road. Cost a whole $10. Stopped at a little soda on the way to Dominical with pretty views. Still rainy season so the views didn't go on forever as they do sometimes. Road was pretty bad all the way to Dominical.

Arrived at Pacific Edge mid afternoon and immediately fell in love with it. The views were wonderful. George and Suzie are a lot of fun. For those of you who have been there he sends a "happy day". Unfortunately, I can't resist playing with the dogs and ended up getting my hand torn up. You would think I had never been around a puppy's sharp teeth before. Being on blood thinners does cause you to bleed more than usual so it looked more frightening than it was. Sunday is rest day for them so we headed down into Dominical for dinner. Ate at La Parcela. Food was excellent. Brief rainshower that night but otherwise just a few clouds here and there.

Early breakfast at PE and off again down the coastal highway. Quick stop in Palmar Norte so Orlando can check emails and I can get some antibiotics (only time we didn't bring our own) for my hand.

The Pan Am highway was in very good condition so we made good time down to Chacarita where you turn off to go toward Puerto Jimenez. We had just driven that road in Feb and it was nothing like it had been. It was horrible! In at least 5 places half the road had fallen off into no-man's land. They had had some serious rains down there. Made our (what is becoming) usual stop at Ventana del Gulfo Dulce for lunch -food very limited at that time of year-and to enjoy the beautiful views. More clouds but weather and Orlandos realignment still doing okay.

Finally arrived, again mid day, in Dos Brazos. Hard to believe the road could get worse after turning off the main road to PJ but it did. I swear I am 2 inches shorter from spinal compression LOL. As we neared Rio Tigre lodge we spotted the brother of the owner who flagged us down. Usually the river is not terribly high and driving through it to the lodge in two places is no big deal. Did I mention it was rainy season????? Florencio is a strong guy and he managed to walk through the fast moving river with our luggage over his head. After dropping it off at the lodge he returns with a pink inflatable kayak to take us one by one across. This trip is getting more exciting by the minute yikes! My turn in the little pink ducky came and I just closed my eyes and let it happen. The worst that could happen would be to end up in the Gulfo Dulce where the crocs feed around the mouth of the river. Finally arrived at the lodge. So glad we had picked up a big bottle of Rum Centenario in San Isidro. We got comfortable and waited anxiously for Abrahams wonderful dinner.

More....

Suzie2

The rains finally arrive that night while eating dinner. Buckets of the wet stuff. Morning dawned cloudy but not raining so hubby et al decided to take a look at some property for sale that we had seen before. Unbelievably beautiful up top but getting up is tough so I decided to stay below this time. Hubby says views of the Gulfo Dulce are awesome. Property still in the running but the artifact digging is not helping convince us. It can be siezed by the gov. Views disappear and the rain really starts. After several river crossings to get back it is pouring and hubby is one wet tico wanna be. He even went equiped with his own tico boots this year. This time the rain didn't let up for two days. The river raged, we read. A whole troop of mono titis came by looking for food. It has been a really bad year for the wildlife.

Departure day arrives and it is somewhat nice. We decided to head back towards Chacarita and do some birding around the Rincon bridge area. Birding not as good as usual but we saw 25 toucans and 9 sloths along with a couple of great puff birds. A great time of year to see Laughing Falcons. Road still awful most of the way but work has been started. Dropped Abraham off back at the lodge (little pink ducky was waiting for him), picked Liz up to be dropped off in town and headed on to our next destination.

Dropped Liz off and 30 seconds later ran into Kim from Bosque del Cabo-our next stop. She was headed in to Soda Carolinas for lunch where we had decided to go ourselves. We had a great lunch with her and got caught up on the local gossip and Osa happenings.

On our way to heaven finally. This road was actually better that the road to Puerto Jimenez. After some pics of the Lapa Rios landslide we headed on to Bosque del Cabo. As always it was a beautiful sight to see. Sun was shining and the first Lapas in days showed up just after we got into our cabina. Stayed in the Bamboo standard cabin first night. Great wildlife in this area but views are somewhat limited for the ocean. Two double beds and of course an outdoor shower. Deck had two rocking chairs and a hammock. We were moved to the Mariposa cabina next night. King bed, tiled tub for two under the stars and an outdoor shower. Great views of the ocean.

Dinner as usual was wonderful. It was Thanksgiving Day and they had managed to pick up a couple of Butterball turkeys in San Jose so we settled in to a great meal complete with cranberry sauce.

Sun finally came out next morning and we did some bird watching with Eduardo and then headed out ourselves. This was only the second day in a week that was nice enough for the guests to really get out and do stuff so everyone left for some fun. Philip was there but Jose was on vacation and Fred was laid up with a bad back.

So much wonderful stuff has been said about Bosque that I will not elaborate more on how great a place it is. Sadly we have to leave after only a couple of nights.

Back to Orlandos. The road from Puerto Jimenez to Chacarita has magically been worked on in the last few days and driving was pretty easy. Only 3 1/2 hrs to his house from Bosque. On the way back we stopped to look at another property. Orlando really wants us to live near him. A property he had origionally picked out for us ended up having more artifact digs so we cancelled that one. His brother found another piece and we fell in love with it. It is in the Talamanca mountains, central side. High enough up for breezes and nice temps year round. Beautiful views of the valley below and the Pacific mountain range. Just under half is pasture and the rest is wooded. Approx. 175 acres. Even though we are prepared to generate our own electricity I was a little relieved to see an electric meter already installed. Just up the road but not in our direct view is a cell phone tower. Looking even better... electricity, great cell phone reception and that means internet too. As we wandered around I was having trouble not breaking into my Julie Andrews routine singing about the hills. It reminded me so much of a little village I stayed in while in Austria years ago. Best part of it all is that there are no other north americans anywhere nearby. We fell in love with a country and its people and that is where we want to live. We can easily get to San Isidro or even Palmar Sur to catch a plane into San Jose. The beach is only 1 1/2 hrs away. We would only be about 45 mins from Palmar Norte where we could get to the coastal road. Deal not signed yet but hubby and I already designing house. It will be simple as we want to keep the price down to tico level in case we want to sell it down the road sometime. We don't want it to be priced so that they can't afford it like in so many places these days.

Another night at Orlandos and sad goodbyes to his family. Our trip back up to the San Jose aiport was awesome. It was very early Sunday morning so the truck traffic was minimal. We usually drive through the Cerro de la Muerte area later in the day so it has always been cloudy. This morning it was as clear as could be and the views were unbelievable. I never dreamed all that beautiful scenery was in there hidden by the clouds.

Hope this hasn't bored you. I wanted to keep this as a journal for myself as well so wrote more than I would normally for just a quick trip report.

Pura Vida to those of you who made it this far.

dfarmer

Sounds delightful!!! Even with all the rain!! Looks like you have finally found the perfect spot to retire - Hooray!

I assume Bosque del Cabo weathered the rains well? Awful about Lapa Rios!

Suzie2

Other than the monkeys trying to steal the wooden bananas out of the gift shop and raiding the kitchen due to hunger, Bosque did okay. They were getting pretty sick of it though. The poor help has been doing double duty trying to keep the mud cleaned up. They now have a brand new stained glass door and surround to close the gift shop up.

They also had to be a little creative getting people across some swollen streams and over the landslide that covered the road for several days.

Needless to say...dry season will be very welcome to all down there this year.

sparklegem

Hi Suzy,
Just reading old post and came across your trip report. How are you and how is everything going? Did you close on your property? We have always dreamed to do what you are doing and would love to hear how it is going.
Very best to you,
Gem