2 weeks, 5 locations--a nice intro to Costa Rica (long trip report)
Feb 7th, 2011, 06:13 PM
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arlusa--San Francisco, right? Glad to hear that the rest of your trip was nice--lucky you, in terms of the weather.
aliska--The water was swimmingly warm wherever we went in Costa Rica, but warmest of all was in the Golfo Dulce. I hate swimming in cool water, and I had no hesitation about jumping right in. You'd love it! The weather, though often cloudy and sometimes rainy at night, was comfortably warm. As far as accommodations for the less able walkers, I think there are indeed some (Sky Tram in Arenal comes to mind, though we didn't get there). The main guided hike in Manuel Antonio was a fairly easy walk at a slow pace so people could spot the birds, etc. When we kayaked on the Damas estuary two other couples in the minibus with us took the motor boat trip on the same estuary, so that's certainly an option. And of course our dolphin trip didn't require any walking. I think you could find ways to enjoy the sights, though many of the activities we did were pretty athletically oriented. I suggest you post your question in a separate posting here--I'm sure you'll get some responses that will help you decide.
vg--thanks for the compliment. You've been to Costa Rica a lot, so I appreciate your opinion!
And now, the rest of part four. Must get this finished so I can concentrate on planning our next trip (to Japan in May/June)!
PART FOUR, PUERTO JIMENEZ, CONTINUED
A somewhat later start the next morning permitted us to enjoy coffee and pastry at a street-side table at the local bakery in preparation for our 7:00 a.m. kayak trip among the mangroves led by Escondido Trex, which we had reserved at their office next to Carolina’s restaurant on the main street of PJ. The early hour was to accommodate the tide, and it turned out we should have gone even earlier.
We drove through town, past the airport, to the launch site at the edge of the gulf to find that we were the only kayakers on the trip. Kayaking doesn’t seem to be that popular among Costa Rica tourists! Our guides, unexpectedly, were two young men who were nice enough and knew where to lead us but didn’t speak English. Our Spanish is fine to get us around with few problems, but it’s not good enough to carry on a real conversation. So there wasn’t going to be much commentary on this trip. Also, the paddle was supposed to last for three hours and include a trip into heart of the mangroves, a short portage over the beach to the bay, and then back to PJ along the gulf. It turned out to be very short (less than two hours) and not up to our expectations. Though the kayaks were a little better than the ones at the cabinas and we did stop for a brief swim on a lovely stretch of beach along the gulf, it really wasn’t worth the price ($35 each). I think the rising tide cut off some of the access to the narrower parts of the mangroves, making it impossible to go farther, but the guide operation should have anticipated that and made our departure an hour earlier. We were disappointed in Escondido Trex--the first and only let-down of the trip in terms of guided tours. Not that we didn’t enjoy our time on the water! We just wanted more. (We learned later that the original owner of the company, an enthusiastic American who now owns and runs the Jagua craftshop and still dispenses good advice, sold it a few years ago. I don’t think the new owners are living up to the reputation he built for the company, which is too bad, and the guidebooks haven’t caught on to that yet.)
Given the extra time we decided to go Juanita’s Mexican restaurant for real breakfast (huevos rancheros with tortillas) and then stop by the Jagua craft and jewelry shop next to the airstrip. The crafts at Jagua were beautiful--especially the amazing woven baskets from Panama--and I couldn’t resist buying a lovely stone necklace made in PJ, so there was definitely a bright side to our truncated morning paddle.
After some more hammock time we forged out in our SUV down the incredibly bumpy, mostly unpaved road, pothole-ridden road to Cabo Matapalo (several fords, including one place where there was a bridge that NOBODY took, preferring instead to go through the river). The countryside was gorgeous and the ultimate destination was another perfect beach. Along the way we say several of the lodges we’d read about in the guidebooks but didn’t want to spend all our money on (though they sounded and looked great). We stopped next to a field at one point and saw a cow in the process of giving birth, having a bit of a difficult time--on our return trip later in the afternoon calf was standing up and feeding from its mother. Very nice to see.
Just short of the cape we stopped at Buena Esperanza Restaurant, a cute, open-air eatery, beautifully decorated. We sat at the bar enjoying delicious mango batidos (smoothies) and then decided to order a light lunch of shared chicken quesadillas and beer. From our perch, we watched the quesadillas being cooked in the open kitchen. Excellent! The restaurant had what must be the cutest women’s bathroom in Costa Rica (see photos). We drove down progressively worse roads to the lovely beach, where we stayed for over an hour watching a paddle surfer and a few kayakers ride the waves, more or less successfully, and brown pelicans skim over the water. We read for a while and then walked the length of the small beach, an absolutely gorgeous locale. To return, we had to do some adventure driving (steep, rutted, road strewn with boulders--why did we decide to go down that road in the first place???) to get back out from the beach road to the “main” road. We award the PJ-Cabo Matapalo road the prize of being #1 worst road in Costa Rica--though I understand that further on, toward Carate, it’s just as bad.
Back at the cabinas, tension headache quickly dissolving, we cleaned up and relaxed in the hammocks. In the early evening we walked a few blocks to Il Giardino for dinner for decent ravioli and good spaghetti with shrimp washed, down with the house wine.
We didn’t want to leave the Osa without getting some time in Corcovado National Park, for most the raison d’etre of a visit to the Osa. We didn’t have the days necessary for an extended trip out of the coastal portion of the park, so we had arranged at the cabinas for a very early pickup (5:00 a.m.) the next morning for a day hike with an established, English-speaking guide, Oscar Cortez Alfaro, into the interior part of the park ($55 each, including transportation), leaving from Los Patos Ranger Station (an extra $10 each for park entrance). The taxi/truck arrived around twenty minutes late and we climbed into the benches in the back of the truck, eager to start. Three young Swedish women, who had been picked up first, sat in the second seat of the truck cab. The girls, as we came to call them, were halfway through a wonderful, lengthy trip through South and Central America, having traveled already for three months. They were full of energy and shared lots of advice about the places they had been.
As we headed north, we had bracing views of over the Osa countryside--small farms, rice fields, flowering trees, chirping parakeets. Just as the sun was rising we stopped along the road and shared a thermos full of delicious coffee in the absolutely beautiful morning light. Kind of a magic moment. At Las Palmas we turned off the main road and drove over a bumpy road and eventually along a track through a river valley, fording the river about 25 times. Electric-blue morpho butterflies glided through the forest as pairs of scarlet macaws screamed overhead.
We arrived at the ranger station about 7:30 with the goal of hiking to the waterfalls and seeing some other parts of the Corcovado. No sooner had we taken off our boots to cross the river than we spotted several scarlet macaws in a tree long the river bank. They were quickly joined by more and posed for us while we took pictures. The walk was very muddy (red dirt! hey, it’s a tropical rain forest at the beginning of the dry season) and steep and slippery in places. Using a walking stick that Oscar found for me helped a lot. After about 2 km we stopped for a short break at the remains of the old ranger station, which had been abandoned when the new one was built at the end of the access road. We had hoped to see some wildlife but weren’t so lucky--still, we were fascinated as Oscar explained the uses of lots of the plants and trees that we passed, and we were enthralled by the sounds of the rain forest. I love tropical rain forests, and this was no exception. A near vertical pitch that had me concerned about getting back out brought us down to the base of the falls with a beautiful pool; J and I waded and Oscar and the girls swam--the water was too cold for us to fully commit.
Eventually we negotiated the climb back up to the main trail (about 10 minutes--not as difficult as I had feared) and returned to Los Patos via a somewhat shorter route, stopping at the river for an unsuccessful attempt to get some of the clinging red dirt off our legs and hiking shoes. (We actually left those shoes behind before we flew back to the U.S.--they were goners.) While we waited for the taxi/truck to return to pick us up at the ranger station at 2 p.m., we all shared picnic snacks--watermelon cut with Oscar’s machete, peanuts, a few beers that Oscar had left at the station in a cooler--and spotted more macaws and two toucans close by the river. The total distance we hiked was about 8 km and took just under 5 hours. The conditions on the trail made this a fairly exhausting hike, but it was well worth the effort.
On our ride back to Puerto Jimenez the five of us sat in the back of the truck--clearly the best seats--and spotted more great birds along the highway. We learned that the girls were headed to Uvita the next day, the same day we were leaving Puerto Jimenez, so we offered to give them a ride to save them the bus trip, which they happily accepted.
Because the U.S. national college championship football game was being played that night and we had a minor rooting interest, we went back to Juanita’s for a late dinner. The restaurant acts as the local sports bar and has big-screen Sky TV, so we watched the first half of the game with a few other Americans who were there for the same purpose. (No interest from the Costa Ricans.) The Swedish girls were eating there too, and we reconfirmed their intentions to travel with us the next morning. We arranged to pick them up at their place, an inexpensive, no-frills inn in the center of town, at 8:00 a.m. and then headed back to the cabinas, sad that our time in Puerto Jimenez was drawing to a close.
Next (and last) stop: Orosi
aliska--The water was swimmingly warm wherever we went in Costa Rica, but warmest of all was in the Golfo Dulce. I hate swimming in cool water, and I had no hesitation about jumping right in. You'd love it! The weather, though often cloudy and sometimes rainy at night, was comfortably warm. As far as accommodations for the less able walkers, I think there are indeed some (Sky Tram in Arenal comes to mind, though we didn't get there). The main guided hike in Manuel Antonio was a fairly easy walk at a slow pace so people could spot the birds, etc. When we kayaked on the Damas estuary two other couples in the minibus with us took the motor boat trip on the same estuary, so that's certainly an option. And of course our dolphin trip didn't require any walking. I think you could find ways to enjoy the sights, though many of the activities we did were pretty athletically oriented. I suggest you post your question in a separate posting here--I'm sure you'll get some responses that will help you decide.
vg--thanks for the compliment. You've been to Costa Rica a lot, so I appreciate your opinion!
And now, the rest of part four. Must get this finished so I can concentrate on planning our next trip (to Japan in May/June)!
PART FOUR, PUERTO JIMENEZ, CONTINUED
A somewhat later start the next morning permitted us to enjoy coffee and pastry at a street-side table at the local bakery in preparation for our 7:00 a.m. kayak trip among the mangroves led by Escondido Trex, which we had reserved at their office next to Carolina’s restaurant on the main street of PJ. The early hour was to accommodate the tide, and it turned out we should have gone even earlier.
We drove through town, past the airport, to the launch site at the edge of the gulf to find that we were the only kayakers on the trip. Kayaking doesn’t seem to be that popular among Costa Rica tourists! Our guides, unexpectedly, were two young men who were nice enough and knew where to lead us but didn’t speak English. Our Spanish is fine to get us around with few problems, but it’s not good enough to carry on a real conversation. So there wasn’t going to be much commentary on this trip. Also, the paddle was supposed to last for three hours and include a trip into heart of the mangroves, a short portage over the beach to the bay, and then back to PJ along the gulf. It turned out to be very short (less than two hours) and not up to our expectations. Though the kayaks were a little better than the ones at the cabinas and we did stop for a brief swim on a lovely stretch of beach along the gulf, it really wasn’t worth the price ($35 each). I think the rising tide cut off some of the access to the narrower parts of the mangroves, making it impossible to go farther, but the guide operation should have anticipated that and made our departure an hour earlier. We were disappointed in Escondido Trex--the first and only let-down of the trip in terms of guided tours. Not that we didn’t enjoy our time on the water! We just wanted more. (We learned later that the original owner of the company, an enthusiastic American who now owns and runs the Jagua craftshop and still dispenses good advice, sold it a few years ago. I don’t think the new owners are living up to the reputation he built for the company, which is too bad, and the guidebooks haven’t caught on to that yet.)
Given the extra time we decided to go Juanita’s Mexican restaurant for real breakfast (huevos rancheros with tortillas) and then stop by the Jagua craft and jewelry shop next to the airstrip. The crafts at Jagua were beautiful--especially the amazing woven baskets from Panama--and I couldn’t resist buying a lovely stone necklace made in PJ, so there was definitely a bright side to our truncated morning paddle.
After some more hammock time we forged out in our SUV down the incredibly bumpy, mostly unpaved road, pothole-ridden road to Cabo Matapalo (several fords, including one place where there was a bridge that NOBODY took, preferring instead to go through the river). The countryside was gorgeous and the ultimate destination was another perfect beach. Along the way we say several of the lodges we’d read about in the guidebooks but didn’t want to spend all our money on (though they sounded and looked great). We stopped next to a field at one point and saw a cow in the process of giving birth, having a bit of a difficult time--on our return trip later in the afternoon calf was standing up and feeding from its mother. Very nice to see.
Just short of the cape we stopped at Buena Esperanza Restaurant, a cute, open-air eatery, beautifully decorated. We sat at the bar enjoying delicious mango batidos (smoothies) and then decided to order a light lunch of shared chicken quesadillas and beer. From our perch, we watched the quesadillas being cooked in the open kitchen. Excellent! The restaurant had what must be the cutest women’s bathroom in Costa Rica (see photos). We drove down progressively worse roads to the lovely beach, where we stayed for over an hour watching a paddle surfer and a few kayakers ride the waves, more or less successfully, and brown pelicans skim over the water. We read for a while and then walked the length of the small beach, an absolutely gorgeous locale. To return, we had to do some adventure driving (steep, rutted, road strewn with boulders--why did we decide to go down that road in the first place???) to get back out from the beach road to the “main” road. We award the PJ-Cabo Matapalo road the prize of being #1 worst road in Costa Rica--though I understand that further on, toward Carate, it’s just as bad.
Back at the cabinas, tension headache quickly dissolving, we cleaned up and relaxed in the hammocks. In the early evening we walked a few blocks to Il Giardino for dinner for decent ravioli and good spaghetti with shrimp washed, down with the house wine.
We didn’t want to leave the Osa without getting some time in Corcovado National Park, for most the raison d’etre of a visit to the Osa. We didn’t have the days necessary for an extended trip out of the coastal portion of the park, so we had arranged at the cabinas for a very early pickup (5:00 a.m.) the next morning for a day hike with an established, English-speaking guide, Oscar Cortez Alfaro, into the interior part of the park ($55 each, including transportation), leaving from Los Patos Ranger Station (an extra $10 each for park entrance). The taxi/truck arrived around twenty minutes late and we climbed into the benches in the back of the truck, eager to start. Three young Swedish women, who had been picked up first, sat in the second seat of the truck cab. The girls, as we came to call them, were halfway through a wonderful, lengthy trip through South and Central America, having traveled already for three months. They were full of energy and shared lots of advice about the places they had been.
As we headed north, we had bracing views of over the Osa countryside--small farms, rice fields, flowering trees, chirping parakeets. Just as the sun was rising we stopped along the road and shared a thermos full of delicious coffee in the absolutely beautiful morning light. Kind of a magic moment. At Las Palmas we turned off the main road and drove over a bumpy road and eventually along a track through a river valley, fording the river about 25 times. Electric-blue morpho butterflies glided through the forest as pairs of scarlet macaws screamed overhead.
We arrived at the ranger station about 7:30 with the goal of hiking to the waterfalls and seeing some other parts of the Corcovado. No sooner had we taken off our boots to cross the river than we spotted several scarlet macaws in a tree long the river bank. They were quickly joined by more and posed for us while we took pictures. The walk was very muddy (red dirt! hey, it’s a tropical rain forest at the beginning of the dry season) and steep and slippery in places. Using a walking stick that Oscar found for me helped a lot. After about 2 km we stopped for a short break at the remains of the old ranger station, which had been abandoned when the new one was built at the end of the access road. We had hoped to see some wildlife but weren’t so lucky--still, we were fascinated as Oscar explained the uses of lots of the plants and trees that we passed, and we were enthralled by the sounds of the rain forest. I love tropical rain forests, and this was no exception. A near vertical pitch that had me concerned about getting back out brought us down to the base of the falls with a beautiful pool; J and I waded and Oscar and the girls swam--the water was too cold for us to fully commit.
Eventually we negotiated the climb back up to the main trail (about 10 minutes--not as difficult as I had feared) and returned to Los Patos via a somewhat shorter route, stopping at the river for an unsuccessful attempt to get some of the clinging red dirt off our legs and hiking shoes. (We actually left those shoes behind before we flew back to the U.S.--they were goners.) While we waited for the taxi/truck to return to pick us up at the ranger station at 2 p.m., we all shared picnic snacks--watermelon cut with Oscar’s machete, peanuts, a few beers that Oscar had left at the station in a cooler--and spotted more macaws and two toucans close by the river. The total distance we hiked was about 8 km and took just under 5 hours. The conditions on the trail made this a fairly exhausting hike, but it was well worth the effort.
On our ride back to Puerto Jimenez the five of us sat in the back of the truck--clearly the best seats--and spotted more great birds along the highway. We learned that the girls were headed to Uvita the next day, the same day we were leaving Puerto Jimenez, so we offered to give them a ride to save them the bus trip, which they happily accepted.
Because the U.S. national college championship football game was being played that night and we had a minor rooting interest, we went back to Juanita’s for a late dinner. The restaurant acts as the local sports bar and has big-screen Sky TV, so we watched the first half of the game with a few other Americans who were there for the same purpose. (No interest from the Costa Ricans.) The Swedish girls were eating there too, and we reconfirmed their intentions to travel with us the next morning. We arranged to pick them up at their place, an inexpensive, no-frills inn in the center of town, at 8:00 a.m. and then headed back to the cabinas, sad that our time in Puerto Jimenez was drawing to a close.
Next (and last) stop: Orosi
Feb 9th, 2011, 07:08 AM
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Well, what a thrill to read your report! How interesting it has been to see Costa Rica through your eyes. You make me want to go back to Monteverde. We were there once, for just 2 nights, not long enough, and it was incredibly and unusually hot and dry. Not typical. So I think our Monteverde experience was a little like your Arenal experience, hence we tend to think of Arenal as a more desirable place. We will return to MV, though, and Arco Iris sounds perfect!
Totally agree with your comment about the ladies restroom at Martina's (AKA Buena Esperanza Bar). Isn't it unique? We were there last year, and I took DH in there and told him it was just the restroom I wanted in our home (building in CR now). By necessity, though, beach construction is considerably different from mountain construction! And I've never been that out of the box in my decorating (or lack thereof)!
Can't wait to hear your views on Orosi. We have always enjoyed that area and are looking forward to another brief visit next month. Thanks for sharing such a valuable report!
Totally agree with your comment about the ladies restroom at Martina's (AKA Buena Esperanza Bar). Isn't it unique? We were there last year, and I took DH in there and told him it was just the restroom I wanted in our home (building in CR now). By necessity, though, beach construction is considerably different from mountain construction! And I've never been that out of the box in my decorating (or lack thereof)!
Can't wait to hear your views on Orosi. We have always enjoyed that area and are looking forward to another brief visit next month. Thanks for sharing such a valuable report!
Feb 9th, 2011, 07:08 AM
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Well, what a thrill to read your report! How interesting it has been to see Costa Rica through your eyes. You make me want to go back to Monteverde. We were there once, for just 2 nights, not long enough, and it was incredibly and unusually hot and dry. Not typical. So I think our Monteverde experience was a little like your Arenal experience, hence we tend to think of Arenal as a more desirable place. We will return to MV, though, and Arco Iris sounds perfect!
Totally agree with your comment about the ladies restroom at Martina's (AKA Buena Esperanza Bar). Isn't it unique? We were there last year, and I took DH in there and told him it was just the restroom I wanted in our home (building in CR now). By necessity, though, beach construction is considerably different from mountain construction! And I've never been that out of the box in my decorating (or lack thereof)!
Can't wait to hear your views on Orosi. We have always enjoyed that area and are looking forward to another brief visit next month. Thanks for sharing such a valuable report!
Totally agree with your comment about the ladies restroom at Martina's (AKA Buena Esperanza Bar). Isn't it unique? We were there last year, and I took DH in there and told him it was just the restroom I wanted in our home (building in CR now). By necessity, though, beach construction is considerably different from mountain construction! And I've never been that out of the box in my decorating (or lack thereof)!
Can't wait to hear your views on Orosi. We have always enjoyed that area and are looking forward to another brief visit next month. Thanks for sharing such a valuable report!
Feb 9th, 2011, 04:06 PM
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Thanks, shillmac (twice!). I agree, weather and other idiosyncratic factors can really weigh heavily in one's response to a destination. Sometimes it all comes together, like it did for us in Monteverde and Puerto Jimenez.
Sooooo, at long last (emphasis on long), here's the final installment:
PART FIVE: OROSI VALLEY
Sooooo, at long last (emphasis on long), here's the final installment:
PART FIVE: OROSI VALLEY
Feb 9th, 2011, 05:25 PM
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Oops, hit the wrong key. Let's try it again:
PART FIVE: OROSI VALLEY
Hotel: Orosi Lodge http://www.orosilodge.com
$53 per night
Before reluctantly leaving Puerto Jimenez, we decided to have breakfast at the local soda (gallo pinto--not my favorite dish but J's enamored of it--eggs, fruit, coffee, papaya/pineapple batido; all very good and cheap) next to the location where the Swedish girls were staying, the very inexpensive and basic Cabinas The Corner. There we met up with the girls and packed them and their backpacks into the SUV for the drive to Uvita. We got to know them a little more and gave them our contact information in case they ever needed a place to stay in the New York area.
(Sidebar: Little did we know that this address exchange would be meaningful, but the next day when I checked my email in Orosi I had a message from them asking if, by chance, we had found a cellphone in the car. I rummaged around in the backseat and voila--there it was. After some back-and-forth, we all agreed that I would drop it off at the Continental Airlines customer service desk at San Jose airport, where they would pick it up within 2 days. Best-laid plans--Continental refused to take it ("security reasons"), so we ended up taking it home with us to NY and promising to mail it to them. I didn't want them to be without a phone for the next 3 months! But where to mail it to a group of girls on the move with no set destinations? Eventually they decided to spend an extended time in Leon, Nicaragua, studying Spanish, so we sent it to them by FedEx a couple of days ago, to their Spanish school. It cost quite a bit, but I'm happy that it all worked out in the end!)
Back to the trip. We dropped the girls off in Uvita at the cool-looking Tucan hostel and drove on up the coast to Dominical, where we turned into the mountains toward San Isidro del General. (Big signs in town proclaiming that "Jesus is Our General.") This was a beautiful stretch of mountain road, with gorgeous views and lovely small villages. We joined the Interamerican Highway at San Isidro and climbed some more, until we were above the clouds that swirled among the mountains and valley below, interspersed by brilliant blue sky. The air had a crisp quality to it after our time in the tropical lowlands. We stopped at the soda at the turnoff for San Gerardo de Dota: crisp air, sweater weather, a lovely setting. A little reminiscent of Switzerland (work with me here). We had originally tried to book at the Savegre Mountain Lodge in San Gerardo but it was full for the days we were going to be there--oh, what a shame! The area looked so inviting.
We had a quick, inexpensive casado lunch at the soda and then drove on toward Cartago, downhill most of the way. The section of Cartago that our GPS took us through was not so nice--run-down and dangerous looking, with iron bars enveloping most of the houses. We were a little discouraged as our destination, Orosi, was only 8 kilometers away. Paraiso wasn’t much better, but the world changed in just a few kilometers as the pretty Orosi Valley was suddenly displayed in front of us.
We easily found the two-story Orosi Lodge, a compact, friendly place right in town, owned and run by German ex-pats. At $53/night this was the least expensive lodging of our trip and an excellent value. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful, and our second-floor room had everything we needed, including a couple of chairs in front that allowed us to look over the town. The walls were a little thin, but we didn't mind the people coughing next door because we were doing the same! In the reception area is a little cafe operation where we enjoyed a decadent chocolate/carrot cake and lattes, followed by a short walk around the cute town. No other tourists in sight. We saw the outside of the oldest continuously active church (San Jose de Orosi, c/1743) in Costa Rica--it could easily pass for a California mission church.
The weather was overcast and intermittently rainy, as it was for most of our stay in Orosi. Since we had eaten a good breakfast and lunch, we weren’t real hungry, so for dinner we shopped at the local market for wine, cheese, crackers, and fruit, which we enjoyed outside our toom, overlooking the town.
The breakfast at the lodge the next morning ($7) was delicious--best of the trip. And more great coffee! Unfortunately the rain had enveloped Orosi, so our plans to hike in the nearby Tapanti National Park or drive up to Irazu Volcano had to be discarded. Instead we headed up the road toward Cartago and spent a fruitful hour and a half at Lankester Botanical Garden, with its hothouse orchids and extensive plantings of bromeliads and heliconias. The garden staff were anticipating an upcoming visit by a Japanese dignitary (a prince?), so the newish Japanese garden was closed off for sprucing up. The whole garden was very nicely presented, though, and when it rained we always seemed to manage to find some shelter.
The remainder of the day we dedicated to a recommended drive around the Orosi Valley. Our first stop was the shop of a locally famous woodcarver, the Casa del Sonador. The son now runs the place and was in his shop carving figures from coffee wood, many of which looked like Ents from Lord of the Rings (a bargain at $10). We also visited the ruins of the first church in Costa Rica (c. 1693) in Ujarras. Set in a park in a quiet neighborhood, this was a very tranquil place, which we had all to ourselves. We then headed up to a couple of valley overlooks (Ujarras and Orosi), making the best of the discouraging weather. We stopped to visit a second wood carver along the road back to Orosi. His work was much cruder, the figures were even more "Ent-like," and he and his wife seemed thrilled when we bought a piece (another $10). All this filled the day--not as exciting as we had hoped but very pleasant nonetheless. Orosi is a nice area, close to San Jose and worth at least a day.
We had decided to have dinner at a recommended hotel restaurant that was located up a dirt road at the edge of town, but we couldn’t find the place in the dark so we decided to eat instead at the main restaurant in town, across from the soccer field, which specialized in grilled meats. J’s pork chops with yucca and a salad were excellent, but I ordered one of the 3 fish dishes on the large menu, which may not have been a good idea since I ended up getting a stomach bug that night, with results that you can well imagine.
Aside from my being sick for the whole trip home, our travel back to the U.S. went without a hitch. I had been upgraded to first class, but given my inability to eat I gave my seat to J, who was first on the upgrade waiting list but wasn't moved up. All I wanted to do was sleep! It was sure a shock to the system to come back to the cold and snow after two weeks in warm Costa Rica. Since we had left behind our muddy hiking shoes, we were wearing sandals, which made for a hilarious scene when the car service dropped us off at the end of our unplowed driveway and we had to run through the snow to get to our front door. An interesting end to another interesting trip--20 years in the making.
PART FIVE: OROSI VALLEY
Hotel: Orosi Lodge http://www.orosilodge.com
$53 per night
Before reluctantly leaving Puerto Jimenez, we decided to have breakfast at the local soda (gallo pinto--not my favorite dish but J's enamored of it--eggs, fruit, coffee, papaya/pineapple batido; all very good and cheap) next to the location where the Swedish girls were staying, the very inexpensive and basic Cabinas The Corner. There we met up with the girls and packed them and their backpacks into the SUV for the drive to Uvita. We got to know them a little more and gave them our contact information in case they ever needed a place to stay in the New York area.
(Sidebar: Little did we know that this address exchange would be meaningful, but the next day when I checked my email in Orosi I had a message from them asking if, by chance, we had found a cellphone in the car. I rummaged around in the backseat and voila--there it was. After some back-and-forth, we all agreed that I would drop it off at the Continental Airlines customer service desk at San Jose airport, where they would pick it up within 2 days. Best-laid plans--Continental refused to take it ("security reasons"), so we ended up taking it home with us to NY and promising to mail it to them. I didn't want them to be without a phone for the next 3 months! But where to mail it to a group of girls on the move with no set destinations? Eventually they decided to spend an extended time in Leon, Nicaragua, studying Spanish, so we sent it to them by FedEx a couple of days ago, to their Spanish school. It cost quite a bit, but I'm happy that it all worked out in the end!)
Back to the trip. We dropped the girls off in Uvita at the cool-looking Tucan hostel and drove on up the coast to Dominical, where we turned into the mountains toward San Isidro del General. (Big signs in town proclaiming that "Jesus is Our General.") This was a beautiful stretch of mountain road, with gorgeous views and lovely small villages. We joined the Interamerican Highway at San Isidro and climbed some more, until we were above the clouds that swirled among the mountains and valley below, interspersed by brilliant blue sky. The air had a crisp quality to it after our time in the tropical lowlands. We stopped at the soda at the turnoff for San Gerardo de Dota: crisp air, sweater weather, a lovely setting. A little reminiscent of Switzerland (work with me here). We had originally tried to book at the Savegre Mountain Lodge in San Gerardo but it was full for the days we were going to be there--oh, what a shame! The area looked so inviting.
We had a quick, inexpensive casado lunch at the soda and then drove on toward Cartago, downhill most of the way. The section of Cartago that our GPS took us through was not so nice--run-down and dangerous looking, with iron bars enveloping most of the houses. We were a little discouraged as our destination, Orosi, was only 8 kilometers away. Paraiso wasn’t much better, but the world changed in just a few kilometers as the pretty Orosi Valley was suddenly displayed in front of us.
We easily found the two-story Orosi Lodge, a compact, friendly place right in town, owned and run by German ex-pats. At $53/night this was the least expensive lodging of our trip and an excellent value. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful, and our second-floor room had everything we needed, including a couple of chairs in front that allowed us to look over the town. The walls were a little thin, but we didn't mind the people coughing next door because we were doing the same! In the reception area is a little cafe operation where we enjoyed a decadent chocolate/carrot cake and lattes, followed by a short walk around the cute town. No other tourists in sight. We saw the outside of the oldest continuously active church (San Jose de Orosi, c/1743) in Costa Rica--it could easily pass for a California mission church.
The weather was overcast and intermittently rainy, as it was for most of our stay in Orosi. Since we had eaten a good breakfast and lunch, we weren’t real hungry, so for dinner we shopped at the local market for wine, cheese, crackers, and fruit, which we enjoyed outside our toom, overlooking the town.
The breakfast at the lodge the next morning ($7) was delicious--best of the trip. And more great coffee! Unfortunately the rain had enveloped Orosi, so our plans to hike in the nearby Tapanti National Park or drive up to Irazu Volcano had to be discarded. Instead we headed up the road toward Cartago and spent a fruitful hour and a half at Lankester Botanical Garden, with its hothouse orchids and extensive plantings of bromeliads and heliconias. The garden staff were anticipating an upcoming visit by a Japanese dignitary (a prince?), so the newish Japanese garden was closed off for sprucing up. The whole garden was very nicely presented, though, and when it rained we always seemed to manage to find some shelter.
The remainder of the day we dedicated to a recommended drive around the Orosi Valley. Our first stop was the shop of a locally famous woodcarver, the Casa del Sonador. The son now runs the place and was in his shop carving figures from coffee wood, many of which looked like Ents from Lord of the Rings (a bargain at $10). We also visited the ruins of the first church in Costa Rica (c. 1693) in Ujarras. Set in a park in a quiet neighborhood, this was a very tranquil place, which we had all to ourselves. We then headed up to a couple of valley overlooks (Ujarras and Orosi), making the best of the discouraging weather. We stopped to visit a second wood carver along the road back to Orosi. His work was much cruder, the figures were even more "Ent-like," and he and his wife seemed thrilled when we bought a piece (another $10). All this filled the day--not as exciting as we had hoped but very pleasant nonetheless. Orosi is a nice area, close to San Jose and worth at least a day.
We had decided to have dinner at a recommended hotel restaurant that was located up a dirt road at the edge of town, but we couldn’t find the place in the dark so we decided to eat instead at the main restaurant in town, across from the soccer field, which specialized in grilled meats. J’s pork chops with yucca and a salad were excellent, but I ordered one of the 3 fish dishes on the large menu, which may not have been a good idea since I ended up getting a stomach bug that night, with results that you can well imagine.
Aside from my being sick for the whole trip home, our travel back to the U.S. went without a hitch. I had been upgraded to first class, but given my inability to eat I gave my seat to J, who was first on the upgrade waiting list but wasn't moved up. All I wanted to do was sleep! It was sure a shock to the system to come back to the cold and snow after two weeks in warm Costa Rica. Since we had left behind our muddy hiking shoes, we were wearing sandals, which made for a hilarious scene when the car service dropped us off at the end of our unplowed driveway and we had to run through the snow to get to our front door. An interesting end to another interesting trip--20 years in the making.
Feb 10th, 2011, 05:17 AM
#27
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Oh so sorry you didn't get to hike Tapanti, see Irazu, etc. Darned rain! January is, I believe, the rainiest month over on the Caribbean slope. But the church in Ujarras--one of my favorite places in all the country. And we've bought a few pieces of the coffee plant woodwork as well. So glad you enjoyed the area, wish you could've seen more of it. It is definitely anti-climatic after being on the Osa, but peaceful and such a totally different area. So sorry you were sick. That happened to me on our last trip in December. Honestly don't think it was anything I ate, but that darned bug was going around zapping people before we left for Costa Rica. I just how you felt on the way home.
Thank you for taking all the time to post such an informative report!
Thank you for taking all the time to post such an informative report!
Feb 10th, 2011, 02:56 PM
#28
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shillmac--I second everything you said. We usually just forge ahead in rainy weather, but it was way too wet to hike, and there was no chance of seeing the volcano. At least we got to spend a relaxing day in Orosi Valley!
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