CR Pacific - Shelter from the Storm & Bosque del Cabo
Jul 11th, 2009, 03:51 PM
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CR Pacific - Shelter from the Storm & Bosque del Cabo
June 19 - July 3
Air was on AA, from Tampa to San Jose via Miami. Flight down was uneventful, both flights were so turbulent on the return however I was making promises and deals that I will have to live several lifetimes to keep.
If I hadn't checked bags I would've been out of the airport in less than 15 minutes, I'd run practically to immigrations and then waited forever for baggage. Little confusion on the pick-up but it all worked out fine. Was picked up by Paul Jonny (phone 8365-7149) for the drive out to Dominical. We took the route thru San Isidro, which I'm sure is a lovely drive if you're into that kind of thing. However since I'm petrified of any type of high drop-offs, especially when exacerbated with rain & fog, I chose to avoid looking to my right for pretty much the entire trip. About 4 hours after leaving the airport we made it to Dominical and a quick stop at Plaza Pacifica for some groceries. Passed by so many of the places I've seen online - Pacific Edge, Roca Verde, Costa Paraiso etc. The turn-off for Shelter from the Storm is near the 151 km marker, by the time I left 6 days later I could almost not go flying past it.
It was great to be met & greeted so warmly by Donna and Daryl, Jose who does work on the grounds and lives nearby and the dogs & cats. Solid had already delivered my car there even though the keys would be brought the next morning. D & D showed me to the Monkey House which is just an absolute gem. Spiral staircase up, lovely deck looking out into the trees and everything you could possibly need inside. A kitchen, comfy bed, cd player with many cd's to choose from, ample lighting, a lovely welcome basket filled with goodies, and cute little monkey items about. Great breezes and plenty of fans - one on the deck, one over the bed and one in the kitchen. I was the first person, Donna mentioned, to say I was cold there! I found leaving the kitchen fan running on low while sleeping was more than enough, needless to say I did not use the a/c. The grounds at Shelter are so beautiful, the Rancho has a pool and an honor bar with a large assortment to choose from. The atmosphere at SFTS was perfectly suited for me - you're free to wander about as you choose, be on your own, with D & D right there when needed to answer any questions. Ordered pizza the first night and enjoyed the storm that rolled in as it got dark. Very few bugs to speak of, just some moths attracted by the deck light when I was out there. For the next 3 nights I turned in by 8pm every night, which made getting up at 5am when the capuchins came by that much easier.
On Saturday, Pedro from Solid showed up to turn over the keys. Great company, would rent from again - car & rate were just as agreed, with a free drop-off in Puerto Jimenez. Had the Suzuki Jimny which was a fine little car, though I imagine would be a squeeze for more than 2 people with luggage. Since the drive in from the main road (about 2 minutes) was a little steep, Pedro was nice enough to drive with me out and back again so that I was comfortable. I'm from FL and our hills are called speed bumps, so the whole 4WD was a new thing for me. I can't imagine staying there without a car and I would definitely get a 4WD. Feeling somewhat confident I headed out and South, towards Rancho La Merced - http://www.rancholamerced.com/ Unfortunately when I got there they were closed, so I kept driving South, all the way to Ojochal just enjoying the drive and views. On the return Rancho La Merced was open so I stopped in to see about a hike. They have a self-guided tour for $6 and a 3 hour guided tour was $25. I choose the latter at 1pm, not particulary the best time as it was pretty hot but we did see a couple groups of Howlers, some birds and got a good hike in. In retrospect I'd probably do the self-guided next time, the trails are pretty well-worn and I've hiked enough to be able to find wildlife on my own. They do offer other tours that I did not take, horseback on the beach and thru the property and their giftshop had very good prices on masks. The pool back at SFTS was great for cooling off and Jose showed me a stick insect which I'd never been able to see before. The capuchins came thru pretty much every day at 5am & 5pm, some coming pretty close if you stayed still. Another heavy rain rolled in that night around dark so I opted for leftover pizza and enjoying the sound of the thunder.
Sunday took another walk around SFTS with one of the cats. Knowing I would be missing my own I'd brought kitty treats and found, like mine, they are not above bribery for company. The area is so peaceful & relaxing it's tempting to just stay there all day and not do much of anything. I did head down to Domincal to see the town and the beach. Ate at Delicious for breakfast (very good) and walked around, spent an hour or so on the beach. Plenty of restaurants in the area, a pharmacy and little markets. The police walked by twice, in full uniforms, looking impressive if not very cool. Parking is pretty free-form, wherever there is a space. As I was leaving I saw the sign for Villas Rio Mar and decided to have lunch there. It's down a bumpy road, about 5 minutes from Dominical. The food there was passable I guess, I mainly wanted to look around. I think if you have kids and want to hang out by the pool it would be an okay place but I wasn't very taken with it. No breeze, some weird techno-Mex music blaring with ESPN Espanol on as well. Several of the villas were clustered around the pool and with all the kids at the pool it was pretty loud and not very private in those. Stopped by Pacifica for more Fanta, my favourite in CR and headed back to SFTS for another round of storms and the last of my pizza. Yes I ate pizza 3 nights in a row and enjoyed it.
Monday I headed South to Palmar Sur to get Kristin aka hipvirgochick. Took about 50 minutes and is an easy drive, the airport is easy to find. It was great to finally meet her after conversing for the past couple years, Daryl found it funny we'd never met before. Headed back to SFTS to drop her bags off at Baja Las Rocas while I moved up above her at Arriba Las Rocas. Just like the Monkey House, both of these are beautiful accomodations. At Arriba the view is simply stunning and I had a hard time leaving it. A good book, those comfy chairs and that view make me very idle indeed. Headed off to Roca Verde for lunch and the farmacia for some Allegra for me. Donna suggested the Chef's Table for dinner, which is Villas de las Aves. It's about a 20 minute drive down the main road then 5-10 minutes up a pretty rocky road. She suggested we head there while there was still light and I heartily agree. We still made a wrong turn on leaving and almost drove into a 2 foot ditch. Paul & Sara are the kind owners there and Paul was kind enough to show us around their 2 cabins which are lovely. It's right by the river, where 2 form into 1 in fact, and very quiet and lush. Sara is a Cordon Bleu trained chef and not only turned out an amazing meal of salad, ribs and ice cream but did it all without electricity! As we were leaving SFTS the power went out and was to remain off for the next 18 or so hours, this affected most places South of Dominical as a pole had snapped during a pretty amazing storm. I would definitely like to stay there in the future. Sara also showed us the birds there, including Da Vinci an amazing & huge Hyacinth Macaw from Brasil. All the birds there cannot be released, they were pets or consficated, so they give them sanctuary there, along with some other animals. If you're in the area, make an effort to go there, very worth your time. Headed back to SFTS in the pitch dark to find Donna had lit votive candles all the way down to Las Rocas as the power was still out. It's these little touches that make it such a special place. To be honest, other than not having coffee in the am, the power outage was barely noticeable. The breezes there are so good it was easy to drift off without a fan.
Tuesday we got up early to head to the Nauyaca Falls horseback tour. You have to go thru a police check-point right after Dominical. Donna told us to wave, we did, they did and we were off. Took us about 15 minutes to get there. As usual, Donna's info was spot on. Wondering if we'd driven past it, we remembered she said to look for the couple of shops with lots of sarongs & such hanging outside and sure enough the tour office was right after we passed that. This tour is a definite must-do! The price is about $50 and worth it, several hours long, a beautiful ride and waterfall, plus breakfast and lunch. At the start they will ask you your experience with riding. Be honest as they will give you a perfectly suited horse. I used to own a thoroughbred so have rode a lot and boy did they give me a great horse, all she wanted to do was gallop which was fine by me. Twice we were so far ahead we had to wait 5 minutes for other people to show up. Luckily the horse knew the route by heart as we turned off a side path to the falls. The falls are incredible, and the water cold but not freezing. Most of the younger people in our group opted to climb the rope they put out to jump off the falls, I was content to watch as I had no desire to put my clumsiness on display and crack my egg open. Another fast run back to the place where you eat, so fast that they were trying to get me to buy a ticket til I showed them my horse and tried to explain I was with the group, just that the group was....back there. Make time to do this tour if you are in the area. You can also walk it but after seeing some of the faces of the people we passed doing that, I would assume it was a pretty hard slog, especially in the very muddy areas. We headed back to Shelter and I topped all that riding off with a great massage from Melanie, which Donna can arrange for you. She can set up right on your deck and it was a great, well needed massage. Kristin & I were going to head out to dinner but by the time we got ready a storm had rolled in and we decided to have an interesting mix of leftover ribs, mango, pineapple, funions and wafers for dinner.
Wednesday we headed to Hacienda Baru after breakfast at Delicious again. This is past the road coming in from San Isidro. The 10 minutes of road we were on was still pretty bad, despite all the heavy equipment and obvious work going on alongside. Still, I'd almost rather they keep the bad road, a paved road from Quepos will mean so many more people to the area and the over-development they bring. Case in point, just past Dominical there is an abandoned looking, half-built resort, an eyesore. Don't remember now who told me, but pretty sure it is Kiana Resorts who still has a splashy website and says it's opening this year, which I find hard to believe. Anyway....Hacienda Baru was a great day. We opted for the $6 self guided tour, the trails are quite obvious. Saw much wildlife - agoutis, coatis, huge group of pelicans, birds, a huge troop of capuchins. Kristin also found a good amount of ants while stopping to take a pic
We did the Pizote trail and then headed back and did the Strangler Trail which takes you to the wonderful beach. Too rough for swimming but a huge, beautiful, utterly deserted beach. I was also excited as I spotted a sloth up in a tree, have always had them pointed out to me before so I was happy to finally spot one on my own. This was a great beach, in hindsight it'd be a great place to come with a packed lunch and spend several hours. Gassed up at the nearby gas station ($25 US to fill it up from an almost empty tank) and headed to Dominical for lunch, at at Tu-La, which was good though deserted. Back to SFTS to chill out and pack for our drive to the Osa the next morning. We went up the road to La Parcela for drinks later, great view but pricey. Directly across the road is La Mancha, great food and cheap, I think it was around 2500 colones for shrimp fettuccine.
Was sad to leave, I could've easily spent more time there, so much we didn't get to see and do. I would highly recommend staying at Shelter from the Storm, they have such a wonderful place. I checked all of the villas and would be happy in any of them. Donna & Daryl are such great hosts and have really put so much effort into their place it shows. I'm already trying to figure out when I can get back there. It is a very special place with hosts that make it even more so.
Bosque del Cabo up next...............
Air was on AA, from Tampa to San Jose via Miami. Flight down was uneventful, both flights were so turbulent on the return however I was making promises and deals that I will have to live several lifetimes to keep.
If I hadn't checked bags I would've been out of the airport in less than 15 minutes, I'd run practically to immigrations and then waited forever for baggage. Little confusion on the pick-up but it all worked out fine. Was picked up by Paul Jonny (phone 8365-7149) for the drive out to Dominical. We took the route thru San Isidro, which I'm sure is a lovely drive if you're into that kind of thing. However since I'm petrified of any type of high drop-offs, especially when exacerbated with rain & fog, I chose to avoid looking to my right for pretty much the entire trip. About 4 hours after leaving the airport we made it to Dominical and a quick stop at Plaza Pacifica for some groceries. Passed by so many of the places I've seen online - Pacific Edge, Roca Verde, Costa Paraiso etc. The turn-off for Shelter from the Storm is near the 151 km marker, by the time I left 6 days later I could almost not go flying past it.
It was great to be met & greeted so warmly by Donna and Daryl, Jose who does work on the grounds and lives nearby and the dogs & cats. Solid had already delivered my car there even though the keys would be brought the next morning. D & D showed me to the Monkey House which is just an absolute gem. Spiral staircase up, lovely deck looking out into the trees and everything you could possibly need inside. A kitchen, comfy bed, cd player with many cd's to choose from, ample lighting, a lovely welcome basket filled with goodies, and cute little monkey items about. Great breezes and plenty of fans - one on the deck, one over the bed and one in the kitchen. I was the first person, Donna mentioned, to say I was cold there! I found leaving the kitchen fan running on low while sleeping was more than enough, needless to say I did not use the a/c. The grounds at Shelter are so beautiful, the Rancho has a pool and an honor bar with a large assortment to choose from. The atmosphere at SFTS was perfectly suited for me - you're free to wander about as you choose, be on your own, with D & D right there when needed to answer any questions. Ordered pizza the first night and enjoyed the storm that rolled in as it got dark. Very few bugs to speak of, just some moths attracted by the deck light when I was out there. For the next 3 nights I turned in by 8pm every night, which made getting up at 5am when the capuchins came by that much easier.
On Saturday, Pedro from Solid showed up to turn over the keys. Great company, would rent from again - car & rate were just as agreed, with a free drop-off in Puerto Jimenez. Had the Suzuki Jimny which was a fine little car, though I imagine would be a squeeze for more than 2 people with luggage. Since the drive in from the main road (about 2 minutes) was a little steep, Pedro was nice enough to drive with me out and back again so that I was comfortable. I'm from FL and our hills are called speed bumps, so the whole 4WD was a new thing for me. I can't imagine staying there without a car and I would definitely get a 4WD. Feeling somewhat confident I headed out and South, towards Rancho La Merced - http://www.rancholamerced.com/ Unfortunately when I got there they were closed, so I kept driving South, all the way to Ojochal just enjoying the drive and views. On the return Rancho La Merced was open so I stopped in to see about a hike. They have a self-guided tour for $6 and a 3 hour guided tour was $25. I choose the latter at 1pm, not particulary the best time as it was pretty hot but we did see a couple groups of Howlers, some birds and got a good hike in. In retrospect I'd probably do the self-guided next time, the trails are pretty well-worn and I've hiked enough to be able to find wildlife on my own. They do offer other tours that I did not take, horseback on the beach and thru the property and their giftshop had very good prices on masks. The pool back at SFTS was great for cooling off and Jose showed me a stick insect which I'd never been able to see before. The capuchins came thru pretty much every day at 5am & 5pm, some coming pretty close if you stayed still. Another heavy rain rolled in that night around dark so I opted for leftover pizza and enjoying the sound of the thunder.
Sunday took another walk around SFTS with one of the cats. Knowing I would be missing my own I'd brought kitty treats and found, like mine, they are not above bribery for company. The area is so peaceful & relaxing it's tempting to just stay there all day and not do much of anything. I did head down to Domincal to see the town and the beach. Ate at Delicious for breakfast (very good) and walked around, spent an hour or so on the beach. Plenty of restaurants in the area, a pharmacy and little markets. The police walked by twice, in full uniforms, looking impressive if not very cool. Parking is pretty free-form, wherever there is a space. As I was leaving I saw the sign for Villas Rio Mar and decided to have lunch there. It's down a bumpy road, about 5 minutes from Dominical. The food there was passable I guess, I mainly wanted to look around. I think if you have kids and want to hang out by the pool it would be an okay place but I wasn't very taken with it. No breeze, some weird techno-Mex music blaring with ESPN Espanol on as well. Several of the villas were clustered around the pool and with all the kids at the pool it was pretty loud and not very private in those. Stopped by Pacifica for more Fanta, my favourite in CR and headed back to SFTS for another round of storms and the last of my pizza. Yes I ate pizza 3 nights in a row and enjoyed it.
Monday I headed South to Palmar Sur to get Kristin aka hipvirgochick. Took about 50 minutes and is an easy drive, the airport is easy to find. It was great to finally meet her after conversing for the past couple years, Daryl found it funny we'd never met before. Headed back to SFTS to drop her bags off at Baja Las Rocas while I moved up above her at Arriba Las Rocas. Just like the Monkey House, both of these are beautiful accomodations. At Arriba the view is simply stunning and I had a hard time leaving it. A good book, those comfy chairs and that view make me very idle indeed. Headed off to Roca Verde for lunch and the farmacia for some Allegra for me. Donna suggested the Chef's Table for dinner, which is Villas de las Aves. It's about a 20 minute drive down the main road then 5-10 minutes up a pretty rocky road. She suggested we head there while there was still light and I heartily agree. We still made a wrong turn on leaving and almost drove into a 2 foot ditch. Paul & Sara are the kind owners there and Paul was kind enough to show us around their 2 cabins which are lovely. It's right by the river, where 2 form into 1 in fact, and very quiet and lush. Sara is a Cordon Bleu trained chef and not only turned out an amazing meal of salad, ribs and ice cream but did it all without electricity! As we were leaving SFTS the power went out and was to remain off for the next 18 or so hours, this affected most places South of Dominical as a pole had snapped during a pretty amazing storm. I would definitely like to stay there in the future. Sara also showed us the birds there, including Da Vinci an amazing & huge Hyacinth Macaw from Brasil. All the birds there cannot be released, they were pets or consficated, so they give them sanctuary there, along with some other animals. If you're in the area, make an effort to go there, very worth your time. Headed back to SFTS in the pitch dark to find Donna had lit votive candles all the way down to Las Rocas as the power was still out. It's these little touches that make it such a special place. To be honest, other than not having coffee in the am, the power outage was barely noticeable. The breezes there are so good it was easy to drift off without a fan.
Tuesday we got up early to head to the Nauyaca Falls horseback tour. You have to go thru a police check-point right after Dominical. Donna told us to wave, we did, they did and we were off. Took us about 15 minutes to get there. As usual, Donna's info was spot on. Wondering if we'd driven past it, we remembered she said to look for the couple of shops with lots of sarongs & such hanging outside and sure enough the tour office was right after we passed that. This tour is a definite must-do! The price is about $50 and worth it, several hours long, a beautiful ride and waterfall, plus breakfast and lunch. At the start they will ask you your experience with riding. Be honest as they will give you a perfectly suited horse. I used to own a thoroughbred so have rode a lot and boy did they give me a great horse, all she wanted to do was gallop which was fine by me. Twice we were so far ahead we had to wait 5 minutes for other people to show up. Luckily the horse knew the route by heart as we turned off a side path to the falls. The falls are incredible, and the water cold but not freezing. Most of the younger people in our group opted to climb the rope they put out to jump off the falls, I was content to watch as I had no desire to put my clumsiness on display and crack my egg open. Another fast run back to the place where you eat, so fast that they were trying to get me to buy a ticket til I showed them my horse and tried to explain I was with the group, just that the group was....back there. Make time to do this tour if you are in the area. You can also walk it but after seeing some of the faces of the people we passed doing that, I would assume it was a pretty hard slog, especially in the very muddy areas. We headed back to Shelter and I topped all that riding off with a great massage from Melanie, which Donna can arrange for you. She can set up right on your deck and it was a great, well needed massage. Kristin & I were going to head out to dinner but by the time we got ready a storm had rolled in and we decided to have an interesting mix of leftover ribs, mango, pineapple, funions and wafers for dinner.
Wednesday we headed to Hacienda Baru after breakfast at Delicious again. This is past the road coming in from San Isidro. The 10 minutes of road we were on was still pretty bad, despite all the heavy equipment and obvious work going on alongside. Still, I'd almost rather they keep the bad road, a paved road from Quepos will mean so many more people to the area and the over-development they bring. Case in point, just past Dominical there is an abandoned looking, half-built resort, an eyesore. Don't remember now who told me, but pretty sure it is Kiana Resorts who still has a splashy website and says it's opening this year, which I find hard to believe. Anyway....Hacienda Baru was a great day. We opted for the $6 self guided tour, the trails are quite obvious. Saw much wildlife - agoutis, coatis, huge group of pelicans, birds, a huge troop of capuchins. Kristin also found a good amount of ants while stopping to take a pic
We did the Pizote trail and then headed back and did the Strangler Trail which takes you to the wonderful beach. Too rough for swimming but a huge, beautiful, utterly deserted beach. I was also excited as I spotted a sloth up in a tree, have always had them pointed out to me before so I was happy to finally spot one on my own. This was a great beach, in hindsight it'd be a great place to come with a packed lunch and spend several hours. Gassed up at the nearby gas station ($25 US to fill it up from an almost empty tank) and headed to Dominical for lunch, at at Tu-La, which was good though deserted. Back to SFTS to chill out and pack for our drive to the Osa the next morning. We went up the road to La Parcela for drinks later, great view but pricey. Directly across the road is La Mancha, great food and cheap, I think it was around 2500 colones for shrimp fettuccine. Was sad to leave, I could've easily spent more time there, so much we didn't get to see and do. I would highly recommend staying at Shelter from the Storm, they have such a wonderful place. I checked all of the villas and would be happy in any of them. Donna & Daryl are such great hosts and have really put so much effort into their place it shows. I'm already trying to figure out when I can get back there. It is a very special place with hosts that make it even more so.
Bosque del Cabo up next...............
Jul 11th, 2009, 03:53 PM
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and pics...... http://picasaweb.google.com/sheva07/...eat=directlink
Jul 11th, 2009, 08:07 PM
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tully, wow, your pics are gorgeous. Those falls are absolutely beautiful! We're back from our own little adventure. Time to start planning the next one, right?! Can't wait to hear all the BdC details.
Jul 12th, 2009, 06:21 AM
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Welcome back, Tully! Love reading your report. You do such a good job of giving us all helpful information for future trip planning, while also conveying the sense of relaxation you felt while you were there. Great pictures - with video to boot! I am impressed that you found a sloth by yourself!
Looking forward to the rest!
Looking forward to the rest!
Jul 12th, 2009, 11:35 AM
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Tully, great report on Dominical and SFTS! Makes me even more excited, as we are staying at both SFTS and Villa de Las Aves next February. If you had a choice, which would you prefer to stay in - the monkey house or arriba los rocas? Can you give pros and cons of each? Loved reading your report and will check pics tomorrow at the office where I have access to high speed. Welcome home!
Jul 13th, 2009, 03:51 AM
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Thanks all! Was hoping to get to rest of report yesterday but no time, will try to chip at it his week. I tried so hard this trip to get better pics, even getting a new camera, unfortunately I was learning how to use it as the trip went on, so I think they slowly get a little better by the time I get to BdC!
crlover - perfect!You will have such a great time, just make sure your first entry to Villa de las Aves is during the day, lol. Kristin and I were split between the giggles about the road with a little of OMG what are we doing thrown in.
boy I don't know if I could pick between the Monkey House & Arriba las Rocas, I loved both. The MH had more monkeys, natch, and I loved looking out into the trees. Arriba of course has that view and beautiful deck, and is a little bit bigger. The MH is easier to park at, even when at Arriba I still parked in front of MH. Both got great breezes. I really can't pick....maybe Arriba with the slightest edge for the view.
crlover - perfect!You will have such a great time, just make sure your first entry to Villa de las Aves is during the day, lol. Kristin and I were split between the giggles about the road with a little of OMG what are we doing thrown in.
boy I don't know if I could pick between the Monkey House & Arriba las Rocas, I loved both. The MH had more monkeys, natch, and I loved looking out into the trees. Arriba of course has that view and beautiful deck, and is a little bit bigger. The MH is easier to park at, even when at Arriba I still parked in front of MH. Both got great breezes. I really can't pick....maybe Arriba with the slightest edge for the view.
Jul 13th, 2009, 06:26 AM
#11
Hi tully , welcome back.
Great pictures,loved them all, keep the report coming...waiting for the next episode
Great pictures,loved them all, keep the report coming...waiting for the next episode
Jul 13th, 2009, 04:37 PM
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thanks again all! Hiya Percy, did you get your credit card bill yet for our bar tab?
little bit more, more later hopefully!
So early Thursday we said our goodbye's to Donna & Daryl and all the animals at Shelter. Headed South to have breakfast at Hotel Cristal Ballena, about 30 minutes drive. Nicely manicured, large resort, huge pool. We were a little lost at first, we'd thought she gestured to the buffet table after we asked for breakfast only to find everything empty. Best I can tell, it was just a set breakfast (fruits, eggs, juice etc) at a set price. More food than we needed and pricier than others (about $10) but the view was nice. It's a nice hotel but it seemed a little empty and sort of 'resorty'. We hit the road at exactly 9am. South to Palmar Sur where you get on the 2 road, road very good although a little rough sometimes due to the myriad of patching. Took the right at Chacarita, still on good road, although very winding and you could see where landslides have happened in the past. Really a beautiful drive and we had very few cars to contend with. Finally into Rincon where you take a left, from here the road got considerably worse (dirt, pot-holes, men working on the road & bridges every couple miles), though I didn't care as I was so happy for some flat, straight roads for a change! We went over several bridges that looked pretty shady but held us and the Mack trucks in the area. Slowed down considerably once we were a couple miles outside of Puerto Jimenez, they are doing major roadwork on a new road to Rincon. Pulled into Puerto Jimenez at 12:05pm, so we made really excellent time and headed straight for the Bosque del Cabo office to say hello and leave our car while we ran some errands. Hit up Carolina's for lunch and a quick stop at the internet cafe caddy-corner from it (500 colones), then grabbed the car and went and got some groceries at the BM. Got a huge bag of ice for Kristin as her foot was a little swollen, which of course started to melt soon after.
So excited to finally get going and of course...in such a small little town, we get lost! I have no idea where we went, we were back in a residential area, how embarrassing! We finally got back to the BM where we started and which was exactly where we caught the right road after some choice words from me. On the 50 minute drive there we came to one of my last worries - streams, as in, crossing them. We actually just stopped the car and stared at it for a few minutes. I pondered getting out of the car and seeing how deep it was and then just hit the gas instead and we made it just fine thru that one and the 4 or 5 other ones. Feeling quite accomplished, we were about 1 hill away from Bosque when the car just made a pitiful dying sound and quit - while we were mid-way up a steep hill with a curve in it. Joy. That split second where you have to take your foot off the gas and slam down the gas so scared me I put my hand on my knee to help push in the clutch. Not long after, on the BdC property, it happened again. Seems me in my knowing nothing about 4WD was trying to take these steep hills in 2nd gear to give us speed when we really needed to take them slow and in first. Lesson learned!
Great to finally pull up to Bosque and see so many familiar faces, Carlos, Heilyn, Gerly and Greiven. We headed back up the hill to Casa Miramar (I grabbed a warm Imperial out of the back seat the second I cut the engine) to find mr & mrs shillmac, jill & jim, hanging out by the deck & pool which would become all too familiar over the next 7 nights for all of us. In fact, having that deck ended up changing our plans a lot on our stay, it was hard to tear yourself away from that view, the pool, and not to mention a lot of the animals we saw were all right there. Miramar is a great, beautiful house and we had much less critters than I expected, it us quite open though, even the bathroom and showers, so always have your camera nearby.
We ended up having a partial GTG on the deck that night with all 4 of us plus Rivet and her mother. Handed out the Fodor's books and tote bags that Katie had sent (thanks Katie!!) and we eventually wandered down to dinner. We considered standing up in the restaurant and asking who was wickedslick, another fodorite planning to be there, but no one seemed game. The hill to/from Casa Miramar is not too bad, I actually timed it from the restaurant to there and it took 10 minutes flat, though there were times where it felt much longer. You just have to watch your footing going down and I would try not to look up on the way up so I didn't have to see how much further to go we had. You'll definitely need a flashlight for this walk at night! There are ceiling fans in the rooms that are on 60 minute timers and I slept like a rock, after I had 'prepared' my bed, which Jill found quite funny. The deck, again!, is great for sitting out on after dinner, we turned the lights off and watched a faraway storm light up the sky. Great friends, great place, great house!
to be continued.....
little bit more, more later hopefully!
So early Thursday we said our goodbye's to Donna & Daryl and all the animals at Shelter. Headed South to have breakfast at Hotel Cristal Ballena, about 30 minutes drive. Nicely manicured, large resort, huge pool. We were a little lost at first, we'd thought she gestured to the buffet table after we asked for breakfast only to find everything empty. Best I can tell, it was just a set breakfast (fruits, eggs, juice etc) at a set price. More food than we needed and pricier than others (about $10) but the view was nice. It's a nice hotel but it seemed a little empty and sort of 'resorty'. We hit the road at exactly 9am. South to Palmar Sur where you get on the 2 road, road very good although a little rough sometimes due to the myriad of patching. Took the right at Chacarita, still on good road, although very winding and you could see where landslides have happened in the past. Really a beautiful drive and we had very few cars to contend with. Finally into Rincon where you take a left, from here the road got considerably worse (dirt, pot-holes, men working on the road & bridges every couple miles), though I didn't care as I was so happy for some flat, straight roads for a change! We went over several bridges that looked pretty shady but held us and the Mack trucks in the area. Slowed down considerably once we were a couple miles outside of Puerto Jimenez, they are doing major roadwork on a new road to Rincon. Pulled into Puerto Jimenez at 12:05pm, so we made really excellent time and headed straight for the Bosque del Cabo office to say hello and leave our car while we ran some errands. Hit up Carolina's for lunch and a quick stop at the internet cafe caddy-corner from it (500 colones), then grabbed the car and went and got some groceries at the BM. Got a huge bag of ice for Kristin as her foot was a little swollen, which of course started to melt soon after.
So excited to finally get going and of course...in such a small little town, we get lost! I have no idea where we went, we were back in a residential area, how embarrassing! We finally got back to the BM where we started and which was exactly where we caught the right road after some choice words from me. On the 50 minute drive there we came to one of my last worries - streams, as in, crossing them. We actually just stopped the car and stared at it for a few minutes. I pondered getting out of the car and seeing how deep it was and then just hit the gas instead and we made it just fine thru that one and the 4 or 5 other ones. Feeling quite accomplished, we were about 1 hill away from Bosque when the car just made a pitiful dying sound and quit - while we were mid-way up a steep hill with a curve in it. Joy. That split second where you have to take your foot off the gas and slam down the gas so scared me I put my hand on my knee to help push in the clutch. Not long after, on the BdC property, it happened again. Seems me in my knowing nothing about 4WD was trying to take these steep hills in 2nd gear to give us speed when we really needed to take them slow and in first. Lesson learned!
Great to finally pull up to Bosque and see so many familiar faces, Carlos, Heilyn, Gerly and Greiven. We headed back up the hill to Casa Miramar (I grabbed a warm Imperial out of the back seat the second I cut the engine) to find mr & mrs shillmac, jill & jim, hanging out by the deck & pool which would become all too familiar over the next 7 nights for all of us. In fact, having that deck ended up changing our plans a lot on our stay, it was hard to tear yourself away from that view, the pool, and not to mention a lot of the animals we saw were all right there. Miramar is a great, beautiful house and we had much less critters than I expected, it us quite open though, even the bathroom and showers, so always have your camera nearby.
We ended up having a partial GTG on the deck that night with all 4 of us plus Rivet and her mother. Handed out the Fodor's books and tote bags that Katie had sent (thanks Katie!!) and we eventually wandered down to dinner. We considered standing up in the restaurant and asking who was wickedslick, another fodorite planning to be there, but no one seemed game. The hill to/from Casa Miramar is not too bad, I actually timed it from the restaurant to there and it took 10 minutes flat, though there were times where it felt much longer. You just have to watch your footing going down and I would try not to look up on the way up so I didn't have to see how much further to go we had. You'll definitely need a flashlight for this walk at night! There are ceiling fans in the rooms that are on 60 minute timers and I slept like a rock, after I had 'prepared' my bed, which Jill found quite funny. The deck, again!, is great for sitting out on after dinner, we turned the lights off and watched a faraway storm light up the sky. Great friends, great place, great house!
to be continued.....
Jul 13th, 2009, 05:53 PM
#16
Hi tully
No the bill has not come in yet, hopefully next week.
I hope you were drinking the good stuff....only the best for you when I am buying
Glad to read you had a good time
No the bill has not come in yet, hopefully next week.
I hope you were drinking the good stuff....only the best for you when I am buying
Glad to read you had a good time
Jul 14th, 2009, 07:55 AM
#17
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Hi Tully-Knowing what you know now, would you drive again to the Osa Peninsula, or would you fly directly to Jiminez? My husband and I leave this weekend and are torn between driving to Bosque from San Jose, or flying...
Jul 14th, 2009, 02:46 PM
#18
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Before I go on, I just wanted to add that hipvirgochick was an excellent navigator and helped me, mostly, stay calm. She was perfect when we almost drove into the ditch, hip - "do not go forward another inch, reverse hard", me "what, what, what is it, tell me?!", hip "just reverse". In hindsight that was the best response as if I'd known I'd have been even more nervous! Also, a lot of the signs, if you get one at all, are often small and hard to spot, so on the winding roads it really helped to have someone looking where we were going. Thanks K !
Also, forgot to mention, on the drive to PJ, we passed several smaller lodges. Didn't get the name of all of them but some that we passed or at least their signs: Lapas Rojas Lodge, Danta Corcovado Lodge & Finca Kobo. All of these looked small and the area is pretty solitary but the it's also beautiful and relatively free of much development other than the roadwork.
After our first day/night at Bosque, the days blurred into one, so I'm going to get kind of random from here. We were so sure that the 7 days would give us ample time to do sooo much and of course - we did and we didn't! I was only in the Tropical Garden once this trip, I usually went there or thru there 2-4 times a day on past trips. Didn't do the Creek Trail, or Zapatero, or Saino but if I sound like I'm complaining, I'm not! Since we all had done all the trails before, it was great to have the luxury of doing a little and relaxing a lot. I did walk the driveway a couple times, where a Tamandua ambled across the road right in front of me, not much to do but take pics, pretty easy! Did the Titi trail 3 times, once with Kristin, once w/Camille & her friend Monica, and once with Jill & Jim. On the latter we turned that 45 minute hike into a 2.5 hour crawl. We were spread out about 50 feet between us, desperately looking for that puma. Barely any talking and only in a whisper, stepping as if on eggshells. We did see several birds, the squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys and an agouti. Just a few minutes after leaving the trail, we ran into Kim & Phil and their ironic news...while we were tip-toeing timidly thru the Titi the puma had just been spotted near the Tucan cabina and just afterwards near the soccer field by Rolando, one of the servers, catching an agouti. He even mimicked the sound the agouti made which we would repeat for the rest of our trip. Bummer but wildlife doesn't show up when you expect it!
We all spent a lot less at the bar this trip, one of the conveniences of having the fridge at the house. Of course we would always get a few minutes away and panic that we'd left the fridge unlocked. Very necessary to do that as their was a lone male coati, which I called Jack (as in Hit the road...), who was almost always right around the house. He surprised me in the shower, the bathroom, and was generally our resident coati, he would leave a little 'present' for us every night in the kitchen in the same place. Jill & Jim had bought a big bag of granola at the Matapalo market but had not put in the fridge. Well, you know it, Jack found it and had himself such a good meal he took Jim's rolaids as well, for later I presume. He also made a mess of a pineapple left on the counter. Basically I'd just say no to any food in your cabinas or house there, and if anything were to be missing, I would blame the coati's first and foremost.
We got used to using the Senor Sock for coffee, in fact I really should've bought one later, great for when the power goes out. Very easy and quick to use. I was usually up at 5 and would often drink a whole carafe before the others were up. Heard howler monkeys often but rarely close enought to shake you out of bed. We also had 3 cute frogs (tres amigos) that would swim laps in the pool every night, we were a little concerned they couldn't get out but they managed to every night. A large toad was also often in the living room, after a while they become just another part of the furniture.
We did make it over to the Animal Sanctuary again this trip. We saw 2 huge big pods of dolphins on the way over and the driver was nice enought to spend a good 10 minutes circling the 2nd group, which were spotted dolphins. Amazing! The Refuge has new digs now and it's very nicely laid out, much bigger and spread out than before. Sadly didn't get to see my favourite - Lulu the Howler. She is a new mama and they are keeping the human contact to a bare minimum for the baby so she can someone day be released. Saw another fave, Boogie the Tayra. Such a cute, yet fierce, animal. Two small things that were beyond anyone's control - we ended up with 9 people on the tour, I'd say from past experience it's much more fun with about half that. Also, there was a large bird in the area that had all the monkeys quite spooked, so we didn't get to see them as much and they were all sort of distracted. Despite that, it's still a tour that I will take again, Earl & Carol do such great work there and jump thru such loopholes simply to give these animals the care they need. Really is a must do in the area.
!Also, forgot to mention, on the drive to PJ, we passed several smaller lodges. Didn't get the name of all of them but some that we passed or at least their signs: Lapas Rojas Lodge, Danta Corcovado Lodge & Finca Kobo. All of these looked small and the area is pretty solitary but the it's also beautiful and relatively free of much development other than the roadwork.
After our first day/night at Bosque, the days blurred into one, so I'm going to get kind of random from here. We were so sure that the 7 days would give us ample time to do sooo much and of course - we did and we didn't! I was only in the Tropical Garden once this trip, I usually went there or thru there 2-4 times a day on past trips. Didn't do the Creek Trail, or Zapatero, or Saino but if I sound like I'm complaining, I'm not! Since we all had done all the trails before, it was great to have the luxury of doing a little and relaxing a lot. I did walk the driveway a couple times, where a Tamandua ambled across the road right in front of me, not much to do but take pics, pretty easy! Did the Titi trail 3 times, once with Kristin, once w/Camille & her friend Monica, and once with Jill & Jim. On the latter we turned that 45 minute hike into a 2.5 hour crawl. We were spread out about 50 feet between us, desperately looking for that puma. Barely any talking and only in a whisper, stepping as if on eggshells. We did see several birds, the squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys and an agouti. Just a few minutes after leaving the trail, we ran into Kim & Phil and their ironic news...while we were tip-toeing timidly thru the Titi the puma had just been spotted near the Tucan cabina and just afterwards near the soccer field by Rolando, one of the servers, catching an agouti. He even mimicked the sound the agouti made which we would repeat for the rest of our trip. Bummer but wildlife doesn't show up when you expect it!
We all spent a lot less at the bar this trip, one of the conveniences of having the fridge at the house. Of course we would always get a few minutes away and panic that we'd left the fridge unlocked. Very necessary to do that as their was a lone male coati, which I called Jack (as in Hit the road...), who was almost always right around the house. He surprised me in the shower, the bathroom, and was generally our resident coati, he would leave a little 'present' for us every night in the kitchen in the same place. Jill & Jim had bought a big bag of granola at the Matapalo market but had not put in the fridge. Well, you know it, Jack found it and had himself such a good meal he took Jim's rolaids as well, for later I presume. He also made a mess of a pineapple left on the counter. Basically I'd just say no to any food in your cabinas or house there, and if anything were to be missing, I would blame the coati's first and foremost.
We got used to using the Senor Sock for coffee, in fact I really should've bought one later, great for when the power goes out. Very easy and quick to use. I was usually up at 5 and would often drink a whole carafe before the others were up. Heard howler monkeys often but rarely close enought to shake you out of bed. We also had 3 cute frogs (tres amigos) that would swim laps in the pool every night, we were a little concerned they couldn't get out but they managed to every night. A large toad was also often in the living room, after a while they become just another part of the furniture.
We did make it over to the Animal Sanctuary again this trip. We saw 2 huge big pods of dolphins on the way over and the driver was nice enought to spend a good 10 minutes circling the 2nd group, which were spotted dolphins. Amazing! The Refuge has new digs now and it's very nicely laid out, much bigger and spread out than before. Sadly didn't get to see my favourite - Lulu the Howler. She is a new mama and they are keeping the human contact to a bare minimum for the baby so she can someone day be released. Saw another fave, Boogie the Tayra. Such a cute, yet fierce, animal. Two small things that were beyond anyone's control - we ended up with 9 people on the tour, I'd say from past experience it's much more fun with about half that. Also, there was a large bird in the area that had all the monkeys quite spooked, so we didn't get to see them as much and they were all sort of distracted. Despite that, it's still a tour that I will take again, Earl & Carol do such great work there and jump thru such loopholes simply to give these animals the care they need. Really is a must do in the area.
