Rewind: Osa Peninsula

Unfortunately, I am writing this blog 4 months after the event and the old memory isn't what it used to be..it is, well, old. However, with the use of ample photograpy, I believe I can reconstruct the wonderful four days we spent in Costa Rica's beautiful Osa Peninsula.

The Osa is in southwest Costa Rica and, as the previous blog described, it is not easy to reach.

We arrived at the beautiful La Paloma Lodge, and were delighted to find our friends, the Discenzas happily awaiting us. After some catching up, we set off on a short hike around the property and were delighted/scared to have our first bit of wildlife be this venomous Fer de Lance. (Click on that link to go to a Wikipedia page on this snake). Cindy almost stepped on it.

He was not a big guy, perhaps only 12" long. But, our guide explained that it is the small, baby fer de lances that often do the most damage. Unlike the adults, the infants have not yet learned to control their venom and if one bites you, it is likely to unload its full supply of poison. An adult, however, holds some back for later usse.

We said hello to the snake and walked politely by, our eyes from that point on focused a bit more on our foot placement!

A highlight our our stay at La Paloma was that the owner had an eleven year old daughter who became fast friends with our kids. Here is Starr, with Baker.

Now, had I written this blog earlier, the following photos would have more detailed captions, but alas...in any case, they were all taken on the property of La Paloma, during our initial walk.

After the fer de lance, the next creature we saw was the famous Osa Long Eared and Giggling Jungle Hare!

Riley finds a bright green lizard.

The five intrepid explorers: Starr, Mikaela, Baker, Riley and Kendall on the hanging bridge that spanned the croc-infested river close to La Paloma lodge.

Starr was a regulary Pippi Longstocking and knew how to live in the jungle. She found this fruit that we all tasted.

She also showed the kids how to make facepaint from the mud...

...Baker really enjoyed that!

I made this picture extra large in the hope that you can see the sloth...this guy actually moved around a bit, not so slothful!

Awww, isn't he cute? This white faced (or Capuchin) monkey was very cute, as were his many friends. They were also a wee bit agressive, hanging from trees just above the trail and baring their teeth as we walked beneath.

The next day, we ventured with Randall, our guide, into Corcovado National Park, the highlight of the Osa Peninsula. We again had to travel by boat, south along the coast, to reach the park headquarters where we found a small exhibit of the bones of some of the animals that live in the park. One, in particular, mad a great mask.

The Monster of Corcovado lives!

Our walk through Corcovado, while lovely, was not as rich with wildlife as I had hoped. We saw birds, and a few monkeys if I recall, but that was about it. Lots of interesting trees, including of course the matapalo, which I imagine I have written about earlier. The matapalo (translation "kills tree") is a vine-like tree that wraps itself around another larger tree, slowly suffucating it and taking its place in the forest. They are quite beautiful and it is a thing to see when they have destroyed another tree and it has decomposed, leaving the matapalo standing with a mostly hollow center, where the other tree was previously. 

While we did not see a lot of wildlife, we did see this track of a tapir. (Wikipedia link). These are large (500lbs) pig-like animals. I recall Randall saying that it is good not to find one as they can be aggressive if they are surprised!

The hike throuch Corcovado led us eventually back to the beach, alongside a medium sized stream where we had a rest and an unplanned adventure. We set off upstream a bit and found a beautiful swimming hole in the stream, complete with a small waterfall to massage our backs.

Mike and Cindy near our unplanned swim stop.

Kendall on the beach.

Tara and Tae walking the beautiful rocky shoreline.

Good friends.

My two favorite girls!

We left the beach and headed back into the forest and quickly came into a very beautiful and very wet section of jungle...

After a great lunch break, Randall led us (and carried one of us!) to another waterfall, where we had a fantastic swim and some small cliff jumping!

See that splash? That comes from one of the kids (now underwater) jumping off the waterfall. That is Randall looking on.

Mike looks happy after his plunge! Pura vida, baby!

Back at La Paloma lodge, if you looked in one direction, there was nothing but green...

...and in another direction, nothing but blue.

The next day brought another adventure. Cindy unfortunately took ill, but the rest of the gang headed down the coast on horseback. It was a remarkably treacherous course. The horses walked on a path that was often no more than two feet across and which fell--no kidding--forty or fifty feet on one side to the rocky beach below. If the horse slipped or got spooked, it would not have been pretty.

But, of course, they didn't and, as a result, it was very pretty. A truly beautiful horseride. When we were on wider terrain, we let the horses run a bit. Baker's horse threw him. But to his great credit, he "got back on the horse" and continued on--Tara and I were both very proud of his ability to do that.

We stopped at the local Drake Bay school for about a half hour and had a futbol match with some of the kids. A great time under the hot Costa Rican sun.

Afterwards, the Casagrandes plus Starr continued on while the Discenzas went to check on mom. We had another unplanned adventure (the best kind!). A bit farther down the coast, we came to another stream and a small camp run by a German woman. She rented kayaks. We ordered up four kayaks--one for each of the big kids and one for Tara, Tae and me. With a guide, we made a short paddle upstream and then tied up at a spot that one would never have found without the knowledge of a local. There was a small waterfall draining down a rock face into the stream. We tied the kayaks there and ascended up the rockface, which the kids loved climbing and Tae managed in my arms.

Up and up we went until we reached a swimming hole and...up and up we went some more until we reached a second, larger swimming hole complete with great cliff-jumping. Baker, Riley and Starr had a ball jumping from the heights as Tara and Tae and I looked on. Of course, Tara and I each took our turn too. It was a magical experience.

It came time to say goodbye to Osa and we headed out to the Drake Bay airport--really just a dirt field with a bus-stop sized terminal. We had a private plane--didn't plan that, but it worked out that we were the only ones on board and a nice flight back to San Jose. Osa had been a great adventure! Pura vida!

Tara and Cindy at Drake Bay Airport.

About to board our private plane...