Journey To The Osa
Costa Rica Trip - July 1996
July 3, 1996
After leaving Norfolk we had the usual eight hour layover, this time in Houston. We made the best of it and went to a local theatre to see Independence Day, a truly incredible movie. When traveling to a third world country like Costa Rica, one must expect delays of all sorts. If you go with the attitude that someone is going to be where and when you expect, then you will be sadly disappointed. Just go with the flow. If you are taking your wife or girlfriend, make sure she is the adventurous type and ready for some very unique driving experiences.
We left San Jose for the eight to nine hour drive to Bosque del Cabo on the Osa Peninsula over the highway of death. This proved to be a challenging lesson for us during the rainy season. When we got near Puerto Jimenez, the road was washed out and it was getting dark. Access to Bosque del Cabo was impossible. We also encountered delays because of mud and rock slides. Around 5:30 PM (it gets dark at 6:00 PM) we drove to Golfito and were pretty whipped. Twelve hours of driving and finally we stayed at Las Gaviotas Hotel. This was a pristine motel right on the Gulf with gorgeous views of the sunset amongst meticulously manicured landscaped gardens.
Our trip was a combination of business and pleasure and this unexpected stop in Golfito paid off handsomely. As a teaching artist, I have created large three foot by six foot paintings of the rain forest subject matter and have turned them into postcards and posters. Our host Jennine at Las Gaviotas was thrilled with the post cards and purchased many of them. Our business trip is a success!
July 5, 1996
We packed up our gear and left our expensive, useless 4WD truck in Golfito to take the ferry over to Puerto Jimenez where a supposed taxi would meet us and take us to this paradise. As usual, things didn't pan out as expected. The ferry usually leaves at 11:30 am but was supposed to be doing extra runs because of the road closures (according to our hosts at Bosque Del Cabo.) Well, they didn't have early runs and were not expected to leave until 11:30, which means maybe 12:30 on Costa Rican time. Our hosts said they were going to meet us on the dock in Jimenez at 9:30 and we did not want to miss them so we hired a boat for $30.00 and had them take us over to Jimenez at our expense. Once we got to Jimenez, we were left on a dilapidated old dock and no one was in sight. Gee, I can't wait to meet this Phil guy. I walked into town and found a taxi and went back to get Kris and our luggage. This was a unique journey just as rich and rewarding as all of the others so far. We had to go over 6 streams, and the 5th and 6th were especially challenging considering this taxi had no 4WD. The drive was beautiful through lush tropical rain forest ablaze with scarlet macaws, white faced capucin monkeys and birds of all sorts. Three to five miles from Bosque del Cabo the road turned to mud and slime and our taxi bailed on us, dropped us off in the middle of the jungle and we were left with all of the luggage and supposedly only 200 meters to go. I left Kris with all but one of the bags. I hoisted the heaviest one up on my shoulder and began to walk through the jungle. "Hey" , I said to myself, "so your forty something, you can do this. It's only a couple of football fields.". In spite of the enormous weight of the bag, I enjoyed seeing trogons, macaws, toucans, and hordes of blue morpho butterflies. The blue morphos were everywhere and I felt as if I were walking through one of my paintings.
Life was good, that is until after 600 meters and there was no sign of the lodge and the road (trail) was getting more vertical and slippery. The weight on my shoulders was unreal and I began to get this feeling that maybe I would be messing up my back and never get to surf again. Finally, miles later I found a sign that said Casa Blanco. Great! The taxi left us at the wrong place. I walked up to the house and was greeted by a cheerful young tico who told me in Spanish I would need to walk another 100 meters to the place. My pain lessened when I flashed back to thoughts of my loving, understanding and adventurous wife left alone in the jungle for an hour or so. She was in the middle of the jungle for a very long time, alone, with all of the bags and howler monkeys taunting her. After about 30 minutes she was wondering where I was and began to worry. After an hour she was scared. But wait, what's this? Here I come up the hill with two young ticos, each with a wheelbarrow to carry our luggage (yes I had to walk the 3 miles back to Kris and then 3 miles back in). You see, our host was out surfing and had the only truck around so we had to use one wheel drive, a mode of transportation quite popular in Costa Rica.
When we got to the lodge we dumped our stuff and had a tall cool one, or two, or .......All I could hear was the roar of surf below and to my frustration, we could not get to the surf without a car, unless of course we wanted to walk an hour and a half down this vertical cliff. I resigned myself to the situation and sat in the restaurant where a young girl fed us well. If I couldn't surf, I was going to feast and enjoy the scenery.
Around 2:00 PM Phil showed up and was filled with apologies and offered to take us surfing tomorrow. This never happened. He also suggested a short hike down the hill which we did and my dreams came true. After reaching a waterfall, there on the ground in the bush was a brilliant poison arrow frog. It was black and green striped. This little friend posed for my lens in every conceivable position before scurrying away into the forest. The bright lime green stripes on a velvety black body were very striking.
After returning to our lodge we realized a couple of interesting things. No electricity here. Everything was candle light. So much for Kris's hair dryer and recharging her camcorder. We also realized we were the only two people here. We finally got away from it all. All of it, even the things we like.
July 6, 1996
We headed out early in a landrover to Matapalo on the very tip of the Osa Peninsula for what was our most exciting adventure yet. We were let off in the middle of nowhere and told to walk the 10 minute hike to this remote beach. The road was the usual mud and slime route and turned into 20-25 minutes as we expected. So much for the ride to the surf. When we got to the beach we were greeted by a vision of beauty beyond description. There was a perfect point break wave crashing endlessly on a white rock beach.
The scene looked like what I pictured Indonesia to be. I surfed all morning and began the walk back to meet our ride and suddenly I heard the roar of an engine and this wild American (Steve Love) appeared in a Suzuki Samurai asking us if we wanted a ride. We hopped in and had to stand in the back on a tool box holding onto the roll bar. This proved to be an interesting muscle enhancing experience as we flew through streams and up and down enormous pot holed cliff roads through the jungle.
Our wildman driver took us back to Bosque and offered to take us to Carate, the most beautiful beach in the country. We agreed and began the 50 minute journey through dense rainforest, flying through waist deep streams at break neck speed. This really was a road test for the Samurai. My wife and I hung on for dear life as we stood in the back grasping the roll bar and nearly bouncing out of the vehicle several times. I guess the speed limit was 100 kph because this guy never slowed down once.
Steve educated us on the green concept of individuals buying land here and making houses in remote rain forest areas that rely on propane and solar for power. When we finally arrived at the beach, I saw what was truly the most magnificent beach on the planet with flawless lefts peeling off, and no humans in sight. The monstrous rain forest tumbled into the sea and the beach was prolific with coconut palms. From the water, the view was ecstatic and the sky ablaze with scarlet macaws, strikingly beautiful with the gold and green foliage behind them.
After our two man surf session, Steve took us to the edge of Corcovado and showed us a small airstrip of gravel and mud about 600 meters long. We also saw the tail of a Cesna embedded in the sand on the beach. Steve said this was a plane full of lawyers flying into Corcovado, but all survived the crash. At least the surf spot had a good marker. I'll bet those tourists had an adventurous wild ride!
Steve next took us deep into the forest where we hiked in our sandals through quicksand like mud and bush to see some of the property he was clearing for development. I was almost in tears seeing all of these exotic varieties of Heliconia (a tropical flower) slashed out of extinction for a new house. He kept talking eco this and eco that but all I saw was a developer in action. Been there, seen it, done it. After a grueling jaunt, we scaled this big cliff and had the most panoramic view of the rain forest yet. I kept expecting a velociraptor any moment to come leaping out at us. The views on the way back were equally stunning, flying past a cliff with a view of an enormous naturally made lagoon and the ocean as a backdrop.
The sun began to set as we were being pelted by rain and I got stung in the mouth by some flying insect that smashed into my face. When the rain stopped, the sky lit up like the fourth of July in pinks, golds, blues and oranges. Clouds hung close to the ground with great ranges of rain forestpoking out between them. A rainbow appeared out of a magenta cloud in the sky as the horizon was flashing a blitzkrieg of gold and red with pastel blue sky as a frame.
As night came upon us things got very sketchy, with a myriad assortment of animals and insects darting in and out of the forest at us. When wefinally got back to Bosque, I had to pry my wife from the vehicle, becauseof her tenacious grip on the roll bar for the last hour or so. All of her muscles had locked up in fear from the grueling drive. We were greeted with cold beer and a fantastic pasta chicken dish beyond description. After eating, even though we were caked in mud, we decided not to go for the cold shower in the dark because of all the beasties in the area and collapsed into a coma under our mosquito nets.
July 7, 1996
Greeted this morning by fiery billed aracari (a beautiful type of toucan).Also saw a family of around 30 Coatimundi (a cross between a raccoon and a monkey). They were beautiful to watch as they scurried to and fro in thetrees and then tumbled onto the ground with a thud, mama and papa leadingthe pack.
Today we will take it slow and nurse our beaten bodies back to normal. After a casual morning we decided to take the short 20 minute walk down to the non-surfing pacific beach. What's really interesting about walkinghere is that every little stroll is a major vertical physical workout. Wescaled a near vertical jungle slope down to the beach seeing poison arrowfrogs, capucin monkeys, and the violaceous trogan. This bird was abeautiful purplish blue and brilliant yellow tinged with black. At the bottom of the cliff we saw thunderous surf crashing against the cliff and walked endlessly in both directions in search of a water fall we never found.
The walk back up reminded me how out of shape I was. Going vertically up wet, muddy rain forest slopes was a real challenge. It is so nice to be relaxing now in my hammock with a cold beer and listening to scarlet macaws (they sound like pterodactyls), streak past our cabin. Life is good.
July 8, 1996
We began this day with a return to the creek trail and immediately saw the black and green poison arrow frogs. Our next guest was a complete surprise. This frog was black with a red-orange stripe down his side and had olive green legs with black spots (Phyllobates vittatus, The Golfodulcean Poison Frog). He posed forever in every possible position I could possibly hope for. I will dedicate one large canvas to just thisspecimen. I got so close but ran out of film after shooting two rolls just on him. We ran back to the cabin (a 25 minute walk) and came back withmore film and special close up lenses. To our amazement, he was still perched on the same rock, staring at us in a position as if he were givinga sermon. I took off all of the big lenses and put on the close up ones and got about one inch from this fascinating creature. I was able to capture every intimate detail. I just hope the slides come out. Just before leaving I reached out my hand to the frog and he jumped into it andthen into the stream. I have finally touched a poison arrow frog!
In the afternoon we took the Golfo Dulce trail to the beach, a good 55 minute trek through near vertical jungle and mud. My surfboard began to weigh quite a bit and I was thankful I left the camera behind...until we reached the beach. Six to eight foot surf was peeling off in perfect tubular form on the reef at Matapalo and I did not have a camera! The rocks made it completely unridable and the size was such that it was sectioning and closing out. We walked around the point to Backwash and the surf was just as good with a nice channel to paddle out into. I went out and had a blast surfing these huge waves. The water was turquoise and the entire point fired off perfect rights endlessly. This session was worth the whole trip.
After an intense session we began the arduous 55 minute walk back up the cliff. God I wish we had our rental truck. My wife and I are getting into pretty good physical condition here. Wherever you go in this country, you most certainly need wheels to get to the good spots. What amazes me is that many visitors and locals here walk this path every day! When we got back to the cabana, we had a fantastic feast of exotic local foods. It is customary here to take the lantern with you to your cabin after dinner because it is so dark at night. Halfway down the trail a gust of wind came up and blew out our lantern, leaving us in pure darkness. We stumbled and fumbled our way back to the cabin and said goodnight to another day in the rain forest.
July 9, 1996
It poured rain all night and day. We awoke to gray skies and searing rain. After a wonderful breakfast we got a ride to the gate at Matapalo and hiked in. The point was firing off huge overhead sets and I surfed till I ached. We got back just before dark and packed frantically so we wouldn't miss anything in the dark after the sunset. This was to be our last night at Bosque Del Cabo.
In the heat of the night Kris awoke me and was scared to death. There across from our bed were two glowing eyes peering in on us. We kept hearing a thumping sound on the floor and expected the worst. At first I just rolled over to go back to sleep, but decided to get up and go to the bathroom. On the bed next to us was the local house cat seeking some goodies, and walking into the bathroom I nearly tripped over what was creating the thumping noise. It was Lulu, the local dog.
July 10, 1996
We borrowed an alarm clock we didn't need because I awoke instantly at 4:00 am. The am stars were ablaze. I have never seen so many stars. Our morning coffee was ready and so was our taxi at 4:45 am. My god! Someone here is actually on time. We got on the ferry to Golfito and bid farewell to Bosque del Cabo.
In Golfito we met an American named Ted who needed a lift to Pavonnes. On the way he briefed us on this area and suggested several birding and surf spots. It sure was nice having a guide. After dropping Ted off, we drove up the hill to Casa Siempre Domingo and wow! This place was gorgeous. The interior of the dwelling was a variety of several exotic woods and cathedral ceilings. What a paradise. I felt like we were at Club Med. The view from the bed and breakfast was breathtaking from the deck out back. You had a clear view of the point and the gulf. The wave at Pavonnes was firing off waist to head high perfect lefts for a mile or so. I had a great surf session (until I began to leave the water) when all of the sudden, wham! A giant log smashed into my leg leaving a huge knot and lots of pain. I was now introduced to the dangerous debris that haunts the currents of this perfect wave. Leaving the water involves a peculiar rock dance and a paddle back across the river. Our hostess, Heidi, provided us with great food and we relaxed for the afternoon in our gorgeous surroundings.
July 11 and 12, 1996
We cease to be amazed at our hosts' hospitality and the good quality surf. The wildlife here is abundant, contrary to what we were told to expect. Today we saw six fiery billed aracari and a white hawk. Got some splendid photos of both.
The accommodations here are meticulously clean and 3 times a day an incredible feast is prepared for us (this is included in the $50 per person a day fee). It's the ideal place to bring your wife or girlfriend. The bedrooms have 3 beds each raised high off the floor , and wonderful, clean bathrooms with a shower. Last night we had grilled filet mignon, several types of salads, and rice and beans. The expansive deck on the house overlooks a magnificent view of the point and landscaped gardens. Banana and heliconia engulf the entire deck area providing color and shade, as well as shelter from the rains. Our hosts have waited on us hand and foot and are the most pleasant couple one could ever meet. They are very health conscious and meals always include a wide variety of local fruits and vegetables arranged artistically on platters of fine china. My only fear is that eventually we will have to leave this paradise.
I discussed shipping down two four foot by six foot canvases for the huge dining room and will do so after my show in Va. Bch.
July 13 and 14, 1996
These two days have been surf heaven. The waves came up on the 14th well overhead and the swell is still building. The point began connecting and rides went for a mile or so. I got so barreled and tired I could hardly stand up. I was so tired that on one wave when I went to stand up I just collapsed and paddled in.
The birding has been fantastic. Every morning and evening we see birds such as the turquoise cotinga, and the Bairds trogon. We have lost count of the species we have spotted.
We have met very friendly people here (Kim and Larry from Cocoa Beach) and we all feast 3 times a day together. On the 13th we had grilled Dorado, several kinds of salads and cevici (a fish prepared cold in cilantro, lime juice, and onions). The meals here are beyond description (we also had smoked sail fish).
The sunset on the 13th was unbelievable. Every color imaginable was in the sky. After watching the most incredible sunset, we ate dinner, Heidi made 6 different kinds of pizza for the six of us! She goes all out for us, as does Gregg.
July 15, 1996
The time I dread is near. We must leave tomorrow. As a good bye present, mother nature dished out some double and even triple overhead tubes that did us right. We also went to Tiskita Lodge and sold some postcards. Next trip we will explore the lodge and do some birding there. They have good guides and reasonable rates for hikes into the reserve.
July 16, 1996
My last look at Pavonnes was tearful. The biggest and glassiest waves yet and we had to go. We bid farewell to Kim and Larry, our newfound friends and began the journey onto the highway of death. There are many interesting streams to cross and a neat ferry across a wild river. The challenge is in the mountains where the roads are several thousand feet up, windy, potholed and clouds descend on your vehicle encasing you in a blinding white light. The fog was intense and driving was very treacherous. 9 hours later we arrived in San Jose and checked into the Irazu before our flight out in the morning. What a journey we have had!
July 17, 1996
The hustle at the airport is always a challenge. We dropped off the rental truck and then got a ride to the airport where throngs of pushy Americans and ticos alike acted like it was Armageddon and leprosy had infected the entire area. Everyone sort of panics, pushes and shoves their way to the flight lines. Usually the Americans are the most pushy and we just sort of chilled out and went with the flow. Let em go, let em go Isay. They aren't going to take off without all of the passengers. They need the cash too much. After everyone had hurried up to wait, we got in line, got on and flew back to the states.
