Corcovado Tent Camp Osa Peninsula Costa Rica

   It was time to leave Bosque del Cabo rain forest lodge for our next adventure. Our time here was so wonderful and we experienced so much.  Thanks to the owners Phil & Kim Spier for sharing this wonderful resort with all of us.

     Now it’s off to Corcovado Tent lodge Camp. I didn’t give the family much information on the camp other than we would be staying in tents and it was deep in the rain forest close to one of the entrances to Corcovado National Park. Our driver picked us up at our Casa and took us to Carte. Once there a horse draw cart was waiting to take our luggage to camp, we had to hike it in. 

A hike along a beach how bad could it be?  The kids keep asking me if we were doing some kind of survivor show. 30 minutes later we arrived hot, sweaty, and soaked by the rain. It was the first time all trip it’s rained and we were not prepared.  We had made it and there in a clearing right on the beach was our camp for the next two nights.

The tents sit on platforms and were very nice for tents.  Each tent has two single beds, a night stand, candle, and were clean. 

What more can you ask for? We had two tents one for us and one for the kids. The shower and bathrooms are up the hill a bit for everyone to share which my daughter was none too happy about. All meals are included and served family style in an open air pavilion. There is also a large bar/game room. The whole surrounding area is nothing but rain forest. 

   Once we settled in we took an afternoon hike in Corcovado National Park. It was a nice hike and we saw a few monkeys.  We had a guide so we got to learn about many of the plants and trees along the way.  The return trip we took the beach path back.  The beach here is beautiful. I would have loved to go swimming but the surf was very strong.  It was great to just hear the waves crashing and figure it would make for a great night’s sleep.

     After dinner our first night we went to the bar/ game room to play cards and enjoy some wine. Lights are out by 9:00pm which was fine as it was a long day and in the morning we have an early morning hike. We returned to our tents by flash lights. My daughter was shinning the light all over the tent when she says “mom there is a snake on your bed.” We all looked and there curled up on my pillow was a snake.  I will be honest there was some panic at first. I quickly ran to get a guide while they all stood watch to make sure it didn’t move. The guide came, got the snake out with a stick and told us it was a baby boa. It was the first time in 7 years a snake got inside a tent. Lucky me. Call me silly but I could not sleep in the bed that night. I roomed with my son and my daughter slept on top of her father.  It was a long night, very little sleep and lots of checking with the flashlight.

      The next morning we were up at 4:45am for an hour hike to the tree platform where we could be above the canopy. It was amazing to be that high up looking over the forest  as everything was awaking for the day. 

 Later in the afternoon we needed some time to just relax and keep cool under the trees by our tents. As we sat there we were getting hit by almond shells. In the trees above us were 7 Scarlet macaws. It was really something to see. We just sit there and watch these beautiful birds.  

   At dinner that night we meet some wonderful people and ended up staying up until after midnight talking. It was a fun night. In the morning after breakfast it was time to leave. We hiked back to Carte and what they called Carte airport. The airport was a sign, grass runway, complete with a cow standing in the middle, and a 4 seat Cessna plane waiting to take us to our next destination.   

After we buzz the cow to move we took off and flew over tent camp, than over e dense rain forest of Corcovado Park.  It was a great way to see the county. Tent camp was another experience that we will never forget.

Next stop was Tamarindo.

 

Osa Peninsula Costa Rica

During our stay at Bosque del Cabo we hiked many of the trails surrounding the resorts. The sites and sounds  we discovered were just amazing.  

 Each day we hiked at least 2 trails. One of my favorites was the Golfo Dulce Trail which was 1.8 miles taking you from the top of the mountain down to the beach and pacific ocean.  The Osa Peninsula is one of the few places that you can find all 4 species of monkeys living together. Along this trail we saw all 4, the howler,

 

 spider, capuchin, and squirrel monkey at the same time in the trees around the trail.  It really was something to see. The spider monkeys are just crazy.

When we reached the beach we were on the beach of Pan Dulce. The beach was beautiful.  As we were walking along it looked as if the beach was moving in this one area. As we got closer it was filled with thousands of hermit crabs moving very slowly along. It was pretty cool to see.  There were other kinds of crabs going in and out of their holes. The trees around the beach were full of capuchin monkeys.

  We spent some time at the beach swimming and surfing. We met a local who helped us with our surfing. The kids did really well. I got up a couple of times but not for too long. It was a wonderful experience to be surfing in Pan Dulce.  

   Later in the day as we relaxed at our Casa talking about the day’s events we were treated to a conversation between two toucans. One was in the tree next to our patio and the other in a tree on the opposite side. It was just amazing to be listening to this.

       Another cool thing we did was go on a sunset kayak trip. We took that long drive back to the town of Puerto Jimenez where we met Josh our guide for the trip. He was an interesting guy who was very knowledgeable about the flowers and plants of Costa Rica. We had a short tour of the plants around his house while we had some of his homemade tea which was good. Than it was off to Kayak in the Guelfo Dulea.  It was so peaceful and beautiful to be out in the water as the sun set for the day. Even the dolphins were out swimming next to our kayaks. It was a perfect end of a day.

  For dinner we went to town and had dinner at Soda Carolina Restaurante. It was pretty interesting as no one spoke English, we spoke very little Spanish and the menu was all in Spanish. We ordered the best we could and it was really good. The total for all 4 of us was only $26.00. We got a chance to walk around the town of Puerto Jimenez and it’s a pretty nice little town. It was a fun time.

   

  Next stop Tent Camp. What an adventure that was.

Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge - Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Now the adventure starts. We left San Jose and flew on a little plane to the rain forest in the southern part of Costa Rica, the Osa Peninsula. The small airport is in the town of Puerto Jimenez.We were met by a driver to take us to Bosque del Cabo
 where we spent the next 3 nights. The ride from town to Bosque del Cabo is a long, very bumpy drive along a muddy road. It was the end of the rainy season so there where places in the road filled with water. The drive was well worth it once we arrived and saw how beautiful it was there. Bosque del Cabo is located 500 feet above where the Golfo Dulce meets the Pacific Ocean in the middle of 750+ acres of rain forest. We were staying in a 2 bedroom house, Casa Blanca, which over looked the Pacific Ocean.  It was perfect.

   There is one restaurant to eat in and meals are included. Breakfast and lunch there is a set time to eat with items offers from a menu. Dinners are a bit different as everyone eats together family style. It was a nice way to meet different people and to share in the days adventures. One night after dinner the waiters all sang to us.

   Our first hike was on what they called the Zapatero Trail, which was about 2 miles. We had just started our hike when we heard a loud animal cry. It was enough to stop us dead in our tracks and realize this is not a zoo; we are in fact in the middle of the rain forest in Costa Rica. I will be honest I got more than a little scared and wasn’t sure to keep going or ran like mad back to the resort. We kept going. A bunch of spider monkeys were in the trees above us going from tree to tree which got us over our fear quickly. At dinner that night we found out a mother puma and 2 cubs have been spotted on some of the trails. The cry we heard was hers.

  That night we took one of the most interesting hikes. A guide from the resort took us on a night hike. He showed us if you put the flashlight against your head next to your eyes and look out you can see all the little eyes looking back at you. Each type of animal has a different color eye at night due to the reflection. There were lots and lots of eyes out there in the forest. Another interesting thing is if you put a black light on a scorpion their insides glow.

   Our first morning there we were awaken at 5:00am by the howler monkeys. You can hear them for miles but these were in the trees surrounding our Casa. On the way to get some coffee we came across a whole group of Capuchin monkeys in a coconut.

There were a few red tailed squirrel monkeys up in the trees. The white nose coati’s were busy looking for food from the many trees around the restaurant. We heard the Scarlet Macaws in the trees and spotted a toucan. There were hummingbirds and some of the biggest butterflies I have ever seen. This was the best walk for coffee I ever had. After I got the coffee and walked back to our Casa the trees surrounding it were full of Capuchin monkeys. I think we sat there watching them for an hour. It was than off to find the puma. Yes it was voted that we take the Titi Trail in search of her. The trail was a nice easy walk.  We didn’t hear or see her today but we did find a paw print. 

 To be continued....

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