No, the Other San Jose

We rose early from Savin Hill in order to get to Logan the required 2.5 hours before our flight. With the increased security restrictions at the gate in the wake of the failed underwear bomber on Christmas Day we expected more stringent requirements for international flights. With an 8:18am departure however this would mean that in order to get to the gate by 6am we would have to be outside waiting for the T by 5:15am or certainly no later than 5:30am. A quick check of the T's hours made it clear that this would be an impossibility as the T didn't start running on Sunday until 6am. We hired a car service to take us to the airport and we checked in passing through security without delay. Our flights through Charlotte and into San Jose were both on time and we arrived in a very warm San Jose relieved to be out of the cold and snow of Savin Hill.

The lines at immigration at the Juan Antonio Santamaria Airport in San Jose were extremely long, however. This theme would recur on the way home to an even greater extent. Standing in line for what seemed like an hour while only being able to look at images of the country and smelling the b.o. of the neo-hippie in line in front of us only made our wait that much more difficult. Finally we passed and immediately headed for baggage claim and then the driver from the Orquideas who would take us to the hotel. Upon meeting the driver I was treated to the sight of my name being written out in bold letters on an eraseable board. This was even more amusing since we were in a Spanish speaking country where "Moskowitz" is not a common surname. A short, trim energetic younger man met us at the entrance amongst the throngs of other drivers and entrepreneurs looking to make a few colones off of American touristas. Our driver took us to his white van and then drove us through some fairly questionable areas of the city en route to the Orquideas. The Inn was quite lovely, and fenced off from the rest of the city almost like an oasis on the outskirts of some sketchy areas of San Jose. Most properties we had passed on the way were ranch-style homes with 10 foot+ iron fences lining each property. This affect was quite intimidating, not inviting at all to protect against burglaries one of the most common crimes in Costa Rica so our driver told us. Any property not fenced in like this was usually a business. Many Costa Ricans were lounging around enjoying the Sunday without looking like they were in a hurry to do anything.

The Orquideas Inn itself consisted of one large building where many of the rooms were up a small hill from the fenced in gate. Closest to the gate was the main building with the restaurant, pool, bar, lounge and some rooms on the upper floors. The rest of the grounds included some native birds in cages, a whirlpool and a short nature trail.

We checked into our room and noted that we had been upgraded. The room I had purchased online was fairly basic but the room where we had dropped our bags was quite large and regal even. There was a deck running the entire length of the room that looked out onto the fairly extensive grounds of the Inn and onto a hillside around which the rest of the town was gathered. While technically not in San Jose, the Orquideas Inn was in the area of San Jose closest to the airport and not in the city proper. The bathroom had both a jacuzzi tub and a large stall shower with windows offerring views similar to the deck outside our windows.


We relaxed and relished the satisfaction of finally meeting our destination (although not our final destination) changed our clothes and walked down the sandy gravel road towards the front gate to tour the grounds. A path led us towards the main building with the pool and restaurant down the nature trail with the native birds and straight to the whirlpool. Being in the whirlpool was a perfect way to really slide into vacation mode. We looked up at the dusk-filled sky and savored the fact that we were not in the freezing temps of Boston.

For dinner we had no urge to hire a cab to take us into San Jose and instead had dinner at the restaurant at the Inn. With barely any other patrons there we felt like we were back in Croatia where we were often the only people eating out at large restaurants. This sleepy state lowered our expectations for the food but the meal turned out remarkably well. The plantains, in fact, would prove to better than the plantains we were served at El Remanso.

Day 1 on the Osa

We rose early at the Orquideas Inn and took our packed bags down to breakfast. This was now the second straight day of rising early with a packed bag to catch a flight somewhere. Not ideal for a vacation but nonetheless part of our plan. Based on our conversation with our driver from the prevous afternoon when we arrived in San Jose we were under the impression that breakfast was served at the Inn before 7am but when we dragged our bag down to the front desk we discovered that breakfast was still being set up and also that the front desk was closed.

Fortunately for us, we had made arrangements for a driver to take us back to the San Jose airport and he was waiting for us when we arrived with our bag. He too thought that we could have breakfast at that hour but to no avail. There would be no breakfast from the Orquideas this morning. We returned from the restaurant unsatisfied but thought it might be best to not delay as our flight to Puerto Jimenez was scheduled to leave at 8:30am.

The driver took us through a part of San Jose that was different from when we arrived yesterday when we drove to the Inn. Perhaps this was because we were going to a different terminal. Sansa is one of two local carriers servicing San Jose and both domestic airlines operate out of terminals separate from the international carriers. As a result the Sansa terminal was really just a glorified hangar with waiting room and small snack shop. The staff checking us in also took our boarding pass, checked and loaded our luggage on to the plane and even managed the gate. When we arrived at the Sansa terminal our plane was scheduled to be on time. The flights to Quepos, Golfito and other locales arrived and departed relatively on time. Our flight was next. Then it was delayed. And then delayed some more. Finally we received an announcement that due to bad weather en route to Puerto Jimenez our flight would be delayed up to 45 minutes more. As the 45 minute mark approached all passengers on our flight were called to the front desk at which point we were told that due to high winds it would be unsafe to fly the Sansa aircraft to Puerto Jimenez leaving them no choice but to cancel the flight. We then had two choices; We could stay at the terminal and take our chances with the 3pm flight being able to take off or we could get a refund and make alternate arrangements.

After a quick conference Jess and I both agreed that it made no sense to stick around in hopes that the weather would improve in the afternoon especially since the Sansa staff did not seeem optimistic regarding this possibility. We knew there was another carrier serving Puerto Jimenez and thought now would be a good time to see if they were flying our route. After discovering that they were flying the route we called Daniel at El Remanso and asked him for his counsel. He contacted Nature Air on his own and booked us on an 11am flight. We jumped into a cab to take us to the Nature Air terminal (at a different airport) and picked up our tickets.

The flight was a little dicey. At first we were fine with limited turbulence but as we drew closer to Puerto Jimenez the skies darkened and the turbulence became borderline unbearable. A gentleman behind us literally lost it and proceeded to fill 3 barf bags with his own creations. The smell slowly wafted through the small cabin but we concentrated on the view outside, the magazines in seat pockets or anything to keep it together.

The runway in Puerto Jimenez was not much wider than a multiple lane highway but our pilot deftly landed the plane and we were safe. At the runway, Daniel met us (he was easy to spot, a tall skinny red-haired man in an El Remanso golf shirt) and took us to his business office at the airport which itself was no more than a collection of small buildings along a dirt road. The El Remanso office, although nothing special, was a welcome break from the harrowing flight just experienced. Jess and I relaxed with some bottled water from El Remanso and didn't mind waiting for Daniel to finish packing the Land Rover with other supplies.

The drive to the resort followed a long rocky, dirt road for several miles. We saw Scarlet Macaws and Kingfishers along the way. Daniel spoke eloquently about the land, and the people of Puerto Jimenez and the Osa. We were stoked for a great few days on the Osa and the anticipation was building.

Our arrival at El Remanso was nothing short of stunning. The lodge and pool area were beautiful and calming. Without being too late for lunch we relaxed as the staff waited on us and served us a welcome drink which was a Watermelon smoothie. As we slowly began to unwind from the travel hectic day we found our cabin to be the most impressive on the resort. It was more a part of the jungle canopy itself than the resort and was one of the newer cabins built by El Remanso.

The rest of the day we spent relaxing in the cabin and down by the beach in the tide pools before making our way back up the Beach Trail to the Lodge for our dinner and an after dinner drink by the pool.

Day 2 Say No to the Creek

We were determined to get up early and be active on this vacation. So even after a tiring and at times stressful day of traveling to the Osa Peninsula we rose early on our first full day at El Remanso to have breakfast and do some hiking.

The lodge at breakfast was not as crowded as dinner. Most guests staying at the resort busied themselves with an assortment of early morning activities ranging from the Zipline jungle canopy breakfast at 5:30am to an early walk down to the beach to sit in the tide pools at low tide - usually just after 6am. We shared our early breakfast with a toucan (no, not Froot Loops) but kept it simple. We had a full morning planned.

Our first hike was the Carrabianca Trail that would lead us past 3 waterfalls. Our hope, of course, was to see as much wildlife as possible. From the very beginning we saw plenty of rainforest creatures. Our descent down towards the creek that would later produce waterfalls took us past a resort-owned cabin that must have been treating garbage or had food available for animals on the resort grounds because when we passed this building at the start of our hike we came across several Coati and Turkey Vultures feeding nearby. The Coati are animals that are a cross between a racoon and a monkey. They have long striped tails and are also scavengers. The Turkey Vultures are, of course, also scavengers and both species disappeared into the forest as we approached. Coati travel in small packs. We enjoyed watching them gradually disperse upon our approach. In addition to mammals, we saw many unique trees and other plantlife unique to the rainforest. The most fascinating of which were the walking trees. These trees literally walked gradually in search of superior sunlight and growing conditions. The distance covered in a year's time was only 1 meter or so. The trees were not heavily grounded by their roots as it was the roots that effectively functioned as their legs which enabled them to walk. We also saw many other large rainforest trees some of which were as h igh as 100-200 feet. These ancient trees were supported by enormous buttresses who themselves functioned as habitats for insects, bats and other small forest creatures. Garlic Trees were some of the common tree specimens that we witnessed with these buttresses.

The waterfalls we saw on this hike were quite serene but nothing compared to the wateralls we would rapel down later! There were 3 waterfalls that we hiked past this morning ranging in height from 15 feet to 30 feet tall.

After the hike on the Carrabianca Trail we took a shorter hike on the Pasiflora Trail. As the name might suggest this was a common place to find Passion Flowers and a popular trail despite its being very short. There were some flowers on this trail but not as many as we had anticipated.

The heat of the region was starting to bother us by the time these hikes were over and when we returned to the lodge area headed straight for the pool and relaxed there until lunch.

After lunch we plowed ahead for our Rapelling trip and met our two guides and 6 neigbors on the resort. The guides were very nice and helpful. They helped us don the appropriate gear and taught us how to position our bodies when we began our descent ("Lean Back!"). There would be 4 waterfalls in all ranging in size from 15-20 feet tall to 70 feet tall. While intimidating at first, rapelling was something we were able to get used to after the first two. By the time we arrived at the 70 foot waterfall we felt like we were professionals. This was the same waterfall that hikers and resort-goers would gawk at and here we were rapelling down it. Kind of hard to fathom but a great experience. This Waterfall Rapellling trip began on a short yet steep trail which led down into a ravine where we met up with the creek that we followed out to the beach. After the rapelling and associated hiking, our trip had made us tired so we were not interested in hiking back up to our cabin along the very steep Beach Trail. Following a brief break however, we forced ourselves to tackle the trail and we returned to our cabin.

Our second dinner there and we could already tell that the service was exemplary. While they couldn't quite get my allergies straight, the attention to detail and promptness of service scored very high marks for them. Vegetable Tostadas were on the menu tonight (local only choices, please!) and they were delicious.

After dinner at 9pm, we found ourselves to be very tired at this point. Although we were getting used to after dirnks at the bar after dinner we were very tired and went to bed most nights around 9:30pm or so. Another factor that could have impacted our decision to stay up or go to bed was the dense thick blackness of nighttime on the resort. El Remanso was nearly pitch black at night by 6pm so 3 hours later we had no problem going to sleep.

Day 3 The Age of Geraldo

Our cabin was so beautiful and the view virtually unequalled anywhere else at the resort. The view from our deck featured the ocean in the background with the same rainforest that completely surrounded our cabin stretching straight to the ocean. We could hear the insects and frogs of the jungle very clearly at any time of day or night. More importantly the monkeys of this rainforest lived in the trees that surrounded our cabin. They were up early in the morning (particularly the Howler Monkeys) also active late in the afternoon/early evening when the soaring temperatures and humid conditions of the jungle began to abate. The Howler Monkeys in particular made their presence known to us while we were in our cabin. At 5:30am on this day, Jess and I were awoken by the early morning call of a group of Howlers in a tree not 50 yards from our cabin. The noise of the Howler's call was so loud it reverberated through the jungle and seemed to fill our cabin. Our Howler's calls were echoed by the calls of the many other Howlers in the rest of the rainforest. Off in the distance you could the calls of these other Howlers. The calls got fainter as monkeys who were further away responded to the call of our monkey until the Howler nearest us resumed the chant. At first we were annoyed with this ruckus at such an early hour but we quickly began to appreciate the uniqueness of the event and went out to the deck with our binoculars to get a closer look at the Howler who had started the festivities.

Given our cabin's position and location in the rainforest we decided to trade the canopy breakfast from our package for the guided morning hike. The price difference was negligible but we thought that saving the experience of taking the zipline to a platform from where we could have breakfast, the concept of eating while the rainforest wakes up would not be so unique for us.

The guided hike turned out to be a great success. Geraldo, our guide, met us at the lodge. Our companions on the hike were Ray and Daleen. Two newlyweds from the Bay Area. Geraldo led us on a Ridge Trail that took us all the way to the beach. With extremely detailed knowledge of the flora and fauna of the rainforest as well as numerous mammals and reptiles, Geraldo found numerous plants, insects and other creatures that we never would've spotted on our own. On this hike we saw squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys, hummingbird, woodpecker, a large colony of leaf-cutter ants, coati, poison dart frogs, garlic trees, walking trees and numerous geckos. The sun was bright but the air temperatures was not too hot.

The spider monkeys we ran across on this hike were high in the trees and paid us no mind except for one juvenile who took exception to our presence. He swung over to us by himself and started shaking the branches near him to try to intimidate us. When we just laughed he started tearing off small twigs and branches and throwing them at us in order to get us to leave. We laughed again and took his photo but soon moved on.

The poison dart frog was at first completely invisible to us amongst a clump of leaves and underbrush but not to Geraldo. He pounced on the frog and then when it escaped deftly trapped it in his hands. While he was handling it we couldn't help but wonder if he was endangering himself on account of the poisonous nature of the frog's skin. But Geraldo said he should be fine. After he held the frog for us and we took some up close pictures, Geraldo released the frog. Not 5 minutes after leaving the frog Geraldo started to complain of some dizziness and light-headedness. He said that he felt weird. Of course, we were concerned not knowing what he meant but he seemed fine. When his condition persisted he knew that he just needed to thoroughly wash his hands and then face with fresh clean water which he had in abundance.

After resting, and then lunch we spent time relaxing by the pool and on the large deck of our cabin that literally stretched out over the rainforest floor. At dusk, right before dinner we rose to meet Geraldo again for our night hike. This time it was just Jess and myself with Geraldo and we went down to the Carrabianca Trail that we had explored the day before - albeit by ourselves and in the daytime. Geraldo had some specific ideas about what to find in the forest at night and we hoped to find noctural cats and other creatures. While no big game were sighted we did spot, black spiders, scorpion, a hog-nosed skunk, ting frog, paca, giant toad, cockroach, praying mantis and we heard a peccary but were unable to actually see it. While Geraldo did supply us with flashlights we often had to extinguish the light or let him lead the search with his flashlight so as not to scare away any wildlife.

Early in the hike as we were carefully negotiating the trail we heard a loud squwak of a bird alerting the other rainforest dwellers of our presence. This noise broke the silence of the rainforest at night and was a perfect way for the bird to sound an alarm. We turned off our flashlights and let the moment pass. As we stood in the darkness and waited we distinctly heard the soft grunting and snorting of what had to be a peccary. A jungle-dwelling pig related to the wild boar. Once we shone our lights in the direction of these sounds however, there was nothing to be seen.

The skunk we saw was running away from us as we approached. Looking off the trail and down the hill that led to the creek we saw the skunk scooting away and hiding underneath a fallen tree.

Our dinner was fabulous. Mahi Mahi with rice and beans (obligatory with every meal), red wine and fresh vegetables.

Day 4 The Big Cat

Our last full day at El Remanso and we planned to make the best of it. We knew before we arrived that this trip would fly by but after a relaxing 4 days here at El Remanso both Jess and I felt that we' had made excellent use of our time here.

One of the last hikes on the El Remanso resort that we hadn't actually toured was the Riverwalk down by the beach. Despite being near the beach, however, the Riverwalk trail followed a creek that was actually in the rainforest while being within earshot of the waves from the Pacific crashing on the beach. So with the beach on the other side of an embankmanet the creek side was freshwater and quite humid.

After a full breakfast, we left the cabin and took the Beach Trail down towards the beach veering off in the direction of the Riverwalk trail that followed the freshwater creek right before the beach trail got close to the actual beach. The Riverwalk trail began simply enough and took us down a steep path that emptied us into the creek. Jess and I were both prepared for hiking in water having worn sandals/water shoes for just such an occaison. The trail followed the creek through wide expanses and narrow overgrown brush alike. The humidity really held us here as no breeze could be felt from the beach on the other side of the embankment. Feeling like true natrualists after all of our guided hike learning experiences we both felt like we could spot interesting wildlife but it was too hard. Perhaps most of the wildlife disappeared before we could see them once they heard us sloshing along through the creek. Towards the end of the trail after successfully jumping over logs and deep spots in the creek bed I looked ahead on the trail and saw a brownish/orange/yellow flash speeding up out of the creek and climbing the embankment. This flash had a vague form that I could detect as very cat-like. I wasn't completely sure what I had seen at first, since the moment was only fleeting, but because of the animal's movements and the fact that it was only barely seen by us led me to believe that it was a Puma or the native Mountain Lion species. This was very exciting as we had not seen that many groundlevel animals on our hikes.

The creek emptied into a shallow lagoon with surrounding palm trees and a deep groove that the creek had carved into the sand that led to the beach. The lagoon was a little light on water and completely deserted of other humans. We stopped and enjoyed the sunshine and some drinking water that we had brought with us before searching for the leatherback sea turtle eggs that Cindy had earlier told us to look for. Directly in front of Palm #34, there were several eggshells scattered around a nest hollowed out of the sand. We saw tracks leading away from the nest but could not ascertain as to whether the eggs had actually hatched on their own or were eaten by scavengers.

We strolled down the rest of the beach until we again returned to the end of the Beach Trail. This trail haunted us yet again but this time would probably be our last time scaling this very steep trail.

After a nap and some lunch we met Ray and Daileen for our joint excursion to the Pandulce Beach - a beach that was safe for swimming unlike the beach at El Remanso. The four of us walked out the front gate of the resort and down the dirt road that leads eventually to Puerto Jimenez. Considering this was a dirt road, the road was very busy with other vacationers, locals and trucks working on the expansion of the airstrip nearby. We felt very unsafe on this road as extremely large dumptrucks working on the airstip passed us as we walked on the side of the road. There was no sidewalk and the road was barely wide enough for two cars to pass going in opposite directions. After about 50 minutes we found the road that led to Pandulce beach. Given that this beach was safe for swimming and surfing there were also luxury beach homes in the vicinity of this beach - many of them quite impressive. This sometime gated community was on a dirt road of its own and right along the beach. We found a shady spot away from the remains of previous beachgoers' bonfires and cookouts, set out our towels and bags and headed straight for the water. It was very salty and blue-green in color but very warm. A steep rocky incline met us on our approach to the water but there were smooth large rock slabs that we stood on as we dodged the waves and relaxed in the warm water.

Later, Jess and I took a walk down to the end of the inlet where we saw numerous pelicans resting after an afternoon of hunting for fish in the shallow waters of the beach. Many terns and native seagulls were also in attendance here.

Our afternoon of beach and relaxing conversation ended in the late afternoon and we walked back to the main road where the El Remanso staff had agreed to pick us up and take us back to the resort. Daniel Gehring was our driver and he chatted animatedly with us on our drive back.

Our dinner that night was to be our private dinner. Instead of being able to set us up on the beautiful deck at our cabin they were happy to arrange for and decorate a private table at the lodge for dinner that night. We had a bottle of savignon blanc on the house with seafood skewers and rice. It was brilliant and just private enough.