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.