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.