Wednesday, June 7, 2023

This time to Costa Rica there were fewer flights to choose from than we’re used to. I don’t know if it was because we were going before the school vacation rush or a holdover from the pandemic or what. But our best option was on Alaska Air of all things. San Jose, California to LAX, and then on to San Jose Costa Rica. We arrived at night so we stayed over at the Hampton Inn right near the airport. Pretty nice hotel with a shuttle that runs to and from the airport constantly so that was easy.

Thursday, June 8, 2023

In the morning the breakfast was good, especially the honey dispenser which was a large honeycomb in a holder with a spout on the bottom. That honey was fresh! After breakfast we headed back to the airport for our flight on Sansa Airlines to Puerto Jimenez. We arrived for this flight crazy early to the point that the staff was wondering if we missed our flight but eventually, it was our turn and we boarded. The views from the plane were amazing and we arrived in Puerto Jimenez in no time. Our shuttle to Bosque del Cabo was waiting, and the driver very kindly took us to the grocery store to buy shampoo, conditioner, lotion and sunscreen, all of which we did not pack because of the weight limitations on the Sansa flight. And then we arrived at Bosque just in time for lunch! We got our welcome drink, ginger lemonade, emphasis on the ginger so I was a fan. And I got to order their world-famous peanut butter and banana sandwich. Now I don’t even eat peanut butter sandwiches at home, but there? Yes please! After lunch we checked out the grounds and hung out by the pool while we waited for our room to be ready. We had the Cabina Tucan, where we had stayed twice before. It has an upstairs sleeping loft so you can have four people in it. The view from the balcony is the same as the photo I took 10 years ago that is my computer background–only the chairs have changed!

Next we walked around the grounds. Over to the house we stayed at in 2018, Casa Teca. They don’t like to rent the house out because it’s far from the lodge and hard to service, otherwise we would have stayed there again. We saw a heron in the pond in the garden, which was cool. It looked very elegant like a statue. We also saw a neotropical bird-eating snake up close and personal near the lodge. Once we were back in our cabina there were the tiniest little forest crabs that were so cute. And the coatis going crazy for the mangoes that the monkeys were throwing down after they took one bite. I love groups of coatis, they are so cute with their tails all up and of course the babies are adorable. We rested up and went to the bar, first time that both girls could order drinks with us! And then on to dinner which they serve family style so we talked to other guests which is always nice.

Friday, June 9, 2023

Charlotte and I were feeling adventurous so we took the Pacific Trail down to the beach. Basically, this hike is just stairs straight down, which was fine. The beach was nice but we didn’t hit the tides right so the “hot tubs” were still submerged in water. And then we got to go up the stairs. This was less fine. The heat really got to me and I needed to keep stopping but I did make it to the top and looking back on it I would do it again but if you’d asked me right then I would have said no way. I did advise Mark not to go, I could tell he would be hating everything on that hike back up!

After lunch we had a tour with Carlos. Still trying to see that Putu but seriously we need to stop asking people to find these birds for us on tours. They always say they can but the bird is never there. We are cursed and will have to find one organically somehow. Anyway, we did find a sloth, some macaws, and a large troop of spider monkeys that was very boldly crossing the road. And a tayra crossing the road right as we got near the lodge. We’ve never seen one of those before! Of course it’s always fun to ride in the back of a pickup (you know the joys of my youth that you can’t do anymore because it’s “dangerous”).

Once we returned to Bosque we got treated to three types of monkeys (white face capuchins, howler monkeys and spider monkeys) all up around the lodge. They were not happy to all be that close together and they were loudly protesting! We went back to our cabin to get ready to go to the pool. I realized that I’d left my sunglasses on the table at lunch, so I went to the front desk to get them. Stepped backwards right onto the bird-eating snake we’d seen yesterday! I looked at Juan Carlos (who was manning the desk, he is the same guy who was joking with us about the mountain lions in 2018) and said “I just got bit by a snake”! He got me a first aid kit and I cleaned it off and stopped the bleeding and went to the pool. I didn’t even see that snake was there! So I had a badge of honor for the rest of my Costa Rican trip, but (sadly? happily?) it did not leave a permanent mark. The snake was okay too.

After the pool we got ready for our night hike with Carlos where we saw many spiders and frogs, including the smokey mountain frog which apparently screams when you pick it up but Carlos was there so we couldn’t. And some cane toads (called bufo) which are native to Costa Rica and you’d better believe I was picking those up once we were done with our tour.

Saturday, June 10, 2023

Today we went on a guided forest hike with Carlos. It was very interesting to learn more about the trees and other plants that make up the forest as well as explore some territory from Bosque we’d not seen before. We also spooked some coatis which was funny because all at once they just all jumped into the trees. Then back to the lodge and surrounds where we watched the coatis some more. Really can’t get enough of the coatis. There was also a mom and baby spider monkey and the baby was pretty rambunctious so that was fun to watch. Mark and Charlotte and I took the jungle loop at Bosque hoping to see an anteater but all we saw were leaf cutter ants! At the bar that night we saw a cool fat-tailed gecko just chilling. They say he’s there most nights.

Sunday, June 11, 2023

Charlotte and I got up nice and early because I wanted to say goodbye to another family that was leaving that day. We saw lots of dart frogs near the lodge and everything looked so clean from the rain the night before. Charlotte and I hiked on the Golfo Dulce trail, which was nice. We saw a piggy in the garden and lots of lizards. Also saw the house where the people gave us water in 2018 and kept us from being in a very bad situation! The beach over there is gorgeous but our buddy Juan Carlos had dramatically underestimated how long we would spend on the hike so we didn’t have much time to enjoy the gulf because we had to get to our pickup location for our ride home. So if you do this hike I think you want to allow yourself three hours, not two, because you could always hang out at the restaurant bar if you got there early.

After lunch we were chilling by the bar when a guest came running up to say that a mountain lion was hanging out under the suspension bridge. So we all ran over (well I walked quickly but Juan Carlos actually ran straight from the lodge not on a trail and burst out near the bridge camera in hand. The man does not mess around!). We saw the lion, he was just sleeping but I heard later he ate a coati. Glad not to see that.  I took some photos of the cabina with the girls in the same positions they were in 2008. That night at dinner there were these beetles everywhere. I guess there had been a hatching, because they weren’t there before nor afterwards. We got a cool video of a toad eating them, which explains why there were no more around later.

Monday, June 12, 2023

Today after breakfast Charlotte returned to the cabina after breakfast only to be informed by the staff that the mountain lion was walking right behind the cabinas. She got a video and some photos, and somehow the photo I posted on Facebook was of the cat peeing. Oh well. We checked out but hung out at Bosque through lunch because our AirBnB in Puerto Jimenez wasn’t ready until 3:00pm. But eventually, it was time to say goodbye to Bosque until next time.

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