6 Days in Costa Rica: the Osa Peninsula

3-toed sloth who agreed to pose for many photos at Hotel Costa Verde, near Manuel Antonio National Park

Nik’s parents, Pat and Hank, came to visit just in time for two graduations, then we decided to explore some new territory in Costa Rica.  Here is my account, inspired by a “3-days in Costa Rica” article in Pat and Hank’s in-flight magazine, that just so happened to be about the Osa Peninsula, where we were headed!

Day 1 (Sunday, Dec 15) - We left Nuevo Arenal and drove to Termales del Bosque (www.termalesdelbosque.com), via Muelle for lunch at the “iguana restaurant”.  The termales (hot springs) is between Ciudad Quesada and Aguas Zarcas, and it is a special place for us.  This is where we celebrated Nik’s birthday when we had just moved to Costa Rica in February.  The termales are located a short drive from the hotel, then a 5-minute walk down a wooded trail.  We spent a great afternoon soaking in the termales, drank some pina coladas/ beer/ wine and then checked into our bungalow.  It slept 8, and we were 7, so we were quite comfortable.  We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, then headed for bed, listening to the rain and howling wind as we fell asleep.  

Madeleine and Henry enjoy the termales

Pat and Hank enjoy their loco grandson

Hank on the way to the termales, through the bosque

Day 2 - We woke up to a lovely pastoral view over the small lake by our bungalow.   We watched cows, horses, sheep and birds.  Nik and Pat went for breakfast early so that Pat could make it to her 8am massage down by the termales.  The rest of us enjoyed a leisurely (free) breakfast, before we packed up and hit the road.  We drove south (and up) through a lot of fog, which broke when we entered Zarcero, home of the lovely topiaries in front of the central church.  We stopped to look around and got an impromptu tour of an herb garden near the topiaries.  We continued south through Naranjo, then hooked up with the PanAmerican Highway for a short distance.  Near the turnoff for Grecia, we took the road less traveled, up up, then down down on windy roads with gorgeous hilly views.  We went through Atenas, San Mateo and Orotina then stopped for lunch at the Indigenous Hacienda restaurant where Hwy 27 runs into 34, that took us south toward Quepos.  We finished our drive for the day at Hotel Costa Verde (www.costaverde.com), where we had stayed once before, as had Nik’s sister, Anastasia, and her boys.  We had a couple of options for rooms, but opted for the splurge of the "airplane room", a once-in-a-lifetime hotel room.  The plane (a 727) was gorgeous inside, and we arrived just in time to watch the sun set through the cockpit windows.  The boys especially enjoyed the plane and spent lots of time in the cockpit, flying the plane to various fun destinations.  Keeping with the airplane theme, we went to dinner at El Avion, which features a C-123 airplane used the Iran-Contra affair.  

Pastoral view from our bungalow at Termales del Bosque

Zarcero topiari

La iglesia in Zarcero

Watermelon ceviche at Indigenous Hacienda

Our home for the night!

Parked in the jungle.

Evening view from the cockpit.

The cockpit was also a bathroom.  How convenient for these pilots!

One of the two bedrooms.  Never has a redeye flight been this comfortable.

Even the bathroom in the rear of the plane was cool.

Day 3 - I woke up early and spent some time out on the airplane’s deck looking for critters.  Henry and I slipped out with our bathing suits on for an early swim.  We had to wait for the pool cleaner, so we went up to the second floor of the event space to look for monkeys.  No luck, other than two agoutis (large rodent) and a wood rail (bird with orange legs).  Eventually the rest of the crew joined us for a swim, then we returned to the plane for showers, and I cooked breakfast in the galley.  Hank pointed out that he has stayed in MANY hotel rooms, but none were as special as this one.  

We loaded up again in the Montero and continued south toward the Osa Peninsula.  We were a little worried about the road south of Quepos which appeared as a dotted line on our map, but it was nicely paved, and we had plenty of views of palm oil plantations.  Even once we turned off for the Peninsula, the roads continued to be nicely paved, with just a minor delay for road work.  We stopped for some toucan observation on the way.  We ended our drive in Puerto Jimenez, halfway down the south side of the Peninsula, at the Cabinas Jimenez (www.cabinasjimenez.com), recommended in our guide book, and cute as can be.  It is situated on a lagoon of the Golfo Dulce, with boats and boat dock in picturesque view past the hotel’s little swimming pool and palm trees.  We had dinner at a pizza restaurant across from the soccer field in town, only a block from our hotel.  

Cabinas Jimenez:  pretty nice for December, no?

Day 4 - A few of us were feeling rather rotten, perhaps thanks to the calimari at El Avion, so we stayed at the hotel for the day, enjoying the swimming pool and the free use of their kayaks.  Kayaks can only be taken out at high tide, which made sense once we saw the lagoon in the morning at low tide.  It looked like it had been completely drained; most of the boats were sitting in mud.  By early afternoon there was enough water to take the kayaks out, so Madeleine, Sullivan (in his own kayak!) and I  headed out to explore the mangroves.  We spotted a few cool birds, but alas, no dolphins.  As we headed back in (Sullivan by now being towed) we found Nik heading out after a nap.  Madeleine joined him for a long float/ paddle session, while Sully and I hit the pool.  The Osa Peninsula is a popular place for red macaws, and we happily spotted quite a few, almost all in pairs, as well as pairs of green parrots.

Madeleine and Pat at low tide on the lagoon

Scarlet Macaw in Puerto Jimenez

Day 5 - We checked out of our hotel and drove down just around the tip of the Osa Peninsula, stopping at a gorgeous beach to find a geocache on the way.  The road around the southern tip got pretty rugged, and we had one exciting stream crossing.  We tried to spot monkeys, as there are meant to be all 4 species of Costa Rica’s monkeys in Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula, but we had no luck.  We drove back up the coast, sampled chocolate fondue at a chocolate farm, and stopped just south of Dominical at the Costa Paraiso Lodge (http://www.costa-paraiso.com).  The hotel is right on the ocean with gorgeous views, and we arrived just in time to soak up the sunset.  We enjoyed an amazing dinner here at the hotel restaurant, Por Que No?, with great international cuisine.  The chef was the one who greeted us when we arrived, and his girlfriend was the one who made up the extra cots in our room; it is that kind of cozy, friendly place.

Good spot for a little tide pooling

The rare family photo

Google Maps' version of where we were (furthest south we have been in Costa Rica)

Cacao!

A magnificent sunset

Could not resist... one more

Mmm, dinner.  Por Que No?

Day 6 - We got up early to check out the beach at low tide, and Madeleine ventured up to the top of a rocky hill that appeared to be an island the night before.  She and Nik then planted a geocache at the top by a palm tree; a good challenge for geocachers passing through.  After a swim in the hotel’s pool, we packed up and reluctantly headed north for home.  We stopped in Jaco for lunch at Subway (very popular with our kids, not too hard to find in Costa Rica, and more palatable to us than McDs or BK).  We were impressed with how nice and bustling Jaco seems; a good beach destination from what we could tell.

Our treasure island at low tide.  Madeleine is the tiny speck on top.

Pat soaking up some sun before having to return to chilly Ohio

We returned to Arenal, then sadly said goodbye to Pat and Hank two days later.  They returned to Ohio in time for a white Christmas.  We made a quick visa run to Nicaragua on Dec 23.  It was hot, dusty, tedious and not too much fun, but we rewarded ourselves with a night in Liberia at the Best Western Las Espuelas and movies at the cinema in the nearby mall.  We all enjoyed El Hobbit, and then Madeleine, Henry and Nik (after dropping Sully and me off at the hotel) also watched the late showing of Los Juegos del Hambre:  En Llamas (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire).  On Christmas Eve we swam, got a bit sunburned, then drove back to Nuevo Arenal so the kids could be snug in their beds when Santa visited us for the first time in Costa Rica.