Peninsula De Osa

FEBRUARY 20th, 2006

Our Valentines night was our real last party night, before heading to the Peninsula De Osa. We planned to catch the bus at 9am to Peurto Jimenez, but apparently that bus only exists in our Lonely Planets, and the next bus wasn´t until 3:30pm. We killed half the day by takin a nap at our jail-like hotel Astoria then ate and headed to the bus station. The bus was two hours late, and very full, so for 5 hours of the 6 hour ride Nathan and I stood up in the aisle. This did foot infection (from his sandal) little good.
We arrived in Peurto Jimenez at 11 o'clockish, and headed to Cabinas Oro Verde. The following day, Nathan went to the hospital where he got some antibiotics and treatment absolutely free of charge (don´t know how that works). While he was getting that sorted out, Jesse, Francois and I went to the beach. On the walk there we saw some bright red parrots and intruiging vegetation. After the tide came up and Francois got a nasty sunburn, Jesse and I headed back to our hotel room and had a pineapple and bread feast. At 5 pm Jesse played soccer with the locals while me and Nathan lazed in our hammocks on the edge of the field. Francois and the four of us booked a night up in the forest at the Rio Neuvo Lodge.
On Friday at 10am, we headed up to the lodge, driving through beautiful scenery and rivers, until we reached the gorgous tent lodge. We did a one hour hike in the heat of the day before lunch. We could hear a few howler monkeys, but the only wildlife we really saw were reptiles and insects, including the magnificent Morpho butterfly, frogs, lizards and snakes. Saturday morning, there was even a scorpion hanging out an mine and Jessse-s tent.
Our after lunch hike was pparently too late in the afternoon, because after the sun went down and we had crossed 2 rivers, we wondered if we were on the right trail, so decided to turn around to take the 'for sure' trail and hike back through the dark jungle, where we could see fireflies and the lights at Golfito across the Gulfo Dulce. Furthermore, because we were on a horsetrail, the ground was really torn up and muddy in some places and Nathan unfortunately destroyed his shoes.
It was very beautiful and very relaxing, but it was a little dissapointing how few birds and monkeys we saw. We are back in Peurto Jiminez for tonight and going to be cramming into one tent for the night. Later today we went to watch a brave little boy, Gillian, go feed some crocodiles. As soon as he started taking out meat from his big bag, there were a dozen crocs waiting in the waters infront of us.
Yesturday, we just lazed in our hammocks all day long and drank beer. Twas a good day...
Today, we went on an overpriced tour, which was really just a 1 hour walk to see a dried up waterfall and hang out with a guy and his kid, but it was nice to get out off Peurto Jiminez for a few hours and go sit on the ocean and watch surfing...wish I had done surfing, but the rocks dodging business is out of my league. Furthermore, we were able to see some monkeys and some more butterflies.

Photos: Jesse rockin out in San Isidro...Nathans shoe took a beating from our night walk in the jungle...Gillian feeding the caimans and crocodiles.