Lots of hummingbirds and one less camera
(Location: Pavones, Costa Rica)
No one had heard of this place. We were pretty close to Panama. There were small planes that seemed to land and take off in the middle of the night. Where the heck were we ??
From the Osa Peninsula, we took a private ferry to the other side of the bay. The plan was to stop at the Osa Sanctuary along the way. When we arrived, we had to jump off the boat into knee deep water, where I lost a flip flop and my Leica point and shoot was submerged in sea water. Adios good friend.
We thought we had the place to ourselves, but then the masses arrived. As sanctuaries go, it wasn’t great for photography, but we got to see a kinkajou. After an hour, the boat dropped us off in Golfito. We couldn’t find our driver, and the taxi guys were very aggressive, so Andy grabbed a beer while I went and bought supplies for the next few days (flip flops, panadol, and vodka).
We eventually found our driver and headed two hours south to Tiskita Jungle Lodge. The drive was very scenic (lots of farms and gulf views), and our driver had a “best of the 80’s CD” for our listening pleasure.
The lodge is located past Pavones but before Puerto Blanco. Our bungalow (#7) was very private, had a deck with a hammock, and an interesting outdoor bathroom. It also has a resident white bat that hung out (literally) on the deck all day. There were lots of great hikes around the grounds, and lots of wildlife (howler monkeys, sloth, owls, squirrel monkeys, iguanas, agouti, and kinkajou). The grounds were also buzzing with hummingbirds. An insane amount of hummingbirds.
Food was pretty basic (salad + rice + a protein + dessert). I tried to fill up at breakfast, which was the best meal of the day.
We walked in to Puerto Blanco one afternoon in search of internet. We did the awkward “hands typing on imaginary keyboard” pantomime at the pulperia, and they pointed us to the library. It was closed, but there was a sign instructing us to go to the big yellow house for the password. Luckily, these are all words that are taught in kindergarten Spanish, so we figured it out and were able to get online 🙂
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