Kayaking the Gulfo Dulce, Osa Peninsula

Jody and I decided to do some ocean kayaking for our last adventure together. And yes, it was quite the adventure!!! We met this guy Tony from california who took us out for a discounted fare. I guess we charmed him. First we kayaked thru mangroves and about five minutes into the mangroves is when i realized that i hate mangroves. Hot, sticky and full of bugs! I got attacked and in my attempt from keeping them out of my ear canals and from going up my nostrels i knocked off my sunglasses! Yep, gone, at the bottom of a mangrove swamp. R.I.P Ray Ban. Its coo...i have another pair. Anyways, after the service we hopped over an isthmus and we came upon the beautiful emerald green golfo dulce and did some sea kayaking and snorkeling. It was amazing! We kayaked about a half a mile out to sea and dove right in. Ive never been that far out to sea. Kinda scary. I got to swim with a school of fishies!!! Saw a starfish, some crazy thing with massive tenticles and i think i found nemo!!!!

Some of our new friends!

More Bolita pics!

Pics from the hike thru Bolita on the way to the Bonanza falls.

The grounds at Bolita.

Bolita house.

Bolita, Osa Peninsula

Jody and I heard about Bolita from another turista while we were in San Jose. Bolita is a private nature reserve owned by a Canadian couple. They bought 166 acres for about $66,000 4 years ago and have since turned it into an eco friendly retreat and nature park. AMAZING!!!!!!!!! words and pictures cant even begin to describe this place. We saw blue morpho butterflies, toucans, amazon parrots, hummingbirds and the views were fantastic and the property has 16 waterfalls!!!! Pictured is the Bonanza Falls. Pretty intense hike but it was well worth it. The owners also recycle everything! In 4 years they havent taken out one bag of trash. They melt everything down and make furniture out of it! Crazy! Everyone should inspire to atleast work half as hard as these guys. They are pretty amazing people. Check out the pics.

Puerto Jimenez, Osa Peninsula

Puerto Jimenez is a quaint, dusty lil town which served as our base for exploring the osa peninsula. Pictured above is the hostel we stayed at along with the typical costa rican meal, a casado (US$ 2.50) and the national beer, IMPERIAL!!! Yes, its true, i drink beer in Costa Rica!!!!!

Walking on Mars.

After our hike to King Louis we headed down to the beach and hiked along one of the most breathtaking landscapes ive seen. It was about an hour of climbing on rocks and lava flows in the grueling hot sun. But, we had a friend to guide us (pictured above) and eventually we came to an incredible beach!!!!

Cabo Matapalo, Osa Peninsula

Cabo Matapalo is located on the southern most tip of the Osa Peninsula. Its made up of three beautiful beaches and a network of trails filled with wildlife and waterfalls!!! Here are a couple of pics of Jody and i playing in King Louis Waterfall in Cabo Matapalo.

roadblock!

one of the minor road blocks on the way to corcovado national park. it was pretty amazing.

Carate, Osa Peninsula

on the road to carate..taken from the jeep taxi.
osa peninsula, costa rica

01-09-08

so uvita came and went. we decided to take a chance and catch a 3pm bus out of uvita for palmar and try to make a 5pm connection to puerto jimenez. which was our final destination. it was gonna be tight but it made the most sense. why spend two days traveling when we can get it over with in one!?!? so, we said f'it! lets do it! well, we made it to palmar around 5. we searched high and low for the bus stop to puerto jimenez and with little help from the locals we made it to the station around 5¨10 ish. luckily there was a sweet old lady still waiting for the bus. it was late!!!! its nice how things always work out here. its truly a magical place! oh how i love thee! anyways, the bus arrived around 6 and we finally made it to puerto jimenez around 9pm. we arrived at the hostel La Esquina and were greeted by the cutest lil ol lady, bertha. the room was cheap, clean, private and the showers were HOT!!!!!! who could ask for anything more! we decided we were going to go to parque nacional corcovado in the morning so we needed to be up by 5 am so we could have breakfast and catch the colectivo to carate where we would then hike 3.5km on the beach in the grueling hot sun to the entrance of the park.

popped right of the bed around 445 and headed over the the soda deya. the restaurant ran the colectivo to the park. the ride was quite the adventure. we all loaded up in the back of a converted jeep/truck thing and on we went. the road around the peninsula was rock and dirt so it made for quite the bumpy ride. and quite the sore ass. we forged rivers, crossed gorgeous farms and windswept beaches for about 45 km. it took about 2 hours for us to arrive in carate. a small village which served as the gateway to corcovado. not much to the village. we immediately hit the beach and began our hike to the entrance of the park.....more to come

Costa Rica Backpackers, San Jose

01/08/08
last night we stayed at costa rikki backpackers. a favorite hostel of mine in san jose. had a nice relaxing evening. had to prepare ourselves for our bus ride the following day. we planted our bodies by the pool. we met a cute calico cat and we watched david, a local hippy, spin fire sticks and chains in the garden. muy interesante. we woke up at the buttcrack of dawn to catch a 6am bus to uvita. our first stop on our way to the osa peninsula. we loaded our bags with snacks and sweet breads and packed 3 liters of water. we had about 9 hours of bus riding ahead of us. luckily it was pretty chilly in the mountains. pleasant temp most of the way down. more later.......

Day 9

01/07/08
so its been awhile since ive written. my new years was full of fun and excitement. we had a party at my friend chads house. huge i tell you. dj and the whole she bang. my mom picked me up on new years day and we drove to venice to see my aunt and cousins and my grandmother. we had a nice dinner at mi abuelas casa. the following morning mi madre and i drove to jacksonville where i spent the next three days sick and miserable. i watched 2 seasons of americas next top model. i want to kill tyra banks. fucking idiot. did get to see sweeney todd too. a bit bloody eh. speaking of bloody. jody is drinking a lovely bloody mary right as i write. yes we are on the plane flying to costa rikki!!!!!! about three hours to go. it still hasnt hit me yet. 3 months!! ok my cocktail is getting warm. hasta manana!

Day 1

12/30/07
had a great start!! woke up around 8am partially naked and still drunk from my impromtu going away party. a night of kareoke, soju martinis and spicy korean food at dok suni. all of this led to me missing my flight. as mentioned before i woke up at 8am. my flight however left at 7 am. easy fix though. another flight was leaving at 11 am. i left in such a tizzy im not exactly sure where i left my clothes from the night before. i hope my underwear isnt rolled up in my comforter. so much for fresh linens i promised the subletters.