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Published: March 30th 2016
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Leaving Manual Antonio for Corcovado national park on the southwestern Osa peninsula felt like driving into a different country and a different era. The further down south we went, the less tourists (or locals) we saw. Aside from some massive palm oil plantations we passed in the first 100 km, it felt like we were driving into a Costa Rica as it must have been when eco-tourism to this country first started some forty years ago. Corcovado is the largest national park in Costa Rica and covers most of the Osa peninsula. As getting there takes a bit of effort and access is restricted to 400 people/day spread over 4 different entrances in the park, it felt completely different from the other parks we visited so far in Costa Rica.
We decided to go in the hard way and drove our rental car all the way to the end of the road, literally. Our first stop was at the end of the paved road in a small village called Puerto Jimenez. Although we heard some rumors that there are plans for a large chain hotel on the waterfront of the village, at the moment it is just a dusty one-road
town with a few guesthouses and open air restaurants. After a nice meal of freshly caught pescado loro (parrot fish) we walked around the village for a bit and called it a day. The next morning we started early for a two-hour drive around the edge of the peninsula. We were warned that the road is impassable for cars some times, but as it was the middle of the dry season we didn't think we would have too many problems. For some unknown reason the Daihatsu Terios is the rental car of choice for everyone visiting CR, we saw thousands of them, while you never see one in the rest of the world. It is a fun little 4x4 car to drive, but unfortunately it has no power at all, so even with just the two of us we ended up bumping up and down very steep unpaved roads in first gear for most of the time. Eventually we made it to the end of this road as well and it was definitely worth it. The Lookout Inn is build against the mountain, so it has the beautiful view of the ocean and the surrounding jungle. Like many places we
stayed at during our trip it is owned by a foreigner who ended up never leaving Costa Rica after his first visit twenty years ago. Very relaxing place to stay for a couple of nights before and after our visit to the park. The next morning we had a 6 am breakfast for an early start into the park. Maybe it was luck, or because so few people visit Corcovado, but within the first hour we already saw more birds, monkeys, bats and other wildlife than in the other parks combined. At some point our guide told us we still needed to find an anteater and within five minutes there was one just strolling along on the trail in front of us. The only animal we couldn't find was the tapir. Apparently there are quite a few in the area, but they didn't want to show themselves that day. The day ended with cocktails and a perfect sunset on the deck of the inn.
After surviving driving the same road out of the park again we set out back to San Jose to turn in the rental car. Instead of taking the coastal route back we decided to explore
the interior of Costa Rica a little more on the way back. That turned out to be a good decision, as the interior is a lot less known, but definitely worth visiting as well. After a night in a nice small hotel just outside San Isidro de El General we made our way down to the recently established national park Los Quetzales. We didn't see any quetzals, but the hike down to the waterfall was very nice. Interestingly, all people we met at the end of the trail turned out to be Dutch. Maybe the trek was too challenging for other people or maybe the Dutch are the only ones crazy enough to go there...
Next stop San Jose where we turned in the rental car and spent the night before taking the bus to Tortuguero in the northeast of Costa Rica. Tortuguero, as the name implies, is mainly known because of the turtles that come there to lay their eggs between April and October. However, also outside the turtle season it seemed worth visiting. Getting there involved two buses, a lot of unpaved roads and a two hour boat ride on a small river. Normally it would take
an hour, but because of the extremely low water level the boat was going very slow and it took us twice as long. Unfortunately, this was also the first time we had a little mishap on out trip. When we arrived at Tortuguero village we saw them taking our bags out of the boat with water running out of both of them. Apparently there was a hole in the boat and our bags had been at the bottom of the luggage pile. After an hour of confusion involving a uncooperative boat owner, the local police and a very angry Dutch couple the people from our hotel offered to wash and dry all our clothes and the boat people would pay for other damages. Manyana found out she is capable of being angry in Spanish and I learned that it doesn't help to throw soaking wet books at people.
Tortuguero village itself wasn't much, but the bordering national park was interesting, mainly because it was only accessible by boat. Unfortunately even outside turtle season it is quite busy, so at 7 am there's a line at the entrance of the park. Rowing through the jungle was quite nice, but aside
from a lot of birds and a few monkeys we didn't see much wildlife. Back in the village we had a great meal at Wild Ginger, by far the best restaurant in town. The owner told us that during peak season over 4000 people a day come to the one-street village of Tortuguero, so I think we should be happy we were in the low season. On our boat ride back our luggage got a special place where it would certainly remain dry. Because of the even lower water level we had to walk the last couple of hundred meters to where the bus was, but we made it out of there and eventually back to San Jose. The next morning we took the bus to Nicaragua. Quite an adventure as well, but we'll leave that for the next blog.
Overall, we still have some mixed feelings about Costa Rica. It is a beautiful country, definitely worth visiting, but it seems to have become pretty touristy at some of the parks. What started out as eco-tourism forty years ago has turned into mass tourism by now. In itself that is not a problem, but it feels as if the
parks are at their limits for the number of people they can receive. Having said that, the natural beauty of Costa Rica combined with the beaches in Puerto Viejo or the Nicoya peninsula (both of which we skipped) make for a great vacation destination, so it is not really surprising that many americans and europeans come to visit.
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