Today is my birthday!
Breakfast. I have a fried egg, watermelon, pineapple, toast, orange juice, coffee. Richard has cereal, yogurt, fruit, ham and cheese sandwich, orange juice, coffee. Check out. Today we're heading to
Zona Sur, Costa Rica's least visited area as it's not an easy place to get to. Very remote. We're going to the
Osa Peninsula. This peninsula was a center for the pre-Columbian Diquis culture. They were skilled as goldsmiths and this sent the Spanish conquistadors on their futile search for fabled gold mines.
Our GPS does not have
Quepos Airport in it so we'll have to find it on our own. We stop for gas as we have to fill up the tank before we return it. Cost 16000 colones. We drive and drive but can't find this airport. We cross shallow river twice but no luck. Asked at a store but no one knew even though I was asking in Spanish where is Quepos Airport. We see some construction workers. They tell us we've passed the airport and we need to turn around. Said the airport will be on our right. Finally we found it. This road is so dusty that it must have caused us to miss it. Luckily we left our hotel early. We arrive at 9:10 am. Our flight is scheduled for 11:25 am. Plenty of time to check in. Our baggage is over the limit so I have to pay $40.00 USD extra. We also have made arrangements with the car rental company that we would be leaving our rental here. We place the keys under the floor mat. I take pictures of the car to show we did not damage it just in case there's a problem with the rental company. There wasn't but it doesn't hurt to make sure. This little 4 WD car was wonderful. Never a problem.
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Finally the airport!
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Quepos Airport
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Baggage claim tags
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Our plane
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Our flight is Sansa #2626. It's a nice, smooth flight. We have some amazing views. I took a lot of pictures.
We are met in
Palmar by our guide Cynthia from
Casa Corcovado. In Palmar there is a festival for the spheres. Lithic spheres are scattered. Pre-Columbian. These were made by the Diquis pretty amazing for a culture without technology. The spheres' original function and meaning remain obscure although some have been seen to have been arranged in positions mirroring the constellations. They are even found on Isla de Cano meaning they had to be transported a considerable distance and had significant meaning.
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Advertisement for our lodge in Palmar
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The next part of our journey is by
boat.
Sierpe River. Choppy, long. Pass mangrove area. We finally arrive at our lodge in the
Osa Peninsula-Casa Corcovado. We have 3 nights here. Our package includes all meals, hikes. Richard will go scuba diving while I will snorkel from the same boat.
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Mangroves
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We are taken up the trail from the beach to our lodge. Welcome cold towel and rum drink. Our bungalow is #5. It's such a beautiful, peaceful place. There's a pool!
Lunch is chicken, rice, salad. Dessert is flan with caramel topping. Drinks-blackberry juice. Very delicious. Spend time unpacking, exploring the resort. There will be 6 of us in our group. Trudy and Mike are from England. Ellen and Brian are from Scotland.
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Our bungalow
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Sitting area
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Bathroom
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Pool
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At
Sunset Point we have
margarita and Imperial beer. Appetizers-puffs of some sort, cheese and crackers. Unfortunately clouds rolled in so no beautiful
sunset but we did see lovely colors in the sky and some neat cloud formations. Back to our bungalow to shower and dress for dinner.
Dinner was amazing. Crepes with cream cheese filling, eggplant with cheese and tomato, beef tenderloin, boiled potatoes, broccoli with sauce, tomato slices. Blackberry juice and water. Dessert is a concoction called Treasure Island. Bottom layer is cookies, then a pudding of banana and pineapple, top layer is hard chocolate. It was out of this world. Richard had the same as I except he chose fish with chutney for his entree.
It's been a fantastic day for my birthday!
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