After our stay at Iguana Lodge, (which we highly recommend) we moved further into the rain forest of the Osa Peninsula which is the only lowland rain forest left in Central America. Frank from the Lapa Rios Lodge picked us up in a fourby (Toyota Prado) and drove us 20 or 30 clicks further into the wilderness. There were only one or two water crossings being that it was still the dry Season. We have to give a call out to Frank because his customer service skills and knowledge of Osa fauna and flora was outstanding. He should eventually run the lodge if you ask us.
If memory serves, after we signed up to attend the Kundalini yoga retreat in CR, we stumbled upon a New York Times Travel section article on the OSA region and how it is so remote & unspoiled. Lapa Rios Lodge was one of the places to stay and was touted by National Geographic. Lapa Rios literally means River of Macaws. It was a pretty amazing lodge. A little pricey, but included three meals a day and a slew of internal free tours and hikes. 17 bungalows are nestled along a ridge in a 1000-acre private rain forest Reserve that overlooks the Pacific & Gulf. You can see Panama across the Gulf! The bungalows are open-air with screens that allow you to experience the sounds, sights and smells of the rain forest and the ocean. Every morning we woke to the sounds of screaming howler monkeys. Here are some snaps of the lodge and our room. Note: Rooms 12-17 are a really long hike from the main lodge and that walk includes a 150 foot change in elevation.
Since we were only staying for two nights, we grabbed lunch and joined the 3pm hike to the beach area in search of animals. This walk might be aptly named, the four monkey walk. We saw Spider, Squirrel, Howler monkeys, but didn’t come across the White faced Monkey. We saw a two toed Sloth, but he was too far away to get a good photograph. A Sloth will stay up in the trees for as long as two weeks before they might come down to go to the bathroom. Reading material.
The next day, Douglas took the lodge’s Ridge Trail hike with a couple from Sydney and Dontelio, the guide. You travel by fourby up into the hills and then hop out into the secondary forest, which is approximately 20 years old. Before the lodge was built, this area was cleared for cattle and farming. Now the lodge continues to plant trees to maintain the forest’s health. About midway in the hike the trees start to get much larger and you feel much deeper into the growth and you have entered the primary rain forest. birds, monkeys, and poisonous frogs are everywhere. That’s right, these frogs if held in the hand will secret a toxin that will result in death by heart attack. Green spots on black are real bad and the orange striped ones are even more lethal. Some snaps:
The restaurant and bar are at the lodge. You can have a thermos of coffee & creamer or tea delivered directly to your room since there are no in room coffee makers or refrigerators, or internet, or TV or even AC ! If you want your coffee delivered, we found out the hard way, that you have to notify them each and every eve.
The last night we were there, a local elementary folk dancing group shared a little culture with us:
The scarlet macaws, a family of parrots and parakeets, are very sensitive to deforestation since they need a tall tree to nest. The Osa Peninsula has the largest concentration of macaws in Central and South America. So many beautiful birds…
At the end of a trip, there are two ways to leave the Osa Peninsula, if you aren’t driving…
