student insights from the Osa peninsular

First I should set a stage.

Where is the Osa?

Well it is about 5 to 10 hours south of us by car or an hour by plane.  You can drive in on the southern end via the delightful Pueto Jimenez or you can drive/boat via Siepre to Drake Bay or fly to Drake Bay.

It is without question one of the most bio diverse places on the planet and well worth a visit next time you come to Costa Rica.  As Wiki puts it "  The Osa Peninsula is located in southwestern Costa Rica, in the Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific Ocean, at 8°33′N 83°30′W / 8.55°N 83.5°W / 8.55; -83.5.  The Osa Peninsula is home to at least half of all species living in Costa Rica. The main town on the Peninsula is Puerto Jimenez, which has its own airport and provides access to Corcovado National Park as well as the coastal villages of Cabo Matapalo and Carate."

Our group of students took off from Unity College, Maine and landed here few days ago, stayed the night at the Pura Vida Hotel and then headed on by van and boat to the northern tip of the Osa, Drake Bay.

For those with a interest in marine life, wide eyed views of the world and funny tales of adventure in Costa Rica . . . you may want to add yourselves as followers to this interesting and often funny blog: <http://ucme.wordpress.com/>

Just for the next 2 weeks you'll get delightful tales from 20 year old college students traipsing around the Osa jungle, swimming in Drake Bay and exploring the amazing wildlife down there. These marine biology students are down here for 3 weeks getting an eye and brain full of Costa Rica. Full disclosure: We met them as they entered the country, they stayed a night and we waived them on their way by van to the Osa.

Every day each student (and professor Emma Creaser) blogs about their experiences - here's a short entry from last night:

"Today we went sea kayaking to explore the coastline from another point of view.  We´re all getting used to the humidity and the heat now, and the first wave of sunburn is peeling off people. Today at the hotel we saw some men from the government measuring distance on the shore. Apparently, there are to be no buildings 50m or 200m from the high tide line as the government owns the first 50m of land. Of course plenty of people live in this strip of land so it appears that the government is doing some sort of eminent domain decision to
obtain the houses. It will probably be better for the environment, but it seems a little harsh on the locals."

And you can imagine Amanda's mum back in New England stumbling into this entry about her daughters first trip to the jungle: "Today we went sea kayaking which was a lot of fun. We started by going up a river but had to turn around because the tide was changing. I saw a small crocodile which was cool however Amanda had just fallen in - good thing there were none around then. We then went out into the ocean and I saw more frigate birds and pelicans. There were lots of fish jumping- wish I had a fishing pole!  Our tour guide was very helpful. It was fun riding the waves. Later today we are getting a talk on Corcovado Reserve which should be very interesting."

This was one insightful entry after just 2 days in the country:

Hooray! It´s Travelling Day!

May 13, 2010

Six hours worth of travelling across Costa Rica in one day, and here are a few of the things I learned:

1. Costa Ricans have the right idea – A GPS means a map and a laser pointer.
2. On the coin colones, there are 3 mountains representing the three large mountain ranges in Costa Rica. Also, it looks like there is only one ship before the mountains, but the dot in between two of the mountains is actually another ship. Each one sails on a different ocean that borders Costa Rica.
3. When the tour guide says, “Pay attention, there’s going to be a quiz later,” he means it. There could be a t-shirt at stake.
4. When the tour guide says that he just went into the butcher shop to get the throwaway bits of meat so that we can feed crocodiles later, he means it.
5. Feeding crocodiles off a bridge is SO COOL.
6. Howler monkeys really do howl (well, the males do anyways).
7. Time always seems to go by very slowly in Costa Rica.
8. When the heat and humidity are getting to you, and all you want is for it to rain, remember to be careful what you wish for next time.
9. Riding down a river in a small boat going rather fast is very exciting. Especially when the rain is pelting down so hard that it hurts your skin, and it’s thundering and lightning outside and you’re in a metal boat in the middle of the water, and there’s fog everywhere, and you can barely see out of your glasses… I’m quite serious, though… it was very exciting.
10. HOLY GUACAMOLE OCEAN WATER IS WARM HERE!!!
11. Mangroves are really cool… well, at least I think they are. It was hard to see them with all of the fog and the rain.
12. When you put all of your luggage into plastic bags to keep it dry when in reality the one thing that you care about keeping dry is your computer, of course your computer is the one thing that gets wet.
13. Hammocks with ocean views are the best idea ever.
14. Never underestimate the book exchange rack at the hotel. There just may be a fantastic book there that is waiting for you.
15. And most importantly… PACK LIGHTER NEXT TIME!!!!!

I just wished they'd post more photos like "Amanda falling in the ocean, "croc advancing" etc etc.  If you leave a comment on any of the blog entries you'll get the option to be emailed daily posts. They finish in 2 weeks but the blog and their experiences will be there forever?

Some of our guests Favorite Places

Below you will find some places that our guests have recommended you might visit. These visits are based on their own trips and our guests believe you'd better not miss the experience if you are in that particular location. Perhaps some of these activities can enchant you and add to an unforgettable trip when you next come to Costa Rica:

Town	Location	Thing	Summary
Alajuela	Zoo Ave	The animals of course	It’s hard sometimes to tell which animals live in the zoo and which decided to hang around for the ambience.
Arenal	Paraiso Hotel	Zip Lines	Zip lining down at 40 mph over a lush canopy of rain forest and river, what a rush!
Uvita	Hacienda Baru/ Alejandra & Giovani	Don Lulos, Nauyaca Waterfull Tour	Beautifull Waterfull, Wonderfull Family, good food, bargain prices.
Cahuita	Cahuita National Park	Cahuita N.P	The large park with easy trails is a national treasure lots of wildlife too with a large barrier reef to snorkel.  Beautiful beaches, great wildlife, not a lot of people.
Cerro Punta in  Panama	Finca Dracula	Garden and orchid farm	Finca Dracula has a bazillion types of orchid, but the Dracula orchids hybridized at Finca Dracula are the stars. Lovely gardens.
Playa Cocles	El Gato Cicova, C.R. Italian Restaurant	Great restaurant	Food was gourmet Italian in the middle of this crazy jungle town. The music was enchanting. Great service.
Playa Cocles	Shawanda Restaurant	Great restaurant	Great atmosphere, ambience, service and great Food!!
Damas near Quepos		Mangrove Vayaking	Boas, Monkeys(Lots) and a great guide.
Drake Bay	Pirates Cove	Dinner and the park	Natural Food prepared very well. Day trips to Corcovado National Park.
Drake Bay	Elia, the guide	Corcovado National Park	Truly a zoo without bars. Grand Slaw on monkey species, Scarlet Macaws in the wild, anteaters, sloths, the whole menagerie, Sirena Ranger Station.
El Castillo	Linda Vista Lodge	The View	Perfect view of the Arenal Volcano erupting, the lake and more.
La Fortuna	Arenal Volcano Lodge	The hotel	Beautiful grounds with lots of flowers, super-friendly staff, and spotless rooms. Great restaurants and beautiful pools. And to top it off, the price is very reasonable.
La Fortuna	Anywhere in the area	Arenal Volcano at night	The lava flow at night is like fire works tumbling down the mountain!
La Fortuna	Arenal Hanging Bridges/Jose, the tour guide	Hanging Bridges Tour	Make sure you tell your guide what you hope to see so they can do their best to find it. We saw tarantulas, howler monkeys, two eyelash vipers, lots of lizards, a poison dart frog, leaf cutter ants, etc. Even a toucan!!
La Fortuna	Arenal Canopy Tour	Rainforest	Panoramic Lake views.
La Fortuna	1 mile out of town/ask any local teenager	Very Cool Rope Swing- 20ft drop	Some waterfalls (which you can also jump from).  What a blast & a special experience it was to laugh, cheer, and be cheered on by the local kids! It is located just off the small road over the same river that the waterfull in town falls into/creates.
Montezuma	Amor de Mar	Everything	Horse back riding and trip to Tortuga Island.  We rented both houses which are joined by an optional adjoining door at Amor De Mar. It was beyond our belief!!
Near La Fortuna	Arenal	Hanging	Waterfalls, Rivers, great views, beautiful walk. Suspended bridges & the jungle!
Near Sarapiqui	La Selva/ Christian the guide	The nature preserve	Fun guide, jungle walk, paved trails.
Nosara	Lagarta Lodge	The nature preserve	The lodge owns its own nature reserve that you can walk around and spot wildlife, with interesting information about trees and plant life. Sit in their bar and watch the sun set, and you need a car to get to Ostinal to see the turtles.
Ojochal	“Exotica” and “Citrus”	Restaurants in the middle of nowhere	Ojochal was adopted a few years ago by a lot of French Canadians so there are good French Restaurants. “Exotica” is one of the oldest and best. The food is not to be missed , and “Citrus” is so good too.
Puerto Viejo	Sarapiqui	La Selva	Great animals & birds. The scientist in residence were fabulous,  specially with my 8 years old daughter.
Samara		C&C Surf School	The ticos who work at the C&C Surf School are just good old fashioned bums. Good teachers. They also rent surfboards, boogieboards, and kyaks by the hour or day at a very good price.
San Gerardo de Dota	Savegre Mountain Hotel	The Chacon family	Surprisingly comfortable, operated by a family of very gracious people, terrific food, great birdwatching (with and without guide), easy hiking trails a little Shangri-La only 100km south.
Santa Elena/ Monteverde	Arco Iris Hotel / Monteverde	San Juan Coffee Tour	The coffee tour was nicely, informative and the coffee was the best. We also brave the Aventura Zip Line Canopy Tour. The cabins at Arco Iris were beautiful, saw monkeys during breakfast!!
Sarapiqui	Tirimbina Chocolate Tour		Demostration of how they made chocolate in the Mayan times. Interactive, good for kids. Brilliant chocolate!!
Sarapiqui, Tirimbina Rain Forest Center	Cocoa Plantation Tour	Wendy	Interesting and exceptional tour with the wide Wendy.
Tortuguero	Casa Marbella/ Daryl Loth	Seeing green turtles laying eggs	Daryl took us on the turtle tow for $15. It is incredible well managed and the turtles; not the tourist are the main priority. It was magical. Casa Marbella is a great place to stay, right on the river with great views, very comfortable, and the boat tows they run are also fabulous.