My Costa Rico adventure with my father and older brother took us to Lapa Rios in the Osa Peninsula to a rainforest. It took 5 hours to fly 2000 miles to San Jose Costa Rica, The last 240 miles was and 8 hour drive from San Jose to Lapa Rios. Puerto Jimenez is the closest town to Lapa Rios and is a 45 minutes drive on dirt roads. There were no local flights in the afternoon when we landed, so the resort picked us up. This was a very long drive, but great to see the countryside and hear about the resorts history and rainforest. Our mornings started with the 4:30am wakeup calls from the Hawler Monkeys. This was a huge shock to me, and I can only describe that it sounded like Chewie screaming someone stole his breakfast. Sunrise was around 5am and sunset was around 5pm. The bungalow has no AC, phone, or TV, and was 900 steps from the main lodge, with over 200 stairs steps. It was a long walk, so you didn't want to leave something behind. Every dinner we brought our flashlights to make sure we had enough light to guide us back to our room. The daily sounds were amazing, with the ocean in the distance, the bird calls, the monkeys, and the other chirping insects creating a great symphonic experience. The heat and humidity were a constant, the main lodge at the top of the hill had a nice open area facing the ocean that generated a great "breeze of awesomeness" to refresh us. We made daily treks for 3-4 hours into the rain forest, walking with a naturalist pointing out the features of the rainforest and the wildlife.
Lapa Rios was outstanding and I would definitely want to return and experience the beauty of the rainforest and the animls that call it home.
Some notes I made while I was in Lapa Rios
Arrival day:
- Took 5 hours to fly over 2000 miles, took 8 hours to dive 240 miles
- Long drive - arrived at 9pm
Day 1:
- The Mantlet Hawler Monkeys waking up at 4am for 5am sunrise - sounds like Chewie.
- 220 stairs and 1000 steps to the main lodge for eating
- Total day one. : 4.56 miles, 11,664 steps, 62 flights of stairs - my calves are burning
- Hiking with Jack to find the beach and exploring the nature walks
- Having a Olingo explore the deck - Large mammal
- Photo shoot with Scarlet Macaw. Six of them ate Almonds in the tree over our room an dropped the shells on the roof
- The Morning Black Mandibled Toucan
- Hot - crazy hot and humid...drinking lots of water
- Agouti in the woods...small animal
Day 2:
- Hawler Monkey wake up call 4:30am
- Waterfall hike- 3 hours
- Saw Spider Monkey
- Howler Monkey
- Three-toed Sloth
- Hex Glass Frog
- Golfo Dulce Dart Frog - looks like poison arrow dart frog
- Amazing Water falls - Hot. /Hummid / various plants and very large hardwood trees. Beautiful canopy , lush green, amazing sounds
- Huge thunderstorm and lots of rain
- Photographed some spider monkeys, Scarlot Macaw, Black Mandibled Toucan
- Total stats for the day: 8,854 steps, 62 flights of stairs, total 3.5 miles
- Calves are feeling the burn, - climbing 11 flights of stairs to go to dinning area gets exhausting
- The humidity is so thick you can feel it's weight all over you
Day 3:
- Hawler Monkey wake up call 4:30am
- Osa Trail hike - 3.5 hours - hiking the old rain forest to the new forest
- Massive hardwood trees
- Strangler vines that wrapped around trees, eventually killing the tree and leaving an empty shell for animals to live in
- Saw monkeys - spider and Howler , saw sloth, along with a bunch of birds.
- Our guide showed us where he ran into a 9 foot snake
- Massive canopy helped shield us from the big rain storm as we hiked.
- We learned the Macow will live over 90 years old and fly in pairs. They couple up and are monogamous their entire life.
- Afternoon we saw the Macaws back in our trees enjoying the almonds
- Spider monkeys came around and swung all over - fun to take pictures
- Another massive thunder storm in the evening
- Walking stats: 13,167 steps, 5.08 miles, 48 flights of stairs
Day 4 : I noticed I didn't take any field notes, I think the heat, humidity and rain exhausted my ability to remember to update my log. I recall it was a great recovery day, resting with minimal walks and enjoying the sounds and sights of the visitors to our almond tree.