Sloths, sand and shots // Costa Rica 25-30 May

Well. In my last post I did say change of plans.
And what a change of plans and scenery it has been indeed.

I went from sweeping casitas to searching for sleepy sloths; from making dinner for one to sitting with lovely people from 6 different nationalities doing shots; from 'learning Spanish on Netflix' (watching Narcos Mexico) alone in my hut in the hills to learning slang in German, French (European AND Canadian), Costa Rican-Spanish.

Leaving "Best beach town for American retirees" on Monday 27th May, I traveled south-east, down the coast towards Drake Bay in the Osa Peninsula.

Drake Bay is a hilly little bay-side town, population of about 1000 residents, accessible only by sea until recently. It's surrounded by lowland tropical rainforest, tourism is its main economy, with a not-too-dense spread of eco-lodges, the occasional soda (local restaurant) and companies running tours to Corcovado National Park, kayaking, and zip-lining tours.

Capuchin monkeys

Corcovado National Park day tour 

The next morning, the 16-seater speedboat left Drake Bay beach at 6am, and an hour and a few sore butts later we were at another beach at the entrance of one of the most biologically treasured parks in the region. Jose was our passionate and scholarly nature guide, who took us through the dense rainforest armed with his powerful telescope, a keen eye for spotting wildlife and classroom-like pop quiz questions for us. With him we saw howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys, a sloth (life goal achieved!!!), a baby hawk in its nest, a coati, spoonbills and many other types of birds and lizards I can't name, including species that were endangered and only found in Costa Rica. It was a good amount of walking, waiting, trying very hard to peek through dense canopies, but the result was rewarding and truly eye-opening. Most of these animals were things I had never ever seen before. And the fact that the Osa Peninsula holds possibly the highest natural diversity on the planet, inspiring The National Geographic magazine to describe it as "the most biologically intense place on earth", is mindblowing and humbling.

Baby hawk

Woodpecker

SLOTH!! Life goal TICK!

Drake Bay Hikes

The next day, blessed with beautiful weather, I did a 10km hike on the Drake Bay Hiking Trail, hugging the coastline, watching the waves crash into rocks below, spotting wildlife and chatting to friendly travelers along the way.

At night, the weather stayed dry so I did a night hike with a guide, spotting spotty frogs, spiders, grasshoppers, and other creepy crawlies.

Red eye tree frog

Granular dart frog - poisonous and endemic to Costa Rica

It's beautiful, but I couldn't stay

It rained A LOT in the Osa. It was raining the entire afternoon I arrived, and coupled with a powercut, there wasn't much to do except sit outside in the patio and read while feeding mosquitos. I ventured out with my raincoat for a walk and soon found out that my raincoat is NOT thunderstorm-kind-of-rain-proof. Fortunately, power came back on as soon as I got back from my walk, drenched, and ready for a lukewarm shower. The next day it rained halfway through our Corcovado tour. Again, raincoat wasn't much use after 20 minutes, and definitely no use on the hour-plus long ride trecherously bumpy speedboat ride back to Drake through the storm. My fingers were purple from the cold, and my ass as well from being thrown off and on our benches every 5 seconds.

From having no plans to having beach buddies

I met up with a few fellow travelers from the Corcovado Park tour for drinks and dinner that evening - a French brother & sister pair, and a Spanish-Costa Rican couple. Both pairs were heading off to Manuel Antonio in the next 2 days. I had previously written Manuel Antonio off as being a bit too touristy and more for families than solo travelers like me, but over a beer with these new friends, I was convinced to join them - there wasn't much else going on in this tiny village, I needed to get out of the rain, and very importantly Daniela & Roberto offered me a seat in their car :D I only had 2 nights booked at Drake Bay anyway and had no plans for another 3 nights.

That's the beauty of solo traveling, not making many plans ahead, being flexible and open to suggestions.

So - off to Manuel Antonio!

...Which I will continue in my next post. Where the aforementioned shots and 6-nations and slangs come in. And my reward of meeting great people, and being able to share the excitement of finding a sloth or a howler monkey with them.

I'll end with this sweet little thing - 4-month-old Rio, a relatively new resident at my accommodation in Drake called Casa El Tortugo which was excellent by the way - 5 stars for cute pets and massive breakfasts!

Puppy eyes <3 td="">