2018/02 Costa Rica - Aguila de Osa Inn |
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We waited there for two other parties, English and American, and then we were off in a boat towards the Aguila de Osa inn. There was a scarlet macaw 
in a nearby tree, amazingly hard to find, a big red, yellow, and blue bird merging into the green foliage.
Peter, from the San Francisco area, and I shared the seat by the wheel housing as we needed the support; we both had bad backs and we were occasionally pounded by wakes and waves. This picture came from Englishman Andy; that’s his wife Gill, next to Sandie.
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Boat to Osa (3.23) |
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Although we were speeding along the river, the crew appreciated that we were there to see the nature and they made stops to see 
kingfishers and egrets. We also took a narrow channel through the mangrove swamp, not necessary but an interesting diversion.
When we reached the open sea the crew was steering between rocks and we passed a series of headlands, getting pounded as we crossed the waves.
We slowed into Drake Bay and docked at the Aguila de Osa inn, where the staff gave us a drink and lunch and an explanation of how the place works and where the walks go. The inn is a few steps up from the dock but the rooms are in buildings perched on the cliff above, over 80 steps up. Our room was dubbed the honeymoon suite; there was certainly a lot of 
heavy breathing by the time we’d climbed up there. It was the last room along the walkway and very private. From our chairs and hammock we had a view of Drake Bay far below through a screen of trees and flowers.
We took off on a walk to the two beaches behind the inn but found that we had to drop down to the dock to get to the suspension bridge over the river and then a hundred more steps up to the ridgetop and down again to the beaches. Repeat in reverse if you’ve forgotten your bucket and spade.
The beaches were nice, a mixture of rocks and sand but I didn’t think it likely we’d be trotting over for an early morning swim. The gravelly areas were a war zone for hermit crabs, battling over shell possession.
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Aguila de Osa beach (6.46) |
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The inn had appeared to be on its own in the forest but there is a village just along the coast and about a dozen other lodges scattered around the peninsula, and there’s a ridge-top track connecting them. We had capuchin monkeys there too; they seemed to enjoy playing on the bridge’s cables.
Sunset was time for drinks and snacks with dinner thereafter. All meals are included, but limited to three choices as there are only 11 rooms. Dinner tables are shared so you get to know your neighbours, in our case our fellow travelers from the boat. We had Peter and his wife and sister from California; he used to work at Lawrence Livermore. Gill and Andy live at a village near Thame in the UK; he is a geologist and they’ve lived in a number of places around the world, including Indonesia. They were accompanied by Manfred, their own personal guide for a three week trip. Despite his German name he is a native Costa Rican and a great resource of local information.
This is a great place to see birds. These are some we managed to capture. They are from the left: amazon kingfisher, crested guan, yellow-headed caracara, snowy egret, and black hawk. The guan was in a treetop, falling from branch to branch and then recovering; clumsiest bird ever!