Costa Rica 哥斯达黎加 (1)-Osa Peninsula
The custom process in Costa Rica is also quick and convenient, not as complicated as it is discussed online. The border station in Costa Rica is a hundred meters away from the Panama border station, and it is easy to find. We don't need to fill out any form or pay any fee to enter the country. They asked for information about the hotel we would stay in Costa Rica and the booked tickets to leave Costa Rica. They then stamped our passports, and the process took about a few minutes for the four of us. It was a big relief for us since we had prepared for more complicated procedures and difficult situations arising. We would say that going through the land custom is faster and more convenient than at the airport.
The Alamo rental place is nearby, another 100 meters from the customs station. The staff at the station was English-speaking and accommodating, even waiving the fee for adding an additional driver. The Toyota RAV4 we got was new, only over 2,000 kilometers. After signing all the necessary documents, we took the car and happily drove away. The highway is also well-maintained. At noon, we had lunch at a local café, Soda Samuel. Soda means a small café in Costa Rica. We had no idea what to order. We saw the locals all having some kind of big bowl of soup and a bowl of rice, so we ordered the same. The beef bone soup, Olla de Carne, was delicious. People in Costa Rica seem to eat more rice than we do. We also stopped at a supermarket, Maxi Pali, to get bottled water and fruit. Having a car makes travel more flexible and convenient.
Our destination is the Osa Peninsula in the Puntarenas Province of southwestern Costa Rica, with the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Golfo Dulce to the east. The peninsula is home to at least half of all species living in Costa Rica. The villa we booked through booking.com is in a remote village called Palo Seco. The Costa Rica-Panama border is on the east side of the Golfo Dulce. We had to drive north and around the Golfo Dulce to get there. The town is out of populated areas, and Google Maps doesn't even show the direction. The host wanted to meet us at the interception near the highway, but we managed to get to the booked villa, Casa Ranas, based on the host's direction at 2:30 pm. The two-story house features a beautiful garden, a lounge, and a terrace on 32 -acres next to Corcovado Nation Park. Another reason for us to book this house was that it has a wildlife photography tower. The owner is an Englishman who loves wildlife photography. He was accommodating and responsive. He had communicated with us many times before the trip to ensure that we would find his place without trouble and provided us with some tips, like WAZE and Google not working for his place.
We spent the afternoon on the property and relaxed a little bit. The supper was homemade tomato egg soup and green leaves. At night, the host took us to look for red-eyed frogs in his garden. We heard their calling but couldn't find them; we found other frogs, lizards, and spiders.
Feb 3: Early in the morning, we woke up to the sound of birds. We took so many pictures in the garden. Our original plan was to go to Corcovado National Park, a very eco-friendly place with 2.5% of the world's biodiversity. Most of the peninsula is a national park, and every visitor to visit the park was required to be accompanied by a local guide or join a tour to enter the park. The park entrances were far away from where we stayed. Jim, the host, recommended we go to Matapalo at the peninsula's tip, near Puerto Jimenez, instead. He thought going to the national park with lots of off-road driving would be inconvenient. We followed his advice and headed out to Port Jimenez.
When we were just out of the rented house and passed Palo Seco, we saw a lot of squirrel monkeys jumping up and down on the trees on the roadside. It excited us, and we parked the car and kept taking pictures until they left.
Puerto Jimenez is the largest town on the peninsula, but there is not much to see, so we headed straight to Matapalo Beach. Neither WAZE nor Google could give us a good direction. We just drove on the paved road until it reached a reasonably well-built dirt and gravel road. The gravel road has a beautiful view of the calm Golfo Dulce on the left and cattle and horses on the other. After a while, the dirt road turned into a bumpy, rough road in the woods, with the resorts and retreat emerging in the forest. Thankfully we rented a four-wheel drive car and could drive slowly towards the beach, but the car ride was so bumpy that within a few minutes, one of us got terrible motion sickness, so we turned around and looked for a beach nearby. We got off at Pan Dulce Beach.
"Pan Dulce Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in Costa Rica, located on the Golfo Dulce side. The beach is known for its pristine white sand, crystal-clear waters, and lush tropical vegetation." - From ChatGPT. On the beach, we silently watched the spectacle of pelicans rushing into the sea repeatedly to catch the fish. On the contrary, a local person was standing in the water casting net many times without catching a single fish when we were there. The big birds must be thinking about how unskillful this guy is.
After spending some time on the beach, we returned to Puerto Jimenez for lunch. We ate at Marisqueria Corcovado Seafood restaurant by the sea and enjoyed watching birds flying and boats sailing while eating. After lunch, we bought a watermelon and papaya from a roadside fruit stall for ten dollars, which we thought was expensive. Since we arrived in Costa Rica yesterday, it has become clear that food here are more expensive than in Panama. Our host agreed that the price in Osa was twice that of Panama and the rest of Costa Rica.
On the way back to the villa, we stopped by Finca Kobo Chocolate Farm/Inn to buy some raw chocolate. The place has a fantastic garden and offers a chocolate tour on the premise.
Feb 4: At five o'clock in the morning, Chenggang went to Jim's garage-converted cabin for an early morning coffee while the three ladies were still sleeping. Jim would live in the cabin alone when the big house was rented out. After coffee, Jim took Chenggang to the garden belonging to an old American lady for a photo shoot. On the way there, he talked about his life story. Jim's father, a biologist working for the United Nations, traveled a lot and lived all over the world with his family. Jim returned to the U.K. at 12 and traveled the world as an adult because of his work. He has visited more than 80 countries around the world, including China. Jim doesn't consider England his hometown. He looked for places he liked to live and picked Costa Rica as his new place due to his love of wildlife photography. He is turning this 24-acre property into a wildlife photography paradise. Interestingly, Costa Rica is not his home country either, and he goes back to England every year to be a substitute teacher for Geology for a few months, not for money, but to keep himself as a part of the U.K., as he said.
The American Lady's Garden is on an east-facing hillside with a spectacular panoramic view of the calm Golfo Dulce. We arrived just in time for the beautiful sunrise and enjoyed nature. At this time, a group of scarlet macaws flew in, and we kept taking pictures. The primary purpose of our visit there this time was to take photos of hummingbirds, but unfortunately, there are few hummingbirds, but Jim did manage to capture a rare hummingbird. Because Jim had also arranged another activity for all four of us, we hurried back to the villa.
After breakfast, Jim did another activity with Chenggang. He took Chenggang up to his 8-meter-high self-built photography tower, and under his safety protection, Chenggang slowly climbed to the top of the tower, stayed on it for a while to take a few photos, and then came down. His legs were a little shaky.
Then it was time for the group activity. Jim took the four of us to the reconstructed primary forest in his backyard. We hiked up and down in the woods, wearing the tall boots he specially prepared for the tenants (to prevent poisonous snakes) and listening to him explaining some basic knowledge of biology and plants. We could feel his passion and love for the wildlife. Along the way, Jim retrieved the cameras he put into the forest the day before yesterday. Throughout the morning, Jim spent much of his time with us, which he didn't have to, and we were very grateful.
At noon we invited Jim to join us for lunch at a small local restaurant nearby called Soda Leila. The Leila didn't have the menu, but fortunately, Jim knew the place very well and knew what to order, and we just followed him. The lunch was great, very local, and decent. After lunch, we went to the supermarket to buy some fruit and pizza and then went to the Finca Kobo Chocolate Farm/Inn again for coffee. Not only can you buy 100% pure cocoa powder, but there is also a gorgeous garden where we saw many different species of beautiful birds and were lucky enough to see two different types of monkeys jumping among trees for a while. It was exhilarating and enriching for us.
A solar-powered satellite service in the village provided the WiFi at Jim's place. After the dark, the WiFi didn't seem to work. It was inconvenient in this digitally connected world, but it gave us more time to immerse in nature and enjoy it.
Feb 5: We got up early and walked around the garden. Chenggang took a chair and sat quietly in the garden, watching many beautiful birds flying around the forest. He was so emotional when Jim, the thoughtful host, saw him sitting there alone and brought him cup of hot coffee. We didn't know Jim before and simply rented his house for three days in a foreign country. During our stay, knowing that we loved to travel and take photos, he provided us with countless extra help and left us with unforgettable memories.
Today we are going to our next stop, Manuel Antonio National Park. After breakfast, when we were loading the car and preparing to leave, a group of squirrel monkeys came and stole bananas designed for them by Jim. We had hoped to see those little monkeys in the garden for the last three days, but they didn't appear. Today they suddenly appeared just as we were about to leave, and we felt so lucky. Saying goodbye to Jim, we reluctantly left the beautiful wooden house in the forest.
The following paragraphs are the Chinese version of the travel journal.
进哥斯达黎加也很方便，没像网上说的那么复杂。边境站离巴拿马边境站没几步路，很容易找，也不用填表交过关税，只要看一下我们在哥斯达黎加旅馆的信息以及我们离开哥斯达黎加的机票，然后在护照盖了章就算过境了。
租车点就在附近，我们订的丰田RAV4，车基本上是新的，只开了二千公里，工作人员也特别热心。这是我们第一次在美国外租车。拿了车高高兴兴上路，他们的高超公路也修的不错。有车还是很方便，半路上我们在一家当地小饭店，喝了一碗牛肉汤，还吃了Taco。牛肉汤很好喝，好像每一位顾客都在喝汤加上一碗白米饭，这里人不比中国人少吃饭。顺路再去超市买些水果和蔬菜。
下午二点半到了我们预定的民宿，主人是一位英国人，喜欢摄影，特别热心。晚上他带着我们找红眼青青蛙，但没找到，明后天再试试。
2/3： 一早被各种鸟声吵醒。今天原来准备去Corcovado 国家公园，是环境保护很好的地方，它具有世界上2.5%生物多样性。整个半岛绝大数区域都是国家公园，每位游客进公园都需要当地导游陪同或者参加旅游团。但公园的入口非常远。我们民宿的主人建议我们去在半岛尖点的Matapalo. 他认为去国家公园实在太不方便了，会很累。我们按他的建议上路去Jimenez 港。
刚出我们租的民宿，就在路边的树上看到不少松鼠猴，在树林里跳跃，上上下下，使我们激动不已，太幸运了。
Jimenez 是半岛上最大的小镇，但没什么可看的，我们就直奔Matapalo，去Matapalo 海滩的路连谷歌都没法告诉怎么走，我们看着地图觉得还可以走。一会儿就从水泥路上了修得还算不错的土石路，一路景色优美，左边是平静的海湾，另一边是牛马牧场。再过一会儿，我们转入更为简单的石路，幸好我们租了四轮驱动的车，觉得慢慢地开车到海滩应该是没什么问题，但车上下左右颠簸太厉害，没几分钟我们就有点晕车了，转头就在附近找个海滩看看。在海滩上，默默地看着鹈鹕们一次次冲入海中觅食的奇景，而一位当地人站在水里撒网半天也没抓到一条鱼，大鸟们一定在想这位傻哥不知干啥呢。
从海滩回到Jimenez 小镇，找了家海边的海鲜饭店边吃边欣赏海景。又在路边水果摊买了个西瓜和一个木瓜，十块美金。自昨天来到哥斯达黎加之后就明显感觉到这里的物价要比巴拿马贵。回民宿与主人聊起，他说的确如此，物价是巴拿马的一倍。
民宿的WiFi 是用太阳能的，太阳落山后就没信号了，也让我们有更多时间去听鸟，找鸟🐦🦜🦤。
2/4：热心的民宿主人Jim是一位来自英国的大学老师及业余摄影师。早晨五点，Chenggang先去Jim用车库改装的小木屋喝咖啡，平时如果大房子租岀去的话他就自己住小木屋。咖啡之后他便带着Chenggang去一位美国老太的花园里照相。Jim的父亲是一位为联合国工作的生物学家，小时候随父亲到处为家，他在12岁才回到英国, 成年后由于自己工作关系也是满世界跑。从小到大足迹遍布世界各地八十几个国家包括中国。对他来说英国𣎴是他的故乡。他寻找他喜欢的地方，由于他爱好野生动物的摄影，就搬到了哥斯达黎加。准备把这24公亩的家园变成野生动物摄影的天堂。有趣的是哥斯达黎加也不是他的家，每年他回去做几个月的替代老师，不全为的是钱，而是为了使得自己仍然是英国的一部分。
美国老太的花园位于朝东的山坡上，远望平静的海湾和冉冉升起的旭日，我们陶醉于大自然中。这时一群猩红金刚鹦鹉飞来，我们俩照不停，他的是专业的。我们这次去那里的主要目的是照飞鸟，可惜的是飞鸟没几个，但Jim照到一个很少见的飞鸟。因为接下来还有他为我们大家安排的节目，我们就匆匆赶回住所。
吃完早餐后，他带我上他8米高的自建摄影塔，在他安全保护下，我慢慢地爬上塔，在上面待了一会儿照几张照片后我们就下来了。然后他又带着我们四人去他后园里的重建森林和原始森林走走，穿着他特地为房客准备的高筒靴子（以防毒蛇），高一脚低一脚地走在森林里，听他给我们讲解一些生物和植物基本常识，还顺便把他前天放在森林里的相机取回。整整一个上午Jim自告奋勇地做了我们的私人向导，我们心存感激。中午我们邀请他和我们一起去附近当地一家小餐厅吃午饭。
之后我们先去超市买了点水果和Pizza，然后来到Jim推荐的他家附近的一家专做巧克力tour的小旅店喝咖啡。那里不仅可以买到100%的纯可可粉，还有着非常漂亮的花园，我们在那里看到了许多不同品种漂亮的鸟，还很幸运的看到了二种不同的猴子，让我们兴奋不已。这一天收获非常大。
2/5：早早起床，在园子里转转，Chenggang一个人拿了把椅子坐在那里，静静地观看着各种各样漂亮的鸟在林中飞来飞去，好心的房东给他送来一杯热腾腾咖啡，好感动。我们和他素不相识，在异国它乡租了他的主楼三天，因为知道我们喜欢旅游和照相，他为我们提供无数的额外帮助，给我们留下令人难忘的记忆。今天我们要离开这里前往下一站Manuel Antonio National Park.
吃完早餐，正在装车准备离开，突然间来了一群松鼠猴，偷吃房东Jim 特地给它们准备的香蕉。在民宿住了三天，天天盼望着能在园子里看到小猴，可就是没出现，只在附近其它地方有看到各种𤠣子，而今天就在我们马上要离开时它们却突然出现了，太神奇，太幸运了。告别了房东，依依不舍地离开了森林中的木屋。
