Corcovado: Southern Tip of Costa Rica

On the hour boat ride to Corcovado National Park we saw a mom & pup Humpback whale & an olive ridley turtle.  Inside the park we saw colorful birds, squirrel monkeys, sharks & crocodiles in the lagoons, a brown curacao chicken, a koatie (like raccoon), the largest hermit crabs I've ever seen & a lizard.

Dolphins flying

It was very special & exciting to be able to see & catch these two dolphins flying.  Their magic is dedicated to my dear friends Robert, Kaz & Lucas proving that robust health is your path.  

Macaw Parrots at Drakes Bay

   I am staying in a small, remote, primitive jungle bed&breakfast on the Osa Peninsula, on the southern most tip of Costa Rica.  I embarked at 11am, Tue. 7/24, w/ fellow guests, Carol/Audrey (mother & daughter from Quebec) to snorkel.  It was a challenging adventure.  We began with a 30 minute Quad-ATV ride to the end of the road at the beach mouth.  Then we began walking to the snorkeling beach.  We had a very exciting diversion when we saw macaws in the trees above & spent about 30 minutes watching & photographing them.  

I also found some interesting shells along the way. We continued what was supposed to be a 30 minute trek to the cove but we hit a very rocky area that became impassable.  We finally waded across a river and found a path in the jungle that eventually led us to the beach.  It was unexpectedly pebbly but I pulled on my flippers and mask & headed into the surf.  The fins were too big-they gave me men’s size 7, not women’s and the snorkel had hole in it.  Not an auspicious event.  We ate our delicious packed lunch, hung out until the tide came in then took the jungle trail back along the beach to the road where we hung out in the grass waiting for our 30 minute ATV ride back to “our” part of the jungle.   

Costa Rica: Flight from San Jose to Drakes Bay

At 8 am I took a Sansa flight in a 12-seat propeller plane, 40 minutes south to Drakes Bay, CR.  

Below, that's my gray backpack in foreground carrying all computer equipment.

In Drakes Bay I'm met by Cheppe, a very kind man/driver who loads my four bags onto his ATV, the only vehicle able to reach the jungle cabin I’ve chosen.

  I enjoyed the scenery, fresh air and forging two streams and seriously riddled dirt roads. It's about 30 minutes negotiating the terrain from the airstrip to Jumanji.  It is very remote & primitive here.  Their wifi went down in lighting storm and it is not in my room anyway. I hike up 2 steep hills to get to main house to hardwire to internet.  

Costa Rica: Quepos farmers' market

This morning, 7.21.12, Saturday, we walked to the local farmers market in downtown Quepos, at the marina.  I wore Jessica's Gap 1969 jean shorts & my maxstudio white linen top, with Champion visor and Keen sandals.  I purposely left all my shorts at home, thinking my 70 year old legs not fit for public consumption.  But it is too hot & humid for the long pants I did bring.  

The flowers along the streets & paths are lush and colorful.  

 

Below is  our local bus stop.

Many of the local vegetables and fruits are so big, they look like they were grown on steroids:

carrots the size of cucumbers

 beets as big as baseballs

squash  big as a guitar

radishes  big as tennis balls

grapes the size of golf balls 

bananas long as scythes  

  

We've been here 8 days, never heard a siren or saw a police car so we were wondering where the police were.  Today on our way to the fish market, we found them.