Puerto Jimenez, Osa Peninsula

Posted on May 31, 2013 by George

On the way to Corcovado National Park we stopped at Puerto Jimenez to buy park permits and get trail information. After we got everything squared in town we decided to set camp at one of the local beaches for the night. We woke up to paradise like jungle. Here are the pictures from a quick five minute walk on the beach. Amazing…

Update: After we came back from Corcovado we came back to the same beach. The first night here was awesome so we decided to sleep at the same spot again. The next morning turned out that we were sleeping fifty meters from a fantastic hotel (Perla De Osa) on the beach that has a super cool bar on the first floor with wifi, cold showers and amazing fresh fruit juices … Yes, we stayed for two more nights :). Also added some more pictures.

: Parrot food

: Cayman in the mangrove 200 meters behind our camping spot.

: Baby caymans …

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

Posted on May 23, 2013 by George

Yesterday we arrived at Puerto Viejo. This is a small town on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica about 20 miles from the border with Panama. The town has a healthy population of gringos who are here for the surfing, a national park that apparently has sloths (in BG: lenivetc) and tons of birds, and of course, what we came here for, the beaches.

We set camp about 5km south of town at a desolate beach. Our German travel friends Klaus, Sonja and Mia recommended this place to us. The beach is protected by a small reef right in front of it, which means there are no big waves so we parked 10 meters from the water. Awesome! After sleeping at absolutely crazy places the last three nights we totally deserve this place!

Last night about a hundred big crabs invaded us. I am talking 2 crabs and you make dinner …

Oh, and on the pictures you will see our new shower setup ☺. After showering naked at random places we decided that it is finally time to do something about it, so here it is.

Bahia de Salinas – in pursuit of kiting

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Teresa

Before heading in the direction of Bahia de Salinas (the best kitesurfing spot in Costa Rica, known as the 8^th windiest place in the world), I implored George to find somewhere we could sleep. He tracked down a few kite schools online thinking that they could at least point us in the direction of a nice camping spot. We had just missed the season though, so the kite schools were quiet. This led us to arbitrarily choose dirt roads to drive down. After some backtracking and stops to ask locals for directions, we finally found a nice beach spot to camp out. The truck was in need of some serious organization and we needed a few easy days to get back into the swing of things (because travelling is just so hard J). We loved the spot, but the damn water was treacherous (jellyfish!). At low tide, the beach was plastered with the stupid things. On the way out, we ran across about twenty monkeys making their way across the still arid landscape – rainy season hadn’t hit this part of the coast yet. It seems always to be the case that the amazing wildlife sightings are serendipity, happening nowhere near the national parks that you pay to get into.

Granada, finally some competition for Antigua

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Teresa

I knew I was going to love Granada when we pulled in. Touristy yes, but with that came beautiful colonial buildings, nice cafes, and a well-maintained central square. We of course headed to get our internets fix. That night, we decided to camp out along the lake. Scouting the area, we came across two Mercedes trucks (German travellers, of course). We asked to crash next to them (safety in numbers and all that). The next morning, we chatted with one of our neighbors (Sonja, Claus, and Mia). They joined us for breakfast at one of the restaurants along a pedestrian street. We then strolled around the city. Did I mention Claus is also a kiter? The men soon hashed out a plan to head for the nearest kite spot (oh gee).