by Wayward Traveler

So here I am flying over this sea of green to my ‘Luxury’ vacation in the jungle.  Can somebody please explain HOW I am going to be given a luxury experience in this place?  I have not seen anything resembling civilization in some time let alone a luxury resort.  Where I am flying to is a place in southern Costa Rica, in the Osa peninsula where researchers have labeled the region as one of the most rich in the world for bio-diversity.  It is not that I NEED a luxury vacation; I am a workaholic so anything resembling relaxation is luxurious to me but I am now a bit critical as we have paid for a luxury vacation in Costa Rica and I am now looking forward to seeing how that can be accomplished here.

So as we start to descend we get a wonderful look at a rural village in Costa Rica and we circle in for an approach to what I thought was a small dirt road but turned out to be the airport!  I brace for a rough landing but am gifted with a soft touchdown, obvious showoff from the pilot.  The terminal is a thatch hut but despite the lack of modern airport look and feel, out come the baggage handlers and support people with efficiency rivaling any International airport.  I thank the Captain and give him a thumbs up for his landing and we are whisked into our Land Rover.

‘So everybody welcome to Drake Bay, we will be crossing a river in a mile or two, don’t worry it is not very deep and we will get you to your boat’ says our happy-go-lucky driver.  ‘Boat, what boat’ I think to myself with a bit of a smile.  Sure enough there is was a nice river which was not too deep but the water was washing over the hood!  Despite my nervous dance in my seat we navigated through without getting even our toes wet.  ‘By the way, you may want to take off your shoes for the boat’ our driver advises.  ‘Huh?’, ‘What does he mean?’, I ask my wife.  She smiles as if to say, go with the flow.

As we make our way through the jungle the driver stops and points out a small building painted a playful blue color.  He says ‘This is our school sponsored by NatureAir, called Nature Kids.  We teach English to the village kids for free.’.  ‘People who speak English make more money than those that don’t, so we are helping the community to help themselves, if we work in tourism we don’t need to cut the trees.’  My wife is a teacher and she gave me that look, ‘impressive’.

We arrive in town, which is saying a lot but they have a Church, a School, and a store and everyone was jumping in to help us get our things down to the beach.  Well here comes the barefoot part, no dock so into the water we go as the villagers carry our bags overhead to the boat.  Our boat ride is short as the cove is just a few hundred meters away but as we enter the cove our boat driver says ‘Up there is the river, you can paddle up there when the tide comes in and see lots of animals then have an easy paddle down as the tide goes out again.’.  I look at my wife, ‘like we are going to do that, looks like animal kingdom up there!’.

Our boat driver docks us quickly and helps us out where we are greeted by a young girl who is obviously from the States, “Welcome to La Paloma Lodge, let’s get you settled in.”  So we walk up into what looks like a scene from Swiss Family Robinson.  We start to see small huts built into the jungle, each with a unique personality.  These are NOT cookie cutter modern construction units you see in every corner of the globe, these are the real deal.  They are made from bamboo, teak and other local woods and look like they belong there.

We arrive at the main building and are offered a drink which was made from jungle juice, literally!  We are escorted to our two story cabin and allowed to start our vacation.  So off to the upper deck I go with my book in hand for a bit of reading.  My wife points out, no computers, no phones, no TVs!  I get about one chapter in when I hear a rustling in the trees, I look up to see the squirrel or swallow or what not but nope, it was a Toucan, sitting about 1 meter away on a tree branch, hmmm thats interesting!  My wife whispers up from downstairs, there is some giant furry thing out here!  So down I go, and sure enough there is a dog-sized animal in the trees moving very very slowly, a three-toed sloth I am later told.

So off to dinner we go and we find large tables set up where we sit with two other couples who share in great conversation over great home style cooking with the best fruit and vegetables found in Costa Rica.  Every need is catered to and we are treated like honored guests.  After dinner with a Cognac in hand we are treated to monkeys visiting us and the other adventurers for what seemed like hours.  Time moves slower here and the mind is free to think, no electronic intervention necessary.

We welcomed our bed that night and there is new meaning to the word dark as the lack of civilization makes for darkness deeper than any I have seen, then the rain.  Down comes the rain, not rain in the typical sense but rain that has personality.  The power of the rain is felt but at the same time is comforting, it lasts a few hours and is replaced by the most wonderful smell of the jungle.  We are asleep quickly and completely.

No it is not the sounds of car horns and sirens or the car alarms, it is the Howler.  If not for the guide book borrowed from the library after dinner we would have been looking for a good hiding place.  Despite their small size the Howler is monstrous in voice.  That is a new kind of wake up call I think to myself!

Off to breakfast and a new day’s adventures!  ‘So what will it be…diving with White Fin Sharks off Canos Island, whale watching off shore, nature hike into the jungles of Corcovado?’, they ask.  My wife and I look up at each other…’Nope, how about paddling up the mouth of the river at high tide?’.

“Man this is luxury isn’t it honey?”, she only smiles…”Yes honey, it is.”

Wayward Traveler