Osa Trip

We left for the Osa peninsula Friday at around 6 a.m. I was distraught when I showed up and realized that Ronald was not driving us; in fact we did not even have the same bus. The drive was quite the experience in and of itself. We had an older bus, and the air went out once or twice. Emily did not fell good and we had to stop for her several times. There was a random hole in a road so we had to find a new way which consisted of crossing a questionable bridge. This bridge could barely hold the bus and it was at an impossible angle. We all had to get off the bus and it took about a half hour to get across the bridge. The bus bottomed out and we had to push it eventually to get it out and over the bridge and to complicate the whole issue there was a drunk Tico trying to help out. This dude was insane and im pretty sure he did not speak any kind of language he just rambled on making up complete gibberish. Once we were over the bridge the ride was pretty smooth. However before the bridge we were on a dirt highway. Yeah that’s right a dirt highway. The roads are one thing I will definitely not miss about Costa Rica. This highway made it impossible to sleep so we all watched friends for pretty much the whole trip. When the bus ride was over it was time to get on the boats. It was raining for the first part of the boat ride and I think we were all nervous because last year a boat capsized. We made it in one piece though. The ride was pretty insane especially when we went through this path that was cut through the trees that the boat could barely make it through. I hope someone has a picture of that because once again I did not have my camera. When we got to the end of the river it was out into the ocean for a little ways. This is where the ride got choppy but it did not compare to a later ride we would take. We were picked up when we got off the boat and taken to our living quarters. It was a mile or two up the mountain and we were the first people to ever stay at this place. There were beds inside of tents on raised platforms. It was pretty sweet. I shared a tent with Matt and big John and we shared the platform with P.J. Paul and Chase. It was a fun group for the three day trip. The lodge is where we all stayed most of the time and this place was beautiful. All the meals there were pretty good except the night we had fish. I did not like anything on the plate so I had a ham sandwich. Fernado, the owner, was such a nice guy. When he first met us he told us never to be hungry. He said if we wanted food just ask….I don’t think he knew what he was getting into. I am pretty sure they did not have enough ham and cheese to last us but we made due by pacing ourselves.
We played a lot of cards at the lodge because there was not much to do in the downtime. We have been playing lots of cards lately. We played a lot of Mafia…which is getting old…, some hearts, crazy eights, rummy, euchre, kemps, and the list goes on and on. As far as kemps goes me and Beth are pretty much the shit and have yet to be beaten in a game. And I did not lose a game of Egyptian rat screw all weekend. 5 for 5 to this point. They tell me Lindsay has some game but we were never at the same table. The night life at the Osa was pretty much us at the bar in the lodge staying up late into the night hanging out and playing cards. On the last night we had what I would classify as a pseudo-party and some of the locals stopped by. This is where we met Dave who I have mentioned in a previous blog. We had some pretty good times at night but then again we always do. G-money even played some games and stayed up for a while on this trip.
The first day we woke up early and had hiking pretty much all day. It was raining nice out and we walked down the mountain to the boats and went to a national park. We started out taking a morning hike through the jungle. My group was Chase, Matt, Heidi, Abby, Bob, Peter, Diane and sorry if I missed anyone else. We saw some pretty cool stuff including spiders, bugs, scarlet macaws, monkeys, lots of other animals of the jungle, a jaguars footprint and a half eaten otter. That was pretty sick. We had to cross the ocean/river when the tide came up and there was a half eaten otter floating in the ocean. The best part of the morning hike was the fresh water pool that we got to swim it. Hard to explain if you were not there but it was really fun and relaxing and it was a nice break from hiking.
We went back to the beach for lunch which was basically brown bagging it with some fruit, sandwiches, and pasta then we relaxed on the beach for a while. Then we took a second hike to a small water fall. The water fall was small compared to La Fortuna but it was nice to sit in and swim and it was small enough to jump off of. It was really fun and a good way to end the afternoon. Then it was pack to the boats, back to the tents, and back to the cards.
The next morning we went snorkeling. Very cool. It was my first time and I did not know what to expect. At the Osa we were about 10-20 feet above the bottom the whole time and we could dive down to the reef if we wanted to. We had to keep lifejackets with us and it was a pain to go back and get it if you went under. The flippers were too small for pretty much everyone and my feet kept cramping up that is probably also from the lack of drinking water in this country. Snorkeling was really cool for me because it was my first time but other people thought it was not that good if they have been snorkeling before. The boat ride to the island was ridiculous. It was pouring when we started and the ocean was really choppy. It took over an hour to get there because we were crawling through the ocean. The waves were huge to the captain had to go slow and at times I am pretty sure we were going backwards. The ride back was really cool because we saw brown boobies. For those who don’t know these birds usually follow dolphins around the ocean. We got to see a few white spotted dolphins which I have always wanted to see. I really wanted to jump in and see them under water but we did not have our equipment anymore. The ride back was much faster and then it was back to the lodge, the cards, and a good time that night.
The next morning it was time to leave. We got up kind of early and headed down the mountain, and up the river. It was sunny and the ride was really nice and smooth. We saw a crocodile which is becoming pretty routine around here which is not something I expected to see at all in Costa Rica. The bus ride back was more of the same and once again there was not much down time in San Jose until we loaded up on the bus and left again for another trip which was one of the best yet.

Quote of the trip would have to be
"we have a bathroom up there"
if you know who siad it and why they said it this will be hilarious and if you have no clue....ask