Costa Rica

Some people seem to love it and others tend to bull run through it.  It’s expensive, over toured, and in my mind, overrated.   For us, bull running was our only thought as we had other places we were more interested in.  We both had spent time in Costa Rica before, so it didn’t have the same draw for us.  I think we spent about 10 days in total and for us that was enough.  But we did end up finding two special places that will always be the memory for our time in Costa Rica.

Once leaving Nicaragua, we headed straight for the Caribbean Coast in Costa Rica.  We were itching for that clear beautiful water we had been missing since Mexico.  Thankfully we found our fix outside at a small beach town called Cahuita.  We stayed at a place called Camping Maria’s outside the town and it was wonderful.  Her neighbor does daily snorkel tours from his boat for about 10 bucks a person (I think with gear included too).

We went to two different spots on the protected reef, had some fresh fruit on the national park’s beach and had the opportunity to hike back to town through the jungle . We skipped the hike as I was only interested in the snorkeling. 😉

Overall it wasn’t the best snorkeling but it cured our  itch to get in the water and do some free diving.  But I would say that it was the easiest & cheapest snorkel “tour” with the majority of our time in the water vs traveling to a spot or lingering around the docks.

Happily enough we left Costa Rica and went onward south to Panama where we stayed for three months.  The truck’s import permit  was only good for three months and that meant we had to leave for a few days back to Costa Rica.  And this is when we found our second gem.

We hopped the border of Panama/Costa Rica and needed to stay for about 4 days before going back to Panama.  We wanted to stay close to the border but also spend our time somewhere worth it.  We narrowed down our options and found a place called Camping Adonis in Puerto Jimenez. It’s a beautiful little town on the Osa Peninsula close to Corcovado National Park.  His place is a block from the beach/Malecon and across the street from the airport.  (I’m fascinated with airplanes so I enjoyed watching the smaller planes come and go).

What really makes Camping Adonis incredible is Adonis and his collection of wildlife on his property.  He has a huge piece of property filled with all sorts of reptiles, birds, and there is even a sloth across the street.  Adonis alone is an awesome human being that speaks great English, but you’ll most likely find him studying Japanese throughout most of the day.  He is a fascinating guy.

When we entered Adonis Camping, we noticed a sign for crocodle tours, kayak rentals, etc.  Most of the time those things don’t really interest us but when Adonis asked us & our friends, (@OverlandtheAmericas, @Ashlivin, & @Southbyland) if we wanted to feed the crocodiles, we were all for it.  We scrambled to buy some meat from the grocery store, prepped cameras, & followed Adonis to the chill river on his property.  Adonis actually yelled “come here” multiple times while banging a stick at the river and we watched the crocs come in.  These crocs are like his pets and they love it when he calls because that means an effortless premium dinner.

After that he took us to another part of the river where he called in a Cayman.  This was a slightly sketchier scenario as we had limited space due to the forest line on the river.  We got some awesome photos, video, and we got the chance to touch these dinosaur looking creatures.

It was a little frightening being so close to the wild animals with some random dude we just met.  But at the end of the day Adonis knew these animals and we were all safe.  Although I would not be trying this again without him there! After seeing the crocs and caymans, the iguanas seemed boring in comparison!

As tough as we are on Costa Rica, mainly from a cost/over toured perspective, we did find ourselves having an incredible time for the limited days we were there.  Thanks for the hospitality Adonis!

We edited together a little video to come… stay tuned…