Costa Rica Adventure: paradise found.

Finding a vacation destination was tricky. My idea of a vacation is to laze about on a beach, swinging in a hammock. Scott's idea of a vacation is to trek all over the wilderness for miles and miles. We settled on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica, where the rainforest of Corcovado National Park meets the Pacific Ocean. We could hike when we wanted to and relax when we wanted to.

 

When we finally made it to Finca Exotica, we chose to relax for a bit.

  

May is the beginning of the off-season there because the weather is often rainy and unpredictable. It rained during the drive, but didn't rain for the remainder of our stay. 

  

And because it was the off-season, we had the place to ourselves. When we first arrived, there was one couple staying at the lodge. They left the next morning.

  

So we really did have the place to ourselves. The beach was about 12 miles long and sometimes our footprints were the only ones there.

Finca Exotica has lots of almond trees on its property and has become a breeding ground for scarlet macaws. These big noisy birds were everywhere; we stopped pointing them out after awhile because there were just so many. 

 

There were other animals that made their home at the lodge, like this basilisk lizard. It is also known as the Jesus Christ Lizard because it walks on water (or at least skitters quickly across it). 

  

This is our cabina. It had an open-air bedroom and an open-air bathroom with an outdoor (cold!) shower in its fenced back yard. Sometimes there was electricity, sometimes not. Finca Exotica is a sustainable eco-lodge: it has solar panels to provide some electricity, all of the food served is organically grown on the lodge's property or from a nearby farm, and everything is built with the local habitat in mind. 

 

Thankfully, the bed had mosquito netting so we weren't totally eaten alive in the jungle.

 

Our cabina also came with a pet fruit bat. He would sometimes hang out above the bed at the top of the cabina and sometimes fly into the bathroom. Above, he is hanging out above the sink. At dusk, he would fly out and find some grub.  

 

Still more adventures to come...