End of the Road, End of the World

Well, not really.

Tuesday, Dec 11: Osa Peninsula

Too lazy to fight with Photobucket today. Here's a link to all kinds pictures.

A million years ago when I first moved to Florida, one of the first road trips I went on was to Key West. As destinations go it was pretty much a bust for me. I think I expected something different at the and "end of the road" experience. Many years later I got more of what I expected in northwestern Florida in places like Inglis/Yankeetown and Ozello. In spite of (or maybe because of) there not being much more than a boat launch at the end of these places they felt more or less authentic. Official even.

Carate at the end of the Osa Peninsula has the same kind of groove, although instead of a boat launch there's a paved (but unattended) airstrip. A very official end of the road experience.

I woke up early this morning and had the entire lodge to myself, which was pretty cool. I had scheduled a guided hike and was definitely glad I went that route. There was no way to gauge how far we went but it was a hard push for 4 hours. The guide pointed out a lot of things I would have missed or blown right past and had some pretty interesting factoids to share about the local flora/fauna. Frogs, lizards, crazy birds with birds even crazier calls, the occaisional local mammal... the hike did not disappoint.

The hike ended up at the Pacific ocean where we ran into one of the guide's co-workers who was getting ready to pillage a coconut tree for what it produced. I have to admit, the guy could climb a tree like no one I ever saw. Anyhow the timing was good for us to knock the top off some coconuts and drink the contents (pipa).

<insert shower/lunch/nap>

Later in the day I headed down into the valley to check out some waterfalls. This I did solo and damn near got turned around and well and truly lost. If it weren't for a man made object that I just happened to notice when I hit the stream bed I might still be out there!

One thing that really struck me, at least this time of the year was the total lack of biting insects. That's right. I encountered one single mosquito and that was it. At some point in life I'll definitely return.