Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Secret Hideaway On The Osa Peninsula - Matapalo Beach, Costa Rica

By Marina K. Villatoro

We had the great opportunity to visit my friends who live in Puerto Jimenez, a cute town on the Osa Peninsula. It's full of expats and I fell in love with it to the point that we were considering moving there for a while. Puerto Jimenez itself is a fairly big town with a population reaching well into the thousand, maybe even 2.

During the trip, our friends took us another one hour south to visit a teeny coastline village. The road was so bad, that were told that during the rainy season the residents (which is about 90% foreigners) have to either stock up for 3 months, or fly into Puerto Jimenez due to floods and total washouts. Just the drive over there will give you an experience of a life time!

My friends drive a big bad 4x4 and we were able to tackle some of the rough terrain. That was because at some points cows blocked the roads and sleepy iguanas chewed leaves from the surrounding trees.

When we finally arrived we saw that there is not actual town, it's just a bunch of hidden houses and eco lodges all along the rocky coastline they are all surrounded by virgin rain forest. There is also little foot paths allow you to experience the place way better than driving a car.

With my friend's son and my son in the water all day and my husband helping out by hanging out in the water with them, we headed out to explore. We snuck onto a few properties under construction with unbelievable views and got lost on one of the hiking trails that is supposed to hug the coast, but instead was so rocky that we almost fell to our deaths.

However, the beach where we ended up hanging out was deserted, with plenty of shade and perfect for a homemade BBQ.

All the eco lodges offer plenty of tours to the surrounding jungle and take you on tours to Corcovado National Park, quoted by National Geographic as the most biologically intense place on Earth!

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