After four weeks we bid farewell to Pavones and began our journey to Drake Bay. We will miss the raw beauty of the beaches and the simplicity and authenticity of the people and lifestyle.
We will miss our favourite hangout, Cafe de la Suerte, where we love to drink smoothies, eat their delicious chocolate balls and watch the surf. Pavones is known for having the longest left break in Costa Rica and arguably in the world. It's a surfing die hard's dream come true (here's a write up if you're interested in more on that).
The journey to our beach house in Drake Bay involved a little more than we anticipated! Normally when you go from one place to another you get in the car, and eventually you pull up in the driveway of your destination, right? Not this time. Yet another adventure awaited us!
The drive was about 4 hours, first driving back out to the main road that brought us to the south end of the country, and then heading west out onto the Osa Peninsula, at which time we called the lodge to confirm directions (Google Maps can not be relied on in these circumstances!). When she said, "then you drive through the river, but wait for a local to watch where they drive through". Hmm. A few times we thought we had driven through the river, but those were just streams. Nope, driving through a proper river was part of our journey.
We were under a bit of time pressure because we were told we had to arrive before 3:00 in order to catch the water taxi to the lodge. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect but it wasn't this!
After setting out towards open water in this small boat I wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. But we turned into a narrow waterway with beautiful mangroves and pulled up to the dock of our lodge where friendly staff greeted us and took our bags. We piled into a golf cart which took us up the hill where they had lunch waiting for us in the restaurant.
The space is inviting, beautiful, luxurious and has a gorgeous view of Drake Bay. I was offered a glass of wine which, after 28 days dry, I gladly accepted.
After lunch they took us to our beach house, and the journey continued! A walk through the resort, where eventually we were greeted by the golf cart again. After a ride down to the beach, we hiked about 10 minutes through the woods and up a hill to arrive at our beach house.
It's interesting that Pavones felt so remote because I think we've reached a new level! But while more remote, we are being treated with a little bit of luxury. The feeling and the view are very peaceful. Just what we were hoping for!
Not wasting any time, Matt and April spent our first evening taking a night tour with the "Bug Lady", whom we'd heard so much about in Pavones. I'm looking forward to hearing about that experience and hopefully they will write about it tonight.
Next we are planning to have a lazy Sunday beach day. Then over the next few days we have several activities planned including a tour at Corcovado Park, which National Geographic has called "the most biologically intense place on Earth in terms of biodiversity".
Sending love to all.