The Roads Less Driven: An Osa Peninsula Journey

The road to Carate on Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula

Ever been to a far-flung place that makes you wish you had much more time to explore, partially because it’s an odyssey just to get there? Well, for us, the latest corner of the Earth to make that list is Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula.

The fact we had only two days down in this wild, unspoiled, gorgeous swath of jungly coastline could be considered criminal.

But then, so could the freakin’ potholes.

In the middle of Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, there’s a newly-finished road connecting the Puntarenas towns of Quepos and Dominical, an engineering feat that took over 25 years to bring to fruition.  Long known as “the bumpy road,” it’s now a lovely ribbon of pavement that turns a former epic into a 30-minute drive, a great source of tico pride (and tourism industry relief).

Ah, but we were going farther south, all the way to the Osa Peninsula; this route was, let us say, not finished.

In some places, asphalt was only theoretically applied, showing a sturdy mesh of metal where bridges will someday be. On one especially hilly and challenging stretch, the surface was carved with dozens of side-by-side potholes so deep and full of muddy green rainfall, they look like kids’ swimming pools. Then every once in an isolated, baffling while, the pavement would be smooth enough for roller skates. The state of the Osa’s highway feels like a small town council meeting where everyone’s brought heavy machinery.

The way to the Osa is not always paved with...pavement

Not to say you shouldn’t drive to the Osa, where the lush green jungle, hazy cobalt sky, red-orange soil and soft teal water make for stunning scenery. But we were repeatedly told that our drive from Quepos to the Osa would be a journey of about 4 hours, an equation that only works if you 1) don’t stop for so much as a bathroom break or 2) have a car that can tackle the face of the moon.

We thought we were prepared, having rented a sturdy 4×4 and split our entire coastal drive into two days (note: in case you missed where we began or where we stopped halfway, you have some reading to do).  On day two, we passed up a visit to Manuel Antonio National Park and a wander around the Costanera Sur beaches of Ballena National Marine Park…and still we were late to our fantastic eco-lodge, El Remanso. Even one extra day would have been brilliant.

Just another view of the Pacific from the road to Osa

With our second day, however, we did make stops for the bathroom, as well as fresh-blended piña juice; the nature preserve at Hacienda Barú; elegant lattes and strange pancake-cookies at a roadside cafe with a mountain valley view and a TV blaring the World Cup’s Honduras-Argentina match; adventurous coatis crossing the road; a cocoa plantation; and entirely by happy accident, a just-opened yoga and spa retreat.

Around the time of the swimming pool potholes, we began seeing signs for a chocolate tour; we followed them greedily to Finca Köbö, a few miles north of the Osa’s main town of Puerto Jiménez. Köbö, the dream project of a Costa Rican farmer, Alex, and his Austrian expat wife, Jutta, is a working cacao plantation and lodge that features biological corridors between primary and secondary jungles; orchards of tropical fruit trees; coffee plants; and just about everything else needed to feed guests…and run chocolate tours.

Turns out, though, a chocolate tour here is a two-hour affair best begun in the morning or early afternoon. Arriving as we did in the late afternoon, Adam and I opted for a trio of delicious homemade desserts: flourless cake with an apple sauce, a mug of hot cocoa, and a chocolate-banana milkshake. Kept company by Jutta and her towheaded toddler son while husband/dad Alex worked on an expansion of the currently 6-room lodge, we admired our hostess’ fluid switch between English, Spanish and German, as well the couple’s altruistic vision of bringing chocolate production (in small part, anyway) back to Costa Rica. Had the mosquitoes not been so hungry, we’d have stayed even longer.

On the Finca Kobo farm, cacao and desserts are prepared by Jutta...and were enjoyed by us

Good thing we didn’t, though: down Osa way, the jungle sun starts setting by 5:30pm…and we still had to find El Remanso. By the time we blew through all seven blocks of downtown Puerto Jiménez and turned up the (even more laughable) road to Carate (which leads to Corcovado National Park), the light was growing soft around the edges. It was then that I wished I’d printed out my directions to our lodge rather than emailed them to myself on my suddenly useless brick of an iPhone; in the Osa, cloud-cover dictates satellite access, and it was pretty damn cloudy.

Oh, and going was painfully slow. We thought we’d seen potholes, but we’d been sadly mistaken. However, though the road’s surface is a crumbly, jagged mess, the scenery is astonishing. Gauzy lapis skies over lilac mountains, fences formed from Hobbit-tangles of trees, Brahmin cattle munching tall grass in rolling, palm-rimmed fields, and overhead, bright green parrots squawking at enormous hawks. Amazing to think, people actually live along this road, and they can all drive it faster than you.

The Osa Peninsula's road to Carate, which looks a lot calmer than it feels

20 minutes along, worried we’d lost our way, we came upon a nameless resort sign and pulled in to see if we’d arrived. Where we had arrived was Blue Osa, a brand spanking new ocean-side yoga and spa retreat run by a couple of guys who’ve exchanged New York for paradise. The manager, Stephen (himself a cheerful Canadian expat), and the friendly resident dog greeted us and were happy to take us on a tour. (Sure, we were in a hurry, but this place is beautiful.)

Blue Osa’s small, open property has an ocean-view yoga room, Moroccan lamps and tile, clever buildings made from blue-painted shipping containers, and a long, languid swimming pool; it seems perfect for groups of couple-friends, or even a wedding party, and we’d happily be part of that group. The yoga we can leave, but the spa, landscape and Stephen’s warmth, we’ll take.

Blue Osa, a new yoga and spa retreat enroute to Carate, is right on the ocean (photos courtesy of Aaron Star)

Oh, but if only we’d known what was ahead. Stephen assured us that 1) El Remanso was just 10-15 minutes farther and 2) we’d passed the worst the road had to offer…but he was wrong about that last one.

Within two minutes, we were stopped short by a shallow fjord, forced to cross it in a rental that wasn’t even supposed to be on this road. (Ahem.) But it was the third in this series of what we’d come to call “road lakes,” all 5 of them, that finally had us laughing hysterically and saying, “Really? Really?!” as we splashed a wall of water straight from an amusement park log ride.

One couple's fjord is another's "road lake"

By the time we got up the winding, bumpy climb to El Remanso (which could really use a “Keep going! You’re almost there now!” sign now and again), we had just a few minutes of daylight left, and the night insects had begin their whirring music.

We were right on the verge of the best adventure of our trip.

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Continued in

El Remanso: The Best Seat in the Rainforest

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See also

Images of Western Costa Rica
Western Costa Rica: Anatomy of a Vacation
Hotel Sugar Beach: A Sweet Stay in Costa Rica
Si Como No: Yes and No
Strolling Through Hacienda Baru
Taking Flight in Costa Rica
TWT Travel Binder: Costa Rica