What drew us to the Corcovado Lodge Tent Camp was its promise of a truly unique experience. Roughing it for us is usually...a hotel without a concierge floor (kidding of course) but we sail and that's kind of like camping so we figured we'd give it a shot.

To get to Corcovado, we took a charter flight (55 minutes, 4 seats plus pilot, 1 propeller) from San Jose to the Carate. As you can see from the picture above, it is no more than a grassy clearing just off the beach. The planes are so small that each passenger has a luggage allowance of 25 pounds - hence the ultra-short packing list!

We emerged from the plane into the tropical humidity and immediately heard the sound of howler monkeys in the adjacent forest. Our luggage was loaded into a horse-drawn cart and after changing into tevas (had to cross a river) and spritzing with bug repellent, we were headed off down the black-sand beach. About 45 minutes later we arrived at the Corcovado Lodge Tent Camp.

Corcovado Lodge Tent Camp	Click to view panorama - requires Quicktime

The panorama above is our first impression. Our tent was #10 - right in the center of the picture above. It was literally 100 feet from the pounding surf of the Pacific ocean and 200 feet from the forest. The bathrooms, dining room and the hammock house/bar were up a short hill behind the tents.

Inside of our tent	Showers and bathrooms	View from the dining area

The food in Corcovado was fantastic and there was more than enough (and because we were doing so much hiking, it was an added bonus that we weren't doing it on an empty stomach!). The generator only runs for a few hours a day, during meal times, and the kitchen staff graciously let us use their outlets to charge camera batteries. Don't kid yourself though - the generator is not used to heat water for showers. Hence, the showers in Corcovado were the coldest I've ever experienced - but who cares. A flashlight is also a must, because unless there's a full moon, it's a dark and creepy walk to the bathroom or dining room. I tried it once and almost stepped on the largest toad I've ever seen!

The #1 activity in Corcovado is viewing the wildlife. You can't escape it! Just walking up the hill to get our first lunch we saw a troop of white faced monkeys, a few giant iguanas, and a poison dart frog (which sound a lot scarier than they really are). For a closer look, you can hike the 198-acre Corcovado Lodge Preserve. We went on an afternoon hike to the canopy platform with our guide Michee (NO idea how to spell his name, so please correct me if you know!) and fellow travelers Eve and Hanna from Massachusetts.

Outside our tent Click the image to watch them eat!	Commute to the Canopy Click the image to see the ride up!	Spider Monkey Click the image to see him swing!
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The first step of the "canopy tree platform expedition" is actually getting to "the tree" which is a 200 foot Guapinol. This strenuous hike up steep muddy trails took a little under an hour but our guide was moving pretty fast. Every once in a while he'd stop to show us something interesting like a sloth circled up in the top of a tree or one tree that was being consumed by another (the "strangler tree"), but he really wanted to get us to the platform as soon as possible. When we arrived at the tree, that platform looked much higher than 120 feet, but then I figured out that 120 feet is 8 stories, which is pretty high up! First you put on a harness, and then a helmet, and the you walk to the base of the tree. One by one we were seated in/attached to a bosun's chair (think diaper) and winched up to the platform by two incredibly strong men. Once at the platform, you are attached to a safety line and the "chair" is sent back down for the next guest. The most difficult part of wildlife observation is having patience while waiting to spot something. This is multiplied while up in the platform because all you have to think about is "I'm tethered to a tree 120 feet above the ground?!?" But when there are animals to look at, you completely forget about your fear of heights and focus on the sights and sounds. While up in the canopy platform we scarlet macaws, toucans, parrots, mini parrots, hawks, woodpeckers, and many many troops of spider and white faced monkeys jumping from tree to tree. Before we knew it our time was up and one by one we were dropped, I mean hoisted down in a controlled manner, from the tree.

THEN, we had to hike back down the muddy steep trail and it was getting dark so Michee was moving fast. It was like the forest came alive at 5pm - all the spider monkeys were on the move as were dozens and dozens of coatimundis. There were so many animals that the four of us were speechless as we stood there watching - in such amazement that we didn't even take any pictures!

We also went on an all day hike in Corcovado National Park with our guide Fillo. The trail we took ran right along the beach past the Madrigal River - which I fell in to, drenching my hiking shoes, on the return trip. Fillo was intent on sighting a peccary, a rarely sighted pig-like creature, but all we saw were hoof prints We saw dozens of scarlet macaws and lots of other birds that seemed to impress the birders, so many white faced and spider monkeys that we didn't even stop half the time to look at them, an anteater, and seemingly hundreds of coati. They are the weirdest little creatures - related to the raccoon yet they remind me of cats or monkeys. By the end of this 8 mile hike we were both beat and spent the rest of the afternoon with our feet up in the hammock house :)

Spider Monkey Click the image to see him jump!	Coatimundi Click the image to see stampede!	Leaving Corcovado Click the image to take off!
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Corcovado is one of the most relaxing places we've ever been to. You get up when the sun rises, eat when you hear the whistle of the conch shell, and go to sleep when it gets dark. Everything in your 20 pounds of luggage is damp, so who cares if you wear the same thing three days in a row :) We were there for 2 nights and could easily have stayed a third or fourth - but next time we'll pack each item of clothing in a separate moisture proof bag :)

Next stop, Monteverde

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