Glen and Becky Chown Family Blog Site

Home Again, but Oh, the Memories!

     It is hard to believe it's already April 23 and we've been back in northern Michigan for well over a week. The demands of a busy modern life returned relentlessly, if not revengefully, and it's only today that I can find a few moments to write about those pervasive images of Costa Rica that continue to run through my head and that reassure me that, indeed, Glen and the boys and I took this most amazing trip together.

Grand Finale on the Osa Peninsula!

     "Still more monkeys than people." This slogan, used by a hotel near Manuel Antonio National Park on the Pacific coast, could easily be rephrased to describe our experiences on the edge of Corcovado National Park living in a tent camp for the last three days: "Still more hermit crabs than people," "Still more scarlet macaws than people," "Still more tree frogs than people," and "Still more sweat than common sense" all work too!

     This amazing trip began with a small chartered flight from Quepos Airport near Manuel Antonio National Park, one of the world's loveliest spots in my opinion, down along the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica into one of the most remote places in the world: the Osa Peninsula.

   

After landing at the tiny two-track airstrip, our luggage was loaded onto a cart drawn by a weary-looking horse and we began our forty-minute hike along the beach to Corcovado Lodge Tent Camp.

It was only mid-morning, but the heat and humidity had us soaked within moments. Before long we were stumbling through the sand, nearly blinded by perspiration, the two dads staggering under the weight of Leonard and Benjamin in their backpacks, the rest of us only better off by comparison. We were mighty glad to see Corcovado's white tents overlooking the palm trees and beach and the communal dining room - cold water and shade have never felt so good!

     Moments after arriving, one of the men who helped with the luggage and who spoke only Spanish beckoned us to a large tree right outside the Wilsons' tent. There, nicely camoflauged against the tree roots, most of him down in a hole and only his head sticking out, was a young boa constrictor! We never saw his full length, but we were told he was only about a meter long. A nocturnal creature who enjoys feeding on lizards, frogs, and bats (a half dozen or so of those were hanging upside down in the palm tree just behind our tents!), he gave us all cause to use our flashlights when we needed to venture out at night to one of the two camp bathrooms, even though we were assured that he doesn't bother people.

     Still, I couldn't get that old tune out of my head that I learned in my youth: "I'm being swallowed by a boa constrictor, a boa constrictor, a boa constrictor..." The composer must have been confusing the boa and the anaconda! At least I hope he was!

    

Welcome, Wilsons, and Blogs from the Boys!

     Late last week found us anxiously awaiting the arrival of our good friends Todd, Deb, Christopher, and Ben Wilson from the Old Mission Peninsula. They pulled into our hotel overlooking Lake Arenal in the middle of the afternoon and we've had nothing but exciting adventures ever since! With two boys of their own to add to our three, we now make up quite a tribe!