It all began with an electrocuted marlin. On the restaurant across from the supermarket we were stocking up in before heading down to the deeply wild (and isolated) Osa Peninsula. The thunderstorm came in so quickly and so brutally that it took down the electricity in Puerto Jimenez and since that unfortunate metal marlin was sitting right across from our supermarket (and about 3m from our parked car – with Thierry in it), we got locked into the shop. The torrential rain was pretty impressive – pitch black darkness inside and outside, and a deluge moving down the roads. I only witnessed Mumbai monsoon once and this was high intensity in comparison.
locked up in the supermarket 
torrential downpour
As the night started to move in we decided to brave the roads anyway and make our way to our much anticipated open plan bamboo house which I had rented on AirBnB so many months ago already. I figured it would be the kind of house that Thierry would love and the kids would find exciting. I did not expect to arrive there under these circumstances! The house was only about a 13km drive from the supermarket but with potholes deep as trenches and the rain it took us nearly an hour to get there. The house really is open plan, that means no door, no windows, “just” a roof. By the time we got there, the house was pretty wet even on the inside thanks to the stormy wind blowing the rain in upstairs and downstairs. The house is set literally in the midst of “maintained” jungle, and only about 15 steps from the sea. The sound of the waves crashing just a few feet away were drowned out by the storm lashing down. We discovered a bed on the ground floor with a big mosquito net all around – the other beds were all one steep staircase up. Vyas immediately fell in love with the idea of sleeping by himself practically out on the deck, he did not seem to mind the unusual set up at all, quite the contrary! After a quick improvised dinner of porridge and a match of Mensch-ärgere-Dich-night amidst the rain, the rest of us climbed up to our equally mosquito net lined beds for our first night.
Vyas’ bed on the ground floor 
Upstairs
A small parenthesis: for sure, I’m not particularly tough and certainly not very “roots” in terms of my preferred travel style, but I also do not consider myself particularly delicate. Same with bugs and critters. I do not love them, but I don’t get hysterical around them either. But with bats flying around, frogs jumping across the floor and iguanas and geckos running up and down, I have to admit that my senses were definitely maxed out. With Thierry happily snoozing away besides me, here I am lying wide awake with the drumming (major understatement!) of the rain on the one hand, rustling noises behind me, beside me and above me and absolutely not a single ray of light around. Let’s say that this was not my most zen night.
Major reward was fortunately just a few hours away. With all of us up at sunrise shortly after 5:30 thanks to the wake up call of howler monkeys and are parrots (boy are they LOUD!), with the rain calmed down, we got to finally appreciate the absolutely gorgeous setting we were in. From every part of the house you can see the ocean between the palm trees, lush tropical greenery all around, the most beautiful Art parrots flying in pairs or groups around, Koatis climbing up the trees, and a hammock to watch it all from. Honestly, we were blown away. The sensation of being truly without walls and having all this beauty just to ourselves without another soul in sight, that is luxury!
It’s amazing how quickly we got into our little rhythm: cut up some papaya, pineapple, mango, discard the peels in the jungle as a little treat, brew some delicious Costa Rican coffee local style, that is you pour 90degree warm water onto the ground coffee in a pot, let it sit with occasional stirs for ca. 5 min, then pour it through a cotton strainer 😋, then off to take a yoga lesson or go to the empty the beach to play with the literally 1000s of crabs (never ever seen so many – the beach was literally crawling with them, sand crabs, hermit crabs and all kinds of other species we don’t know), then some (school) work, make lunch, play some games, then back to the beach to walk and some highly competitive beach olympics, dinner, games, bed…..Those 5 days just flew by.
By the second night I already found the night noises more soothing than disturbing and the bats during a nightly bathroom visit fun to watch. Given the number of poisonous frogs, snakes and more, and the fact that we were all always barefoot, I remained a bit paranoid about walking around the house at night so was glued to my torch but I was surprised by how safe and comfortable it felt to be “out there” like that, even at nighttime. (Ok, so yes, it helped that there we didn’t actually encounter any dangerous friends.) Besides the fact that the Osa Peninsula really is stunningly beautiful; it is so rare to find such a special spot still so very raw and untouched.
This coconut fell practically right onto us 
Tarzan practise 
Preparing a crab shelter
We fell in love and these 5 days are definitely a highlight of our trip in Costa Rica.
Pura Vida!
Coucou la super family ;)))
Nous rentrons tout juste du Canada et découvrons votre périple!!! Top top top😜😜😎
Heureuse de voir que tout se passe bien et découvrir les beaux sourires de vos 3 enfants👌👍
C’est génial ce blog et de nous faire partager votre voyage!! On pense bien à vous et vous embrassons très fort😘😘
Mu&co🤗