View of a little bit of the Golfo Dulce and the far-off Osa Peninsula, from the road between Chacarita and Puerto Jimenez.
Our trusty Suzuki rental car, which we drove 745 miles in 2 weeks over some seriously garbage roads.
Puerto Jimenez couldn't come quickly enough. My butt was completely numb when I read this sign.
Owen ponders the view from the cabin at the Iguana Lodge outside of Puerto Jimenez. Note the hat and long-sleeved shirt that typify the Post-Sunburn Era.
Cathy in the backyard of The Pearl, the lodge next door to The Iguana where we got our meals. Owen, seated at the bar, couldn't be torn away from his umbrellaed rum drink long enough to get up and seek a more interesting vantage point before taking this shot.
Ye Olde Man Carmichael ponders the ocean and his nagging rheumatism in front of the Iguana Lodge.
Again with the opposing outfits thing. She's in green and blue, he's in red! He's in pants, she's in shorts!
The waves here were pretty brutal. They leapt seemingly out of nowhere and immediately crashed onto whatever helpless swimmer happened to be there.
Near sunset.
Cathy, in the distance, is about to get smushed by this wave, which she probably doesn't even know exists yet.
If you're tall enough, your legs stick out beyond the end of the mosquito netting draped over your bed, making your ankles and feet a sort of Sizzler All-U-Can-Bite Buffet for the mosquito community.
Dawn at the Iguana Lodge. This is why we got up at 5 every day and went to bed at 8.
Getting ready to hop into that boat in the background and look for some dolphins. I swear the guy driving that Datsun was backing the boat into the water so fast I thought he was gonna land his truck in the drink.
Cathy looking pumped to find some dolphins and fend them off with her Tevas.
Problem with those dolphins is that they surface just long enough to breathe and then dip right back under water. So one person says, "Ooh look, there's one!" And by the time the other person swings around with the camera and takes a photo, they're gone.
To swim with the dolphins, you grab onto one of those boards and the boat drags you along. Moving the board around helps you steer. The scuba mask is just there to make you look cool.
Cathy with a monkey on her head. This little guy likes to climb all over you while you are vulnerable-- in the outhouse for example.
Cathy's monkey friend tires of her head and moves on.
Cathy holding her monkey friend. Note the slightly concerned smile, as though she is pretty sure this monkey thing is okay ... but... um...
White-faced, a.k.a. Capuccin, monkeys, named after the white-headed, brown-robed Italian monks that also lent their name to the popular espresso beverage. They hunt in teams and are so damn clever that the workers here actually built a cage around their kitchen, into which they lock themselves to cook and eat to protect themselves from monkey business.