Tiskita is one of the more remote lodges in Costa Rica. It's almost on the border with Panama and just across the Golfo Dulce from the Osa Peninsula. To get there, we had to take a flight into San Jose, Costa Rica's capital city and the location of its international airport. Then, we had to take another flight to the small town of Golfito. The last leg of the trip was a 2-hour taxi ride, although for large enough groups, Tiskita will charter a plane from Golfito to their own private landing strip.
Because of the logistics involved with getting to Tiskita, and the desire tor educe the possibility of missed connections, it was recommended that we arrive in Costa Rica the day before our flight to Golfito and fly back to America the day after leaving Tiskita. This is what we did.
Our flight to Costa Rica left very early in the morning, and my dad was generous enough to volunteer to take us to the airport, even though that meant getting up at 3 in the morning! The flight, with one connection, was uneventful, and we landed in San Jose mid-morning. We took a taxi to the hotel where we'd be spending our first and last nights in Costa Rica: La Rosa de America. It's in Alajuela, a suburb of San Jose.
Here's the outside of the room we were staying in:
The inside of the room:
The bathroom:
View of the property from our room:
We were met by Robert, the owner of the hotel. He was very friendly and recommended a local bar for lunch. We went, but didn't take any pictures!
After returning to the hotel, we went swimming in the hotel's pool -- it was very relaxing and exactly what we needed after travelling.
We took a walk around the grounds; here is a citrus tree in bloom:
We ate dinner at a small local restaurant a few blocks away from our hotel. This area was not touristy at all, so we had the challenge of putting our meager Spanish to the test at the restaurants.
Here's Brian, relaxing by the pool before dinner:
We had a very early morning flight out the next morning (the taxi was picking us up at 4 in the morning) so we went to bed shortly after dinner as we didn't want to be tired at Tiskita!
Luckily the taxi arrived on time. We were the first people to arrive at the airport. When I tried to open the door, it was locked. A maintenance worker heard me try to open the door and he came down to let us in to sit in the chairs.
Waiting for the plane:
Our flight to Golfito was on a very small plane. I think there were 12 seats, although only 7 passengers. We had to step on a scale before boarding -- the first time I've had to do that! After reviewing our passports, we were instructed to wait in this room until the pilots arrived. You can see the small plane through the glass doors.
An aerial view of the land we were flying over:
The flight was rather short, and we were met at the airport by a taxi that Tiskita had arranged for us. The roads were quite rustic and the driver went very fast! On several occasions, we worried that he might hit people, dogs, chickens, goats, cows, and other animals along the road, but there were no casualties! Also, whenever we'd approach a car from behind, he'd beep and then pass them. We were surprised at one point to see him do this to a police officer (and then proceed to go about twice as fast as him!) It was quite an adventure and made me happy that we weren't driving!Along the way, we had to take a ferry. I didn't want to be conspicuous, so I couldn't get a real picture. There has been talk for several decades of replacing this ferry with a bridge. If that happens, they suspect that there will be more traffic coming down towards Tiskita.
The trip from Golfito to Tiskita was supposed to take around 2 hours, but, thanks to our fast driver, we got there much quicker; around 90 minutes.Instead of doing this blog on a day-by-day basis, as I have in the past, I've decided to collate all of the Tiskita adventures in one entry. The days weren't clearly defined as they have been on our other vacations, and this will allow me to present our trip thematically instead, which I think will make more sense.
She showed us to our cabin. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect since the lodge is located in a very remote area in Costa Rica. It's very close to Panama. We were very impressed with the cabin! All of the cabins are numbered and named after an animal that can be found in the area. We were in number 17:
I should have taken pictures of our cabin before unpacking, but didn't think of it. Here was the main part:
There was also another bed, off to the side. The bathroom was very modern:
The cabin had a large porch with a hammock.
The view from our porch was simply incredible:
It's hard to see from this picture, but we could see the ocean from the porch:
We showered, feeling grimy and tired after our plane and taxi rides from the morning. Then we put on our swim suits and headed down to the beach.
At the entrance to the property from the beach, a bird was perching on the roof of the gate. I knew we'd see a lot of different birds and animals here, but pretty much everywhere we looked we got to see something new!
The location is just so beautiful. Pretty much every view could have been on a postcard!
While walking near the beach, we often heard the unmistakable sounds of 
Brian at the beach:
...when we realized that Brian had acquired a friend:
We thought she was a stray, but later found out she belongs to a family that lives about a mile away. She was extremely friendly and followed us around for a few hours, running back and forth between us.
Brian went into the ocean while I stayed on the beach. 
We thought the dog might be leaving us, but she followed us back to our cabin! We didn't encourage her as we didn't want to bring her back to the lodge's property where she might prey on wild animals. 
She finally left us, probably to return to the beach and pick up other unsuspecting tourists. 
Meals are served family-style at 
We did a fair amount of hiking around the property. We went on one walk each with Peter and Lizbeth, the owners. Peter concentrated on showing us the fruit orchards while Lizbeth focused on showing us birds and other animals.
Investigating some more fruit; I think this may have been some kind of chocolate:
Although they could harvest their fruit, they said they'd have to figure out a way to keep the monkeys, parrots, and other animals from eating it in order to do so, which they don't want to do. In fact, they have been specifically planting trees in order to attract different animals, like sloths, monkeys, and parrots. 
Some beautiful flowers we saw:
A jungle path:
The view of the ocean from just outside the lodge:
We'd often relax outside the lodge. There are no TVs or radios here, which really allows the sounds of nature to be heard. Of course there are bug and bird sounds, as you'd expect. Then there are the howler monkeys! I was a bit frightened the first time I heard them but grew to enjoy the sound.
I couldn't believe how many different types of lizards we saw! There is a pond near the bottom of the property that is covered in lily pads. When we'd walk down there to try to see the crocodile, all sorts of tiny lizards would rise up on their back feet and run around:
This iguana was the first animal we saw upon arrival:
Another kind of lizard:
The next morning, he was still there. I thought it was interesting to see the difference between taking a picture with the flash (above) and with natural light (below). He was really camouflaged!
There were several agouti who must have lived near our cabin since we'd run into them every time we walked by. They like to eat fruit, so they're very happy at 
Lizbeth also knew where we could see a ghost bat! All of the bats we saw flying around were dark. Could this guy be any more adorable?
After our walk with Lizbeth was finished, Brian and I sat down outside the lodge, watching and listening to the wildlife and the ocean. We were suddenly told to come over as a boa constrictor had just been spotted. Here she is on a tree branch. What camoflague! It's entirely possible we walked by many snakes but they blended in so well we didn't see them as this was the only snake we saw on our trip and it needed to be pointed out to us:
On our last morning at Tiskita, we decided to take one more walk down by the pond to see if we could spot the crocodile. Our last dozen or so attempts were unsuccessful, but we had time until the taxi picked us up, so we decided to go for a walk.
Could that be the crocodile peering out at us?
It sure was! And he rewarded our patience with an even better look! After a few minutes, he appeared to get bored with us and sunk back under the pond. What luck we had!
Before we knew it, we returned to the lodge for an early lunch and then the taxi met us to take us to the airport. Tiskita was an amazing experience and we will be back!