Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [362]
The Guaymí traditionally live in wooden huts with palm roofs and dirt floors, although most families have now upgraded to wooden houses on stilts. However, they still live off the land, cultivating corn, rice and tubers, while fruit and palmitos grow in the wild.
The Guaymí reserves are largely inaccessible, which may be one reason why the culture persists. However, as tourism filters into the furthest corners of the country, there is a growing interest in indigenous traditions and handicrafts, and this demand may actually encourage their preservation. But, the reserves are also at a precipitous point – without proper management and community participation, an influx of tourists (and tourist dollars) can also lead to cultural dilution.
The best way to visit the reserve is through Tamandu Lodge (8821-4525; www.tamandu-lodge.com; r per person US$55), which is run by the Carreras, a Guaymí family. This unique lodge provides a rare chance to interact directly with an indigenous family and experience firsthand the Guaymí lifestyle. This is hands-on stuff: gather crabs and fish with palm rods; hunt for palmito or harvest yucca; learn how to prepare these specialties over an open fire. Accommodations are in rustic, wooden houses, built on stilts with thatch roofs. Home-cooked meals are included in the price. A member of the Carrera family will meet you in La Palma, from where it is a two-hour journey on horseback to the lodge – getting there is half the fun!
Although it appears on maps dating to 1914, Puerto Jiménez was little more than a cluster of houses built on a mangrove swamp. With the advent of logging in the 1960s and the subsequent discovery of gold in the local streams, Jiménez became a small boomtown. The logging industry still operates in parts of the peninsula, but the gold rush has quieted down in favor of the tourist rush.
Even so, the town has a frontier feel. Now, instead of gold miners descending on its bars on weekends, it’s outdoors and fishing types who come to have a shot of guaro (local firewater) and brag about the snakes, sharks and alligators they’ve allegedly tousled with.
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Orientation
The compact, gridded and easily walkable ‘downtown’ is located to the west of the Río Platanares, which feeds a modest estuary and mangrove forest before reaching the Golfo Dulce. On the east side are the headquarters for Parque Nacional Corcovado and a small airstrip. There is also a tiny access road leading to Playa Platanares, which is lined with a few upmarket properties (Click here).
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Information
INTERNET RESOURCES
Cafenet El Sol (2735-5719; per hr ₡1000; 7am-10pm)
MEDICAL SERVICES
Red Cross (2735-5109) For medical emergencies.
MONEY
Banco Nacional de Costa Rica (8:30am-3:45pm Mon-Fri)
TOURIST INFORMATION
Oficina de Área de Conservación Osa (Osa Conservation Area Headquarters; 2735-5580; 8am-noon & 1-4pm Mon-Fri) Information about Corcovado, Isla del Caño, Parque Nacional Marino Ballena and Golfito parks and reserves. Make reservations here to camp in Corcovado.
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Sights & Activities
About 5km east of town, the secluded – and often deserted – Playa Platanares is excellent for swimming, sunning and recovering from too much adventure. The nearby mangroves of Río Platanares are a paradise for kayaking and bird-watching.
On the east side of the airstrip, Herrera Gardens & Conservation Project (2735-5267; admission US$5, 2hr guided tour US$15; 6am-5pm) is a 100-hectare reserve with beautiful botanical gardens. This innovative, long-term reforestation project offers an ecologically and economically sustainable alternative to cattle-grazing. Visitors can explore the 5km of garden trails or 15km of well-marked forest trails.