Welcome to the Jungle...a Private 65 acre Jungle in Nuevo Arenal.
Welcome to the Jungle. THIS was our home for a few weeks in Costa Rica. Join me for a run through the property...
See that red roof? That is the main house. The view is from the "yoga studio", a large platform in the jungle...
The walk takes about 5 minutes from the house to the studio.
If you want to see animals, but never want to leave the house, that is ok too.
They will come see you.
Those horses belong to the gardener and wander the property. This is off the back porch.
The storm clouds roll in pretty regularly in rainy season (predictable, yes?) and can be intense. In fact, I would be willing to say the storms were one of my top 3 memories of Costa Rica. The anger in the sheets of rain pounding down across the jungle and the jungles bouncing back in full brilliant green -- it was majestic. It made me wonder what life must have been like before roofing was invented. Miserable at times, certainly, but I would imagine you feel much closer to your Creator and the natural world under your feet when being pelted daily by masterful rainstorms.
Caretaker's Garage/Home
Aren't those doors fabulous? The native Costa Rican woods were awesome and if we were building a home there, I would give up my white painted wood habits for sure and for certain. Side note: There was a dryer in that garage and we were longingly peeking in at it day after day. You see, THINGS DO NOT DRY in the jungle and wearing a shirt for 15 minutes meant it was slightly damp. The sheets were slightly damp, the towels were slightly damp, our whole life was slightly damp. If I were to offer the slightest bit of criticism to this property, it would be the lack of a dryer in the main house. There was a hookup, just no dryer. It would have been VERY much appreciated :) (More to come in future posts on packing for the damp climate!)
Main House through the Garden
Front of Main House - Second Floor
See that porch? It is really pretty and the view is fantastic.
Problem: The snakes think so too.
Side Walkways
Alex wouldn't let us walk on this pretty side porch.
It was inhabited by two giant black snakes.
Outdoor Kitchen
We spent a LOT of our time out here on the porch. We never fired up the outdoor oven, but most meals were served out here and crumbs swept off the tile porch into the jungle. We saw a fair amount of jungle creatures on the porch itself, including a butterfly one night and a baby bird the next that we "rescued" when they got trapped.
One of the reasons we left Costa Rica a few days early was a lack of sleep. Those damp sheets and harrowing dreams of children strangled in their sleep by snakes kept me awake most nights. The plus to sleepless nights? Sunrises over the jungle canopy. Here is a photo looking in from one of those mornings:
Looking in on the living room/kitchen at dawn - 4:00 AM or so when the rest of the house was sleeping.
Pre-Dawn across the Jungle
