By Stephen Kiesling

When I was 11 my mother took my brother and me on a magical trip to the Galapagos to learn about evolution and to counterbalance what we learned in catechism. While I am grateful for both kinds of education, my own synthesis left me with the misguided impression that evolution is something that had happened, and now everything was in its proper place.

This past summer I wanted to update that magical adventure for my own children in Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, the most biologically diverse rainforest on earth. Rainforests are the engine rooms of evolution, where Darwin experienced the machinery of change that allowed him to comprehend the unique animals he saw in the Galapagos. Our final destination was an eco lodge called Playa Nicuesa, owned by a pair of expatriate New Yorkers. I sold the trip to my two kids (Alex, age 14, and Tim, age 11) as a journey to a beach resort.

After flying to Puerto Jimenez, we hopped aboard a small boat and set off across the bay toward an unbroken line of jungle, leaving the internet and even my daughter’s constant text messaging behind. Twenty minutes later, as we approached the shore, my children’s eyes widened. Aside from a pier, we were looking at a wall of jungle.

“You said this was a beach resort,” my daughter said nervously.

“It is,” I answered. “But the owners didn’t cut down any trees to build it.” Nevertheless, I, too, was nervous. We were exhausted, clouds were growing, and in front of us was pure jungle with big bugs, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes. We were booked for a week. What had I done? And then the magic began.

Just inside the row of trees was a lovely deck with comfortable chairs, as well as a couple of simple sheds, one filled with kayaks and the other with snorkeling gear and fishing rods. Up a winding gravel path lined with flowers we came upon the open-air, timber-framed lodge where all the meals were served at a single long table. Beyond the dining table were hammocks and hanging chairs and seating areas for playing Scrabble. We learned that one tree had to be to cut to build the lodge, but all the wood used in the buildings had been sustainably harvested. The electricity was solar, the food locally grown or locally caught. The staff of about 16 were almost all local Costa Ricans who lived on the 165-acre property — and clearly loved it.

Mornings came early with the initially harrowing cries of howler moneys outside our window. Then came breakfast and adventures: One morning we went out at dawn with a man who’d grown up on the property. He didn’t speak English and was a bit baffled at the modern desire to track without hunting, but he guided us along ocelot tracks and fed us with wild cacao that he cut open with his machete. Another morning we paddled kayaks through a river lined with mangroves while watching macaws and thick yellow boas, and we returned to the lodge amidst a convoy of dolphins. On a hike to learn about the scores of plants that either cure or kill, we ended up scaling one fabulous waterfall to get to an even larger one. We visited the neighboring monkey rehab center and learned that spider monkeys no longer have opposable thumbs like people. Such is the give and take of evolution.

The adventures ended in time for lunch, followed by snorkeling or cooking classes or simply waiting for the troop of capuchin monkeys to swing through. To sit still at any time was to notice that something else was always moving — and that virtually every object was either living and growing or being eaten or rotting. By late afternoon came the rain, when the 10 to 20 guests gathered in the lodge to read or play cards until dinner. By six it was so dark that flashlights were necessary to stay on the paths. Mostly we just played in the lodge, but sometimes we walked down to the pier, where the eyes of a five-foot-long cayman glowed red. Later, I asked my son what he’d learned from all this. Here’s how he answered: “Everywhere you look, something is alive and changing.”

I wish I’d known that at age 11.

Stephen Kiesling is editor-in-chief of S&H.

If You Want to Go to Playa Nicuesa

Flying there
Fly from San Jose, Costa Rica, to Puerto Jimenez or Golito on Nature Air (natureair.com). You must arrive before 2:30 p.m. to catch the boat.

Accommodations
at Playa Nicuesa (PlayaNicuesa.com) include boat transport, three meals per day, and some tours, for $170 to $200 per person per night.