Activities
There are many trails, offering hikes ranging from one to four hours. The nicest is the trail to the waterfall. To get to the trailhead, one travels about 15 minutes upstream by boat; from there it's an hour-in, hour-out walk. The small waterfall feeds a lovely jungle pool, perfect for swimming, diving, standing under the falls, and fantasizing what it would be like to go "back to nature" in such a pristine place.
In addition to the hikes, there are relatively short boat trips (1 hour or less) upriver to more remote parts of the reserve; for example, to an interesting rock formation called La Cathedral. The men go net fishing almost every afternoon, and the women, if you ask, will happily show you how
to pan for gold the way they have done for centuries. (Don't expect to get rich, but you'll definitely end up with gold dust, perhaps even a flake or two.) When the river is low, the women also go down to the river to catch fresh-water shrimp for supper. This is something visitors might want to try (but shouldn't count on success). The villagers' activities are gender-defined, but they don't mind if visitors cross over, male guests going with the women to shrimp or pan for gold, female guests going out with the guys to fish.
Another great river-related activity is riding the current which swishes along the big flat rock in front of the lodge for a few hundred feet, then dumps the swimmer into a quiet pool next to the shore–sort of a natural water slide. Because the river is so pristine, it's a lovely place to bathe–much nicer than the lodge's cold-water showers. If you want to join the locals, you'll see the women who work at the lodge heading down to the river to bathe in mid-afternoon. The men usually wait till dusk. Visitors sometimes bathe in the nude but local folks do not; they always wear swim suits.
Birdwatching is good all year around, but best in December and January. Serious birdwatchers who want to go out at first light can do so, alone, along the river or on a trail which circles the lodge just inside the forest. Those who want to go deeper into the jungle and higher into the hills need to arrange this with the staff the day before, as a guide will be necessary. You'll also need to let the cook know whether you want breakfast super-early, before you go out, or later, when you get back.
Visitors to Playa de Oro may have an opportunity to watch local children do traditional Afro-Caribbean dances, spoofs on the courtship ritual, done to the beat of locally-made drums and a homemade marimba. This is normally done on the day of arrival, in the village, around noon. That's when the children get out of school, and if they know visitors are coming who want to see them perform, they will be ready. Otherwise they scatter and it's hard to get them together for a performance.
Evening recreation is limited to playing cards or dominos with the staff, or one of the other board games in the library. Or reading, if you remembered to bring a battery-powered reading light. Or playing a musical instrument if you brought one. Or just watching fireflies from the veranda.
