Travel went smoothly.
We enjoyed food and a beverage at the Priority Lounge and then boarded a huge plane taking half of Canada to Costa Rica. Who knew?
When we arrived, we faced a long line to get through Customs and Agriculture and then another one at Security to x-ray bags where mine was flagged. Apple. Oops. Trash.
Our Intrepid Tours rep, Gabby, was waiting just outside with a Robert & Hansi Tripe sign, and we were off to our hotel.
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| The stops on our tour |
The Parque del Lago is great - a "boutique" hotel tucked away from the street by a huge metal gate and courtyard. Lovely inside.
We had breakfast next morning in the dining room where I got to practice some of my Spanish. Our Server's English was very good, but he appreciated my efforts and introduced me to the granadilla - which, it turns out, is Passion Fruit! Ha! I guess I never knew what it looked like.
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| Inside of a passion fruit |
We spent the morning in a park a block from our hotel, checking out the local birds. This park has tall trees called Rainbow Eucalyptus with trunks striated colours of orange and greens. We saw the Great Kiskadee, Orange-chinned Parakeet, White-tipped Dove, Great-tailed Grackle. Aha! A lake! Here we found Muscovy ducks, and Black-bellied Whistling ducks. Also, two Anhingas.
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| Rob beneath the Rainbow Eucalyptus trees |
We walked up to a place Gabby had recommended for lunch, called the Soda Tapia (an open-air cafe) where we could get local food.
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| Pollo/carne y cebolla |
We ordered pollo/carne y cebolla which means chicken or steak and onions and that came with rice and black beans. So good. There was a man hired to help people park in the small parking lot. I guess he takes his job seriously, because, I noticed when he turned around, there were HANDCUFFS on his belt.
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| Parking lot attendant with handcuffs on belt |
FEB 16--BIRD PIX
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| Muscovy Duck |
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| Anhinga |
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| Black-bellied Whistling Ducks |
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| Kiskadee |
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| Orange-chinned Parakeets |
Hansi
Sent from my iPhone
FEB 18--MORE COSTA RICA
Oh dear. I'm getting behind.
On Wednesday, Rob and I walked a good long way up the street in front of our hotel in search of "the market". We eventually got to where the street was cobblestone, and now only for pedestrians. It was a shopper' s gallery with stores either side and on the walkway, vendors selling vegetables and fruit - maybe illegally, as there was a flurry of activity every time the police cycled past.
We stepped through the door of one shop only to find it was actually the doorway to a warren of tiny, open-faced shops and eateries FILLING a building about a city block long. Florists, butchers, fish mongers, clothiers, cheese sellers, shoe sellers, farmacias, and many, many little lunch counters with stools for up to 10, and the cook behind the counter whomping up delicious, inexpensive fare were all in there. Very hard to explain this place but it was unairconditioned and unventillated in there so HOT or CALIENTE, if you like.
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| fish for sale |
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| One of many lunch counters |
We walked home again, skipped dinner and went to bed at 8 p.m. with weary feet.
So - Thursday we decided to take the city bus to the same general area in search of the National Theatre and The Pre-Columbian Gold Museum.
The theatre was finished in 1897 - built for the people of Costa Rica "and seen as a solution to the need for it temple dedicated to the arts which would contribute to social enrichment and national cohesion." It was designed with electric lighting from the very beginning - and we learned that in 1884, San Jose became the third city after New York and Paris to boast electric lighting. Smoking was never allowed inside - to protect the murals and interior.
We are struck with how enlightened this place is. In 1949 they abolished the army and put all that money into education. Our tour guide studied tourism in University - had a scholarship so only paid $100 tuition. Her books and even all her tours were paid for.
There is huge emphasis placed on preserving the environment.
The Pre-Columbian Gold Museum had beautiful gold artifacts and stone and pottery objects dating from as far back as 300 A.D. I will attach only a few pictures.
FEB 18--C'EST LA VIE
Yes, that is jello underneath the fruit.
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| Outside our room |
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| Emerald Basilisk Female |
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| Northern Jacana |
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| Faciated Tiger Heron |
Hansi
Sent from my iPhone
FEB 19--COSTA RICA AGAIN
During our boat ride within the park yesterday, we saw several things we did not get a chance to photograph. Like this: - A spider monkey at the top of a tree who made an epic jump from one side of the river to the other - and caught the vine he'd been hoping for. Success! A troop of Howler monkeys whom we finally came upon after hearing the haunting whoops for some time. A Jesus Christ Lizard (Basilisk Lizard) that we scared off its log. It jumped into the water and ran off across the surface on two legs.
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| Spider Monkey |
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| Male Basilisk Lizard |
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| Black Hawk |
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| Iguana |
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| Banana Spider |
Now we are on a 4-hour bus ride to La Fortuna with no working air conditioning though the driver says it was working earlier today. HA!
FEB 19—AT TORTUGUERO NATIONAL PARK
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| Our rustic accommodations at Tortuguero National Park |
The canal system (brackish water) is on one side of our cabins and the Caribbean with sandy beach and crashing waves on the other. Pretty much paradise.
Our tour group ate dinner together last night at Miss Junie's restaurant. (Miss Junie owns this lodge.) Our meals had to be preordered that morning. I had a stew called Run Down which was made with Fish and not road kill, as the name implies. Mine had three pieces of fish, and the tail and fin were two of them. I also got the lion's share of the herbs the cook had used, as I was dredging out long sticks and small trees of something or other continuously. What with these added to the fins, skin and bones at the side of my plate, I had an impressive pile of flotsam indeed!
Besides the fish, there were hunks of cassava, plantain and sweet potato as well as a flavourful thick broth.
We will get coffee at Miss Junie's before taking the boat out this morning on our way to La Fortuna.
FEB 20--SARAPIQUI sent 22nd
We drove to Sarapiqui in our non air-conditioned bus, and made a stop along the way for las frutas at a market, They also had fresh queso in balls (bought one) and a sweet coconut patty kind-of-thing (bought one) which I added to our purchase of mangos and bananas.Just outside of Sarapiqui, Eddy stopped the bus for a sloth sighting - midway up a tree by the side of the road. Everyone jockeyed into position in turn for the best picture, but Rob's turn came as the sloth turned his head away and refused EVER to look back.
In town, we pulled into a lovey property with a large central, open-air, covered dining/meeting area and individual cabins plus one tree house.
Rob and I did not jump at the chance for the treehouse, as we could see all the stairs we would have to climb with our luggage, so another couple volunteered to take it. Later, I was SOOOO glad for that decision after Dave and Ros told us there was actually a tree limb growing up through their treehouse. Now, I have nothing against tree limbs, but my issue is with the kind of things that would make their way into my bedroom by way of that limb while I slept. Things too numerous to mention.
As it was, we got Cabin no 8 - a darling little elevated place with a veranda and mosquito netting draping the bed. I was comforted by the netting, because there were substantial cracks between the floorboard through which I could see the ground below. Sheesh!
Our host, Alex, puts out fruit for the birds every morning. They love papaya. Rob got better pictures of these birds and more, which will be in another email.
Stay tuned for Day 2 in Sarapiqui
Hansi
FEB 22--COSTA RICA ICON
The Gaudy Leaf Frog or Red-eyed Tree Frog deserves a whole email.
On the night of Feb. 20, we all went to The Frog Pond Restaurant for a nice meal but also to see the frogs in foliage around the restaurant. We did spot a few, but our best pictures came after we had returned to our cabins.
Our tour guide, Eddy, is very good at spotting them in the leaves with his flashlight - and he spied one. As I tried in vain to put my iPhone close enough to click the picture, the frog decided he had had enough and COMPLETELY flattened himself on the leaf. Now he was just a smear, and a smear does not make for a very interesting picture.
Nudge . . .
Nudge . . .
Nudge . . .
But our best pictures came a little later in two other trees on our way along the path to bed.
First this guy -
And then the clear winner--
I really have to thank Eddy for his steady hand with the flashlight.
FEB 24--BIRDS
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| Red-legged Honeycreeper |
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| Male Green Honeycreeper |
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| Passerini Tanager, Male and female |
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| Blue-grey Tanager |
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| Female Green Honeycreeper |
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| Golden-hooded Tanager and Clay coloured Tanager - Nat'l bird of Costa Rica |
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| Black-cheeked Woodpecker |
Hansi
FEB 24--ARENAL, PART 1
I will talk about yesterday in this email.
We are in Arenal - home to an active volcano which was dormant for a long, long time until it blew up with no warning in 1968 - hot poisonous gases and ash and rocks - and killed ~500 people. It continued to be active - rumbling and belching from time to time until 2010. Steam still wisps out of the top, however.
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| Arenal Volcano |
Yesterday's adventure was a 2-parter. First thing in the morning, we took a bus with our guide, Hansel (no guff) to the Hanging Bridges and began a 3 hour walk through rain forest and over six hanging bridges. The bridges weren't as scary as I was afraid they'd be (I was picturing Raiders of the Lost Ark) but I kept a death grip just the same.
We could look across the top of the trees at some points into the forest below. Along the way, we saw the Black-throated Trogan and a Broad-billed Motmot as well as a Black-headed Nightingale and a Slate-throated Redstart
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| Black-throated Trogan |
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| Broad-billed Motmot |
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| Black-headed Nightingale |
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| Slate-throated Redstart |
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| Eyelash Viper |
Hansel spotted an Anole lizard up in a tree which we could see through his scope. Note the red dewlap. Not the greatest picture.
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| Green Anole |
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| Band-tailed Barbthroat |
Hansi
Sent from my iPhoneFEB 24--ARENAL, PART 2
The second part of our day to the Hanging Bridges with our guide Hansel was a walk to the lava flow - also with Hansel.
Then, off on a trek up hill all the way, in 34° C heat, to the lava flow - which blew out in 1968.
Then, off on a trek up hill all the way, in 34° C heat, to the lava flow - which blew out in 1968.
What a walk!! We were all hot and exhausted, but maybe Rob and I most of all (I think we were the eldest and maybe not the fittest). By the end of the hike we were knackered, as one of the Brits put it.
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| Knackered Rob on the climb to the lava flow |
However, on that walk, we saw another Eyelash Viper - this time a yellow one, and also a Coral Snake which slithered across the path in front of us.
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| Yellow Eyelash Pit Viper camouflaged as a plant part |
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| Coral snake making an exit |
The other wildlife of note on that afternoon were three White-throated Magpie Jays.
Hola. Today we are in Quepos which is on the Pacific coast.
Bear in mind that I know I OU for our Monteverde story and also the night we stayed at a homestay. I just haven't had time to write about the homestay but the Monteverde email—complete with a pictures Rob had taken—which I carefully crafted early in the morning yesterday somehow evaporated into the ether.
Bear in mind that I know I OU for our Monteverde story and also the night we stayed at a homestay. I just haven't had time to write about the homestay but the Monteverde email—complete with a pictures Rob had taken—which I carefully crafted early in the morning yesterday somehow evaporated into the ether.
Tomorrow we have one more day in San Jose and then we have to leave on Thursday. Sad. Very sad.
However, today in Post, we are going to have a walk in the National Park this morning from eight till around 115, and then five of us will be picked up to go kayaking through the mangroves.
But first, more about Monday. We left Monteverde at about 8 AM and had about a 4 hour drive to get here. Very scenic!!
We were coming down out of the mountains – left at about 1440 metres and are at sea level now. We took pictures of the mountains as we twisted and twisted around on very poor roads, but Rob's pictures, of course, do not show the depth that we were seeing.
First, our bus stopped at a bridge which is known to have a fairly incredible number of American alligators in the water is beneath. So, we trundled across the bridge to the centre so we could get a few pictures of that. While there, we saw two amazing red macaws fly over—and that is really a sight to see. Of course it was way too quick for anybody to get a camera on them.
Luckily, as our bus continued on, Eddie spotted Scarlet Macaws again, sitting at the very top of the tree. So, we all poured out, our cameras at the ready, and this was the result.
We checked into our hotel at about noon, and then right away in the same bus went off to the beach.
After a delicious swim in the warm Pacific sea with sandy shore and fabulous surf, Rob and I walked down the beach to where there was a bit of a mangrove estuary and spied the following:
Then finally, a beautiful sunset and we were off back to the hotel.
After a delicious swim in the warm Pacific sea with sandy shore and fabulous surf, Rob and I walked down the beach to where there was a bit of a mangrove estuary and spied the following:
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| Black Iguana |
Green Ibis
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| White Ibis |
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| Ringed Kingfisher |
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| It's a Mangrove Tree Crab! It was luck we saw the crabs. They live in trees and only come down to mate |
Hansi
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
FEB 28—QUEPOS - Day 2
Today was a grand but very hot day. We started out by having breakfast in the little area you can see in this photo by the pool (where I am right now as the sun is starting to set).
At 8 a.m. we all set off by city bus to the national Park by the beach for a walk with Eddie.The sun was scorchingly hot but we saw much wildlife today: White-faced Capuchins, Howler Monkeys, Squirrel Monkeys and a sloth that came down from its tree and crossed the road while we watched.
This was really more than we could ever hope for as sloth sightings go. Below is the 3-toed Sloth with the strange, seemingly hairless patch on its back and sloth moths in its fur (I kid you not).
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| Howler Monkey |
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| Howler Monkey |
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| White-faced Capuchin Monkey |
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| White-faced Capuchin Monkey |
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| Squirrel Monkey |
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| Three-toed sloth |
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| Two-toed Sloth |
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| Two-toed sloth |
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| Potoo in a tree trying to imitate a tree snag; photo Rob Tripe |
This is what a potoo looks like awake (picture from the internet) Huge mouth.
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| Wide awake Potoo; Internet Photo |
Five of us were picked up at 1:15 by the kayak tour people. Rob and I were in a two-man kayak as were Graham and Karen. Wendy and Eddie chose one-man kayaks.
I was delighted to find out that this was very easy paddling through a peaceful, shady brackish waterway with mangroves on both sides. We saw many crabs, different from the one I sent yesterday (but we couldn't get a picture). We also saw a Tiger Heron, two Yellow-crowned Night Herons, male and female and a Black Hawk.
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| Bare-throated Tiger Heron |
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| Yellow-crowned Night Heron |
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| Yellow-crowned Night Heron |
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| Male Black Hawk (likes crabs) |
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| Black Vulture |
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| Black Vultures hanging out on the tidal flats |
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| Nesting Pale-vented Pigeon |
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| Pale -vented Pigeon |
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| Great Egret |
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| Snowy Egret |
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| Snowy Egret in breeding plumage; dig those yellow feet |
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| Fish casado with black beans, rice, salad and a tall glass of tamarind juice |
Hansi
Sent from my iPhone
MAR 1--MONTEVERDE, PART 1
We left La Fortuna (elevation 1150 ft.) by minibus on Feb. 24 and were driven to a boat dock - then boarded a motorboat to take us across Lake Arenal, which would cut one hour off our drive to Monteverde (elevation 5000 ft.). The boat driver took us along the shore for some time so that we could see herons, anhingas and egrets. Then we zipped across the water to meet our next bus.
Up the mountain to Monteverde - 106 km - along a terrible road - unpaved most of the way - only to be attempted with a 4X4. Our bus struggled. Pitted with potholes, gravel and bumps, it took about 5 hours to make that distance. At one point, we pulled over to get a few sunset pictures and then simply could not get traction to continue up the hill. The driver had to roll backwards along the narrow mountain road (my heart in my mouth) to get a running start, which did not work, so we wound backwards even further down another curve until we found a fairly level spot to gun the engine and we slowly ground our way up the mountain again. We were ALL silently encouraging that bus with ESP. Oy!
It was very scenic drive, however, along which a jaguarundi ran across the road in front of our bus (Eddy has only seen three in his 28 years) and a bunch of coati mundis cavorted beside the road.
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| Coati mundi |
Finally arrived at our hotel.
MAR 2 -- MONTEVERDE, PART 2
We had a walk to the Cloud Forest on our next day in MontEverde.
The vegetation is very different here than the rain forest just slightly below where we were in Arenal. (La Fortuna)
As as with all these walks, it was more a climb, so Rob and I were taxed but getting more and more used to it. While the temperature was cooler, the uphill hiking made us sweat like pigs.
Very steep paths consisting of dirt and loose gravel or protruding rocks made for a real workout.
Along the way, we spotted this Agouti foraging in the underbrush.
We were on the lookout for a Quetzal - found at this elevation if you're lucky enough to spot one. We're told that birders can come here for two weeks and never see the Resplendent Quetzal. Our lucky group saw three of them this day - very clearly - and although Rob's pictures are not in great focus you can get the idea and I will attach a picture from the bird app we have, which says it all.
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| Resplendent Quetzal from Bird App |
Another bird we were hoping to see – and we did! We did! – was the Rainbow-billed Toucan and Rob DID get excellent pictures of it.
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| Rainbow-billed Toucan |
All in all, a very satisfactory outing.
After our walk in the Cloud Forest, some of us went on to tour raw sugar (basically jaggery like we saw in India) production, making of chocolate from the cocoa plant and coffee plantation. At the end, we were fed a small traditional meal (served at celebrations or weddings) consisting of a mixture of meat, cassava and plantain on a tortilla.
Fresh Cocoa seeds - then dried - then fermented. At first bitter but they don't really taste like chocolate until fermented.
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| Cocoa bean and cocoa seeds |
The way the cocoa bean used to be ground and then sugar mixed in with that "pestle" or roller.
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| Old-fashioned pestle and cooking caldron |
Sugar cane juice is cooked in caldrons until thick. Then it is poured out - and as it cools It has to be beaten quickly with a paddle which causes it to crystallize (like we used to do to make fudge). Wendy in our group demonstrates this. It then becomes lumps of semi-warm "brown" sugar. Yum!
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| Poured out thickened sugar juice, and a member of our tour beating the mixture until it crystalizes |
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| The finished product |
Sent from my iPhone
ADDENDUM
ADDENDUM
[This blogster's apologies for how jumbled this last part is. It is difficult to go back and insert photos, so what occured before the volcano tour now follows it, as does Rob's wonderful closing photo of the southern sunset.]
One last location in Costa Rica that hasn't yet been mentioned was our Homestay.
Like the word implies, we were meant to stay right in a family's home, to allow us to see how rural people there actually live and also to give this little farming community extra revenue or tourist money that they would not have access to any other way.
There were four homes into which the 12 of us were distributed. The house that Rob and I stayed in was run by a lovely lady with an 18-year-old son.
One last location in Costa Rica that hasn't yet been mentioned was our Homestay.
Like the word implies, we were meant to stay right in a family's home, to allow us to see how rural people there actually live and also to give this little farming community extra revenue or tourist money that they would not have access to any other way.
There were four homes into which the 12 of us were distributed. The house that Rob and I stayed in was run by a lovely lady with an 18-year-old son.
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| The house in which Rob and I stayed |
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| The cabin out back with its outside bathroom and shower |
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| You could see through the cracks in the floorboards to the ground below in both the house and cabin |
We weren't in love with the idea that fauna might be able to crawl up through those cracks, but we saw no pests in our room and I believe that was also true for the gals.
After we got ourselves settled in our accommodation, we walked back down the road to the very large open-air pavilion where we were we're going to have lunch. This is also where some of us paid extra to have cooking lessons in the afternoon.
There were several activities that had been arranged – all for extra money – and all optional –like fishing or cooking. Can't think of the others. Rob and I chose to cook dessert - with Mia (lady we were staying with) while Julie, Rosie and Roz made a main dish with another lady.
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| Add caption |
We all did this in the outdoor kitchen attached to the pavilion. Quite fun! Rob and I made a delicious dessert with milk, what seemed like 40 pounds of sugar, grated coconut and carrot. Once it became thick and the consistency of candy we then scooped it out onto lemon leaves for serving. We also got to make a wonderful drink in the blender – again using milk, grated coconut, some very delicious but sour fruit called mimbre and liquor that they make there from sugarcane.
My kind of smoothie!
All the folks prepared dinner for us in that same pavilion after which we were treated to folk dancing by children and adults from the town. Of course, they encouraged us to join in.
Brekkie was prepared for us by our hostess, Mia. "Typical food", as it often appears on a restaurant billboard, of eggs, rice and black beans and fresh cut-up fruit. Plus, coffee and juice.
Mia was mortified to think that her son Brian might have awakened us at 5:30 when he arose for a 3-hour bus ride to the dentist. That is how rural they are.
Then we were off in our bus to La Fortuna (the volcanco)
Post trip message toBlogsgter Susan:
We saw these “largest orioles in Costa Rica” in Tortuguero on the Northern Caribbean side of Costa Rica. They are Montezuma oropendolas. Of course the first thing we saw were the GIGANTIC nests, close to a meter long!!! The Oropendolas are about the size of small crows and, unfortunately, nest high in the trees so getting photos is a problem what with distance and backlighting etc etc. Anyway, they’re a raucous, gregarious bunch, very colourful – the yellow tails and brightly marked heads in particular. After the last couple of days of snow, we wish we were back down there . . . sigh. Rob
