Bay Leaves » Costa Rica

A Travel Photo Favorite

Kara — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:17:05 +0000

Baby variegated squirrel sleeping in my hand.

I am not sure when I will get around to posting the travelogue from our trip to Costa Rica in 2006, so I want to share the story of one of my all time favorite travel photos. In the weeks leading up to our trip to Costa Rica, I had promised my husband that if I had the opportunity to hold a tarantula, I would do it. I am terrified of spiders, so this was a brave plan. When we visited Monteverde, we went to a butterfly garden for a tour. In the midst of the tour, Stephen pointed to the guide and said, “what’s that in your pocket?” We all looked down to see a little face poking out. It was a baby variegated squirrel, and he was adorable! Happily, the guide passed the little guy to me, and he promptly fell asleep in my hand. I was in seventh heaven.

Nursing a baby variegated squirrel. Monteverde, Costa Rica.

After walking around for a bit, we came to a room showcasing different Costa Rican insects and arachnids. You guessed it. One of them was a tarantula, which we were welcome to hold. Although my resolve to face that challenge was strong, there was no way a tarantula could compete with a baby squirrel. Stephen claimed it was almost the same because they are both furry. I was simply not going to give up the squirrel until it was absolutely necessary, and in my book, tarantula holding is not necessary. I held on to my new friend until he woke up hungry and was ready for a snack. I promise the next NEXT time I have an opportunity, I will hold a tarantula. Unless something cuter comes along first.

Check out more of Stephen’s pictures of Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica 2006 Day Ten: San José

Kara — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 05:52:04 +0000

Spire of the Iglesia de la Merced. San José, Costa Rica.

Today, we spent a lot of time exploring San José. I will let the pictures tell the story, because I honestly didn’t write anything down in my notes for this day. The next morning, we headed for home.

Costa Rica is definitely more commercialized than Peru, where we went last year. Peru has this amazing sense of history, and you just don’t get that in Costa Rica. Despite that, I really enjoyed the trip. Just the sheer number of birds and animals we saw was amazing. Costa Rica Expeditions was a great choice for booking our trip, and I would definitely recommend them. I always like to book through a local operator if possible, rather than going through an American intermediary company.

Whale bone artwork. Ballena. La Sabana Park, San José, Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica 2006 Day Nine: Café Britt Coffee Plantation

Kara — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 05:51:21 +0000

Ripe coffee beans, also known as cherries.

This morning, we headed off to the Café Britt Coffee Plantation for the tour. We were running late for some reason, and though we arrived in time for lunch, we missed the tour. Mauricio arranged for a shorter personal tour for us after lunch, which we really enjoyed. Because of Costa Rica’s small size, the government felt they couldn’t compete with other countries in terms of quantity for export, so for that reason, the government wants companies to grow only high-quality Arabica coffee. I think they are given some land as long as they are growing Arabica. Stephen loved the coffee (I don’t drink coffee, so I don’t know if it was good), and I have been ordering it from there since our trip. After the tour, we headed back to our hotel in San José. Mauricio took us out to dinner at an extremely fancy French restaurant in a beautiful old building.

Check out more of Stephen’s pictures of Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica 2006 Day Eight: Monteverde

Kara — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 05:50:26 +0000

Waterfall. Monteverde, Costa Rica.

Today we got to take a hike through the cloud forest. The guides were really great. They were wonderful at spotting birds and other species that were camouflaged by the forest. The one bird that EVERYONE apparently wants to see when they come to Monteverde is the Resplendent Quetzel, and the guides tried very hard to spot one for us. Happily, we did get to see one of these beautiful birds. We also saw a slaty-backed nightengale-thrush, a coppery-headed emerald hummingbird feeding her babies, a purple-throated mountain gem, a green violet ear, a magenta throated woodstar, and a bananaquit. We also saw an orange-kneed tarantula, a lizard we think was a rainforest celestus, and a two-toed sloth with her baby. An owl butterfly also landed on my finger.

Sleeping baby variegated squirrel. Monteverde, Costa Rica.

After lunch, we went to visit a butterfly garden. I usually prefer to see animals (and insects) in the wild, but we did see some beautiful butterflies here. I had long promised Stephen that if I had the opportunity to hold a tarantula during our trip, I would do it. I am terrified of spiders, so this was a brave plan. In the midst our butterfly garden tour, Stephen pointed to the guide and said, “what’s that in your pocket?” We all looked down to see a little face poking out. It was a baby variegated squirrel, and he was adorable! Happily, the guide passed the little guy to me, and he promptly fell asleep in my hand. I was in seventh heaven. After walking around for a bit, we came to a room showcasing different Costa Rican insects and arachnids. You guessed it. One of them was a tarantula, which we were welcome to hold. Although my resolve to face that challenge was strong, there was no way a tarantula could compete with a baby squirrel. I was simply not going to give up the squirrel until it was absolutely necessary, and in my book, tarantula holding is not necessary. I held on to my new friend until he woke up hungry and was ready for a snack. I promise the next NEXT time I have an opportunity, I will hold a tarantula. Unless something cuter comes along first.

Sunset. Santa Elena, Costa Rica.

After the tour we had time to wander around the town of Santa Elena. I had to go to a grocery store and buy a can of cat food for a friend who collects cat food labels from all over the world. I wondered if the hotel maids in the places we stay are puzzled by the unopened label-less cat food cans we leave in the room. We also found an internet café and relaxed for a bit. While we were walking around outside, we often had dogs hanging out with us. When they got bored, they would head back home.

Check out more of Stephen’s pictures of Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica 2006 Day Seven: Monteverde

Kara — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 05:49:42 +0000

Sunset over Monteverde. Costa Rica.

After breakfast, Mauricio drove us to Monteverde, which takes about four hours. Following lunch, we went on an ecological sanctuary walk. Get ready for another list! We saw an orange-bellied trogan, a keel-billed toucan, a brown jay, and a blue-crowned mot mot. We also saw a Mexican hairy porcupine and my favorite giant rodent, an agouti. Our guide carried a spotting scope, and we were able to get a good look at lots of the birds.

Check out more of Stephen’s pictures of Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica 2006 Day Six: Arenal Volcano

Kara — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 05:48:52 +0000

Me at the Arenal Hanging Bridges. Costa Rica.

After breakfast, we went on a hanging bridge tour through the forest. Happily, these bridges weren’t nearly as scary as the ones we went on in Peru in 2005. Again, we saw lots of birds, including a summer tanager, a chesnut-mandibled toucan, a wood creeper, a rufous-tailed jacamar, a broad-billed mot mot, a rufous mot mot, and a rufous-collared sparrow. We also saw a South American whip-tailed lizard, leaf cutting ants, a green tree anole and a tarantula. The array of plant life was pretty amazing too (but I will spare you that list).

In the late afternoon, we headed to the Hidalgo Family Hot Springs. We hung out in the pleasantly warm waters for quite some time and chatted with another family from the U.S. (from Wisconsin, I think). After that, we ate at the Hot Springs’ restaurant, which was delicious.

Check out more of Stephen’s pictures of Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica 2006 Day Five: Tortuguero to Arenal

Kara — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 05:47:56 +0000

Wading Roseate Spoonbills. Ajaia ajaja. Cano Blanco, Limon, Costa Rica.

We spent what little time we had left at Tortuga lodge lazing on our porch. We saw another chestnut-mandibled toucan and a Montezuma orependola. We also saw a huge praying mantis – it was about six inches long.

After breakfast, we headed off with our guide in a boat to Caño Blanco. On the journey, we saw black-necked stilts, sandpipers, little blue herons, snowy egrets, roseate spoonbills and a groove-billed ani. When we got to Caño Blanco, we met our new guide, Mauricio, who was to be with us for the remainder of our trip. We really liked Mauricio a lot – he was a good guy. From there, we began the long drive to Arenal. We passed MANY banana plantations on the way. Towns tend to form around these plantation because the companies (Del Monte, Chiquita, Hidalchi, etc.) often provide a place to live for the workers. Around 80% of the crops are for export. Bananas that are too small or two large are kept for local consumption or to feed to pigs.

Workers sorting bananas. Near Cano Blanco, Costa Rica.

Mauricio told us that the largest industry in Costa Rica is tourism. Second is technology (my notes say “Intel”, so maybe I meant they have a plant here). Third is agriculture, which includes bananas, coffee, melons, pineapple, flowers, ferns and teak wood.

When we got to Arenal, we checked into the hotel, then went to an Italian restaurant for dinner, which was kind of a funny choice. Costa Rica Expeditions is one of the tour companies that is more responsible about the volcano. People have been killed just by the hot gasses from getting too close. Mauricio told us a pretty horrific story about a guide and a tourist that were hit by the gasses. They were able to get to help, but they had to be airlifted to the United States, where they both eventually died. We never got anywhere near close enough to the volcano to be in danger.

Close-up of volcano rim. Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica.

It is very difficult to see the volcano because of the cloud cover, but we hoped to get a glimpse. For some reason, I woke up at about 3 in the morning. I looked out between the curtains and saw that lava flows on the volcano were quite visible. I woke Stephen up and we took a couple chairs out on the patio and sat there watching the volcano erupt for at least an hour. I am so glad I happened to wake up and we caught that. We never got to see it erupt again.

Check out more of Stephen’s pictures of Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica 2006 Day Four: Tortuguero National Park

Kara — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 05:45:52 +0000

Baby turtle crawls over the sand. Atlantic Green Sea Turtle. Tortuguero, Costa Rica.

Today, we were up at 4:30 to see if we could find a nest of turtles hatching. This time, we didn’t have much luck. We found one baby turtle lying on her back, and we thought she was dead. One of the other guests flipped her over and she started right off toward the sea. It’s amazing that they know exactly where to go. We escorted her all the way to the water’s edge and she took off into the sea.

Next we were off on another boat tour. On this trip, we saw sandpipers, a green back heron, a baby crocodile, a little blue heron, a northen jicana, a great egret, howler monkeys, a blue morphos butterfly, an emerald basilisk, a caiman, a black river turtle, an anhinga, a grey hawk, a tiny baby Jesus Christ lizard, a great blue heron, and a great egret. It truly is an amazing place.

American Crocodile, Crocodylus acutus. Tortuguero, Costa Rica.

In the afternoon, we lazed on the porch some more and saw a Montezuma oropendola, a common bush tanager, a rufous-tailed hummingbird, a great kiskadee, and a blue-gray tanager. I know these lists make me sound like I am really into birdwatching. I am not actually that into it, but when I do encounter birds on my travels, I really enjoy trying to identify them.

Blue Jeans Dart Frog

After our rest, we decided to try hiking behind the lodge. They had tall rubber boots for us to borrow, and Stephen and I took off down one of the paths. Unfortunately, the mud soon became too deep for us to continue. I got one of my boots stuck in the mud, and I lost my balance and fell over while trying to get loose. As we were walking back to the lodge, we noticed a poison dart frog in a clearing. In fact, we started noticing little frogs all over the place. We probably spent an hour walking around staring at the ground. It was really fun. I had always thought these frogs would be the same size as regular old generic frogs, but these guys were about the size of a dime. I even saw a baby one about half that size. I also spotted what I think was a Bransford’s litter frog, but it was too small and brown to manage a decent photo among the dead leaves.

Northern Jacana

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Costa Rica 2006 Day Three: Tortuguero National Park

Kara — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 05:44:28 +0000

Children swimming and playing in the water. Tortuguero village, Costa Rica.

In the morning our guide took us over to the village of Tortuguero, where we had a tour of the tiny town. There were lots of kids playing in the water when our boat drove up, but the guide told us every once in awhile a kid (or adult) gets attacked by a caiman or crocodile. He said that every once in awhile, a shark makes its way into the rivers from the ocean. They don’t recommend swimming.

We had lunch in Tortuguero Village at a Caribbean restaurant, Miss Juney’s. The food was delicious. When walking around near the restaurant, we saw emerald basilisks all over the place, as well as some common basilisks. Common basilisks are also often called Jesus Christ Lizards, for their ability to run across the surface of water.

Green-Backed Heron

After lunch, we had some relaxation time, because a beach hike was planned for after dark to see if we could watch a sea turtle laying her eggs. We took off our shoes and sat on the porch of our cabin with our feet up. Just while sitting there, we saw the following birds: a lattice-tailed trogon, a great kiskadee, a rufous-tailed hummingbird and a chestnut-mandibled toucan. We also saw a praying mantis and some sort of giant beetle. I never got tired of just sitting there watching all the birds and critters.

Dawn on the beach in Tortuguero National Park.

After dinner, at around 11 pm I think, we headed across the river to the beach. It turned out to be quite a workout. They had lookouts around the beach to spot the turtles, and of course we turned out to be at the wrong end of the beach. When a turtle was spotted, they shined a red light so people could head that way. We hiked five miles through the sand quite rapidly and finally came upon a massive green sea turtle laying her eggs. We almost missed it. We saw her lay her last few eggs, then bury her nest. The whole process clearly wore her out. She had to take breaks while burying the eggs. But we had to be careful not to stand in the path of flying sand from her powerful flippers. We then walked behind her as she headed back to the ocean, also a lengthy process for the tired turtle. Finally, we turned back to the lodge. We saw a tarantula in the woods on our way back, and heard lots of howler monkeys, who also acted as our morning alarm clocks every day.

Check out more of Stephen’s pictures of Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica 2006 Day Two: Tortuguero National Park

Kara — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 05:43:36 +0000

An aerial view of San Jose from a single-engine Cessna.

We got up early and headed back to the airport to fly to Tortuguero National Park. The flight, on a single-engine Cessna, was only about 35 minutes. The “airport” at Tortuguero is just a little landing strip. We went straight to breakfast, then took a morning boat tour. The roads in Tortuguero are actually rivers, so all travel is by boat, which I found quite relaxing. The bird life in the park is abundant. Just on that first morning tour, we saw a bare-throated tiger heron, a keel-billed toucan, great-tailed grackles, a yellow-crowned heron, a little blue heron, an aracari, a night heron, a snowy egret, white-fronted parrots, black vultures, a northern jicana, a green backed heron, and… well, you get the idea. I can’t believe how long my list is! On that morning jaunt, we also saw long nose bats, crabs, an iguana, a river otter, a spectacled caiman, spider monkeys, a howler monkey, and a black river turtle. Unfortunately, most of the notes in my journal are lists of species we saw, so I have to rely on my somewhat limited memory to recreate the trip.

A snowy egret in Tortuguero National Park.

We headed back to Tortuga Lodge for lunch. Meals there were always quite generous, which is not necessarily a good thing, because much of our time was spent sitting in a boat. We thought the chicken wraps they brought out were the main dish, then they brought out vast amounts of beef and rice and beans.

After lunch, we took the boat across the river to the beach and walked around looking at the empty green sea turtle nests where the eggs had already hatched. We saw lots of tiny flipper prints in the sand but no turtles. The time to see hatching turtles is usually in the early morning.

Little Blue Heron

We had a wonderful dinner of sea bass with passion fruit sauce and headed off to our cabin. We were warned to carefully shake out our shoes in the morning before putting them on, in case of scorpions. I am happy to say that we never encountered a single scorpion during our stay. After the giant cockroaches and even more giant spiders from our trip to Peru last year, I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of ornery critters in Costa Rica.

Check out more of Stephen’s pictures of Costa Rica.

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