Costa Rica Day 7: Challenging the river beasts

Hello again guys,
   So I'm sad to say that EJ was feeling a little under the weather today.  Her stomach and intestines have started to rebel against our busy lifestyles the past few days and she was considering taking a day off.  This would require skipping our riverboat tour.. which she almost did.  However, when she saw my sad face she decided to soldier on.

This boy is basking near the restaurant before a busy day
of chasing the ladies!

Our tour guides took us to Rio Frio which is just outside Canyo Negro, a wildlife preserve, right near the Nicaragua border.  We brought our passports with us just in case, but did not have a problem with border control.  It was pretty cool though because the place where we started our tour was the same transport dock to and from, so we saw lots of locals basically waiting for the bus.  However, I am getting ahead of myself a little bit... before we got to the dock the tour guide stopped at the Iguana Restaurant for breakfast.  The owner of this restaurant started feeding the iguanas years ago ostensibly to provide a safe place for the iguanas to stay.  Of course, I'm sure the tourist attraction component didn't hurt his decision making either right?  In any case, there were at least 30-40 iguanas in the trees, around the restaurant and overhanging the bridge.  It must be mating season here because the boys were all dressed in their formal orange (Sunday attire for male iguanas) in order to show the females they are ready to go!  EJ had a ginger ale and I just enjoyed the atmosphere and wildlife.  After a relaxing break, we set off for the boat ride.

Emerald basilisk

For those of you that have been reading the blog regularly, it is clear by now that wildlife sitings are common but still exciting for us.  Well today was no exception.  We saw several water birds including egrets, kingfishes, snakebirds, and baby piper like fish (I'm blanking on the name at the moment but they sure were cute).

We also saw several caimen and the guide even asked me if I wanted to swim with them.  (In a very manly way, I politely declined). There were several sightings of emerald basilisk lizards which are a gaudy cousin of the Jesus Christ lizard.  Just so you know, they run on water in much the same way.  In fact, while our boat was moving one dropped out of a tree onto the beach.  Why?  Not because it was clumsy, sick, or drunk.  Rather it had spotted a white faced monkey, one of its predators.  While the rest of the group was focused on the monkeys, I was able to catch this on our small camera (sorry about the fuzziness its the best my little camera can do).  I've always wanted to see these guys in action so I was super excited.

We have been very lucky to see so many mammals on this trip as they are far from common compared to the birds, insects and reptiles.  Today was no exception.  The white faced monkeys were EJ's favorite.  They were so impish and intelligent that it was not hard to see why.  We saw one monkey throw down a beehive then pick up the remnants to eat (EJ has it all on longer video).  These little guys can sure be trouble makers.  Our guide warned us that at our next stop the monkeys have been known to ambush tourists for bags.  This is how they do it.  First they have 3-4 monkeys pose for tourists to take pictures.  Then when the tourists naturally put their bag down to do this 10-12 of them will sneak up behind and steal the bag, food, and basically anything shiny.  Monkey see --- monkey do right.  They noted local thieves and now implement the same tactics.

That is my honeycomb!

In addition, we saw (and heard) more howler monkeys, juvenile and adults alike.  There were several groups along the river.  The alpha male of each group let out a loud howl (which sounded like a wildcat) whenever the engine of our boat came into range.  Elsa was quick to point out that this was the sound used for the sand people in Star Wars.  I love my wife so much, especially when she knows dorky movie trivia!  Of the three types of monkeys we have seen (spider, howler, white faced), these guys are the territorial ones and they have been known to throw stuff if challenged.  No throwing today although I did see one Alpha breaking off branches to prepare as projectiles!  We also saw a three toed sloth in the wild, and several insect bats.  These guys sleep in a vertical line and have diamonds on their back (well diamond shaped markings), when challenged the bats will shift slightly in order to look like a snake, basically mimicing a venomous snake for protection.  Lastly, we saw the great vaca and white domestic pig!

Very athletic howler monkey!

Sleeping insect bats (zoom thanks to the videocam)

How about that for flexibility?

All in all a very lucky and fun tour.  We were given a filling lunch of arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) then taken back to the hotel.  As EJ was feeling a little off, we did not venture into town for the afternoon, but rather rested on the patio before dinner.  As you can imagine, I really needed my arm twisted to relax.  No dancing tonight, just a quiet night in with a movie (the front desk provided free dvds).  Our hopes are that she feels ok to white water raft tomorrow.

Miss ya
Z

A present from our maid (its a sloth)

p.s. we have tons of long videos, if you want to see them you will just have to visit when we get back.  This blogger won't let me upload them even if I leave it all day, sorry.