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| Daybreak aboard a plane |
When last I left off, we were about to start on the long plane ride to lovely Costa Rica. Whew … was that a trip. After suffering through a 5 hour flight to California, we needed to recheck in with an international airline (Taca), go back through security and take a 5 hour flight to our final destination. While the food left something to be desired, the trip went very smoothly.
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| LA nights, my first view of sunny Cali |
At San Jose, we were promptly greeted by a friendly tour group rep. who gave us all of our relevant papers and hooked us up with our transportation guide Hugo. Hugo had the unenviable task of taking to jet lagged Americans on a 4 hour car ride from the city to the rainforests of Monteverde. I must say he did a wonderful job. As soon as he saw my cap, he exclaimed of his love for my hometown boys of summer (and instant way to guarantee a large tip from yours truly. What more could I ask for? Just wait my friends it gets better. Now imagine you are exhausted, thirsty, and perhaps a little peckish … well how does your heart soar when you get settled in the van to see this:
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| Snack time! |
Hugo was bilingual and was clearly delighted to speak Spanish with EJ. I could understand much of what they said and was happy to watch the local sites, which included HUGE avocados, Brahman cows (I love these guys cause they remind me of Clem from BTVS), mango trees, and the dry forest (one of the three forests in CR). Let me tell you… my eardrums got quite the workout today between flying and driving first down in elevation then back up… my head was pounding from the pressure changes. Still it was cool to see the urban culture as we headed to our first tourist destination.
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| Dining with a view |
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| The "dry forest: |
Our intuitive guide quickly noticed that I was struggling to take pics from the moving van and stopped by a lovely roadside breakfast nook with an overlook of the central Pacific Ocean. Their coffee was legen …DAIRY, and EJ couldn’t stop raving about their fresh squeezed OJ (sweetest we’ve ever tasted). While eating, we were able to take pictures of local coffee plants and view the local swallows flitting around (they had iridescent blue bodies and black wings). After having our fill for less then 10 dollars us (approx 5000 colons), we were off again. Alas, gentle viewers the jet lag and Spanish conversation was starting to lull me into a gentle repast .. when I was awakened by the site of the black beaches of the Pacific Ocean. From there it was only a short if bumpy ride up the mountains to our hotel room.
We arrived at our current lodging around 1:00 pm, unpacked, showered and got into clean cloths. Time for a nap you may say. Would seem logical to me, but then you haven’t met my determined wife especially after she has had a cup of Costa Rican coffee.
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| Kain toad's a comin' |
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| Interesting landscaping |
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| Night tour wildlife |
No my friends, no rest yet… We trekked into town to see the sites. In desperate need of a snack and a caffeine boost, we stopped at a local café. Not only did they brew a tasty cup of Joe, which we enjoyed with some empanadas, but they entertained us with the food presentation as well. Then in order to make my dear amateur herpetologist wife happy we checked out the Serpetarium. Our guide was actually a vet student in CR. We learned all about the many poisonous snakes indigenous to the area, got to see their obese turtles, and Elsa got to play with a Kain toad. Interestingly, we learned that dogs will often die because of these ugly beasts. You see, if irritated (by say a dog kicking it around) the toads will excrete a foamy substance. This substance is hallucinogenic. So the dog licks the toad and trips out. Apparently, this causes the dogs to continue to do this TO the exclusion of eating a drinking. The death is not due to acute overdose, but rather to severe addiction… crazy huh! <Sidenote: when we explained that we didn’t treat large animals, but that people paid good money for their pets he looked at us like we had 20 heads combined… different world>
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| Goodnight from Monte Verde |
After the tour, we trekked back up the mountain and explored the grounds for a while before heading out on a night wildlife tour. Now we all know wildlife tours can be hit or miss based mainly on luck but this one was definitely a hit. We saw a cool looking (if aggressive) iridescent bird that would dig nests up to three meters into the hillside. We also saw a kinkachoo, which is a type of arboreal raccoon that looks like a cross between a bear and a monkey. Alas, he was too fast to photograph sorry. Luckily, Elsa did get video of his small cousin the Lingo. This little bugger was very curious about us, so he stayed around longer. In addition to these guys, we saw all sorts of cool insects. Apparently this little country holds 46% of the world’s insect biodiversity. For us this translated into being able to hold a stick bug and seeing a glowing, clicking beetle among other creepy crawlies.
Lastly, we had a great dinner with two people we met on the tour. Ironically, one was a vet who knew 2 of EJ’s classmates well. Small world huh…..
As you can imagine, the time for rest has long since come. So I’m gonna sign off now. See ya tomorrow…. we’re going into the cloud forest!!!!
Z
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