We three left the GAdventures group of 16 plus our guide Daniel…. yesterday. It was wonderful meeting this group touring most of Costa Rica for the last 16 days. Now we are on our own for the next week plus. We had rented a car in San Jose, planning to drive to Playa del Coco to our new home away from home at Pacifico. The signage on the roads is less than ideal….. of course if we understood Spanish it would help… lol! Consequently we had turn around a couple of times and retrace our steps….. arriving here closer to 4.5 hours instead of 3.5. We were to meet our “concierge” before 3pm but when we arrived at his office, he was not there. As we were wondering how we were going to reach him….. with no wifi to call with, he arrived…phew! All was well. Beautiful huge 3 bedroom condo….. with a washer/dryer…. yes! Guess what we did after living out of a suitcase and kind of roughing it for the better part of 2 weeks? Yup…. laundry!

Finally we have good wifi so of course I have posted a whole lot of pictures etc. Maybe now I have caught up!!!

Lichen hanging in the trees

Hibiscus

Elephant Ears Philodendron

Bird of paradise

Bromeliad hiding place for vipers… searching food of frogs and hummingbirds

Sapphora… most wonderful fruit

Agouti…largest rodent

Coati….so hard to capture… move too fast. Almost blind but smell and sense vibrations for food. Biggest Coati in world.

Blue crown muttmutt

2 toed sloth…live for 20 yrs… only one (of the two types) that can survive at these altitudes and lower temperatures as opposed to 3 toed sloth which needs higher temperatures. Predators are puma, Jaguars & ocelots. They poop like cats … dig hole then cover up so the big cats don’t know they are in the trees above.

Ficus tree … biggest parasite tree in the country….takes 40-50 years to kill host. Can reach 500 years old.

53 types of hummingbirds in country. Males makes the nest. Vipers are their predator.

Can’t seem to find if I posted this before. Forgive me if I have.

Feb 1…Kayaking with Jeanette and guide Gustavo. The other kayakers were Barbara from Ottawa, Suzanna from Sudbury via Hungary, Diane from England and Anne from upstate NY. All are with Toucan tours and J and I with GADVENTURES

It was a good work-out of my core muscles just trying to get across the open windy waters of Arenal Lake….. a first time in a kayak for me. I paddle outrigger at home but this is different. Once across, the waters were peaceful and calm checking out the shore for the many egrets, osprey and a wild pig….which I missed because it moved so quickly.

The views of Arenal Volcano were spectacular….the sky clear so we could see the little puffs of steam coming out.. usually it is “shy”. Apparently it could be weeks when it is impossible to see the volcano.

Later in the evening we three went to “EcoTermales” mineral springs….a natural hot spring. The water is heated by the volcano. Oh my was that wonderful! Hot water pools, cool water pools and waterfalls pounding on sore muscles.. pure heaven.

Next day the 2nd, a bunch of us went white-water rafting down the Balsa River. This is the dry season but there is a hydro electric dam on the river but a certain times of the day, they open the floodgates…good for us. So…..it was so much fun! There were probably 8 rafts with 6 in each but…..no one went for an unscheduled dump. I’ve done it a few times before but this was the best even if it was rated only a three.

Later we went to another hot springs Los Lagos, which was more commercial type operation..with hotel . We three preferred the first. The others on the tour, did not go to the first so how could they compare

The roads seem to be in really pretty good shape although they are only one lane in either direction…. too small for the amount of traffic. This area around Limon is particularly heavy with semis and huge and medium sized buses. Limon is a major shipping port.

I would say a lot of the bridges are one lane with one direction having the right of way…. always ( according to the sign). Well ….at one such bridge, our bus had the right of way (I’m guessing) but a small car coming the other way thought he would go first (& the one behind)but at the mid pint when the bus did not stop for him, he threw up his hands then put his car in reverse as did the car behind and backed up. Our bus driver never skipped a beat in his conversation.

On the outskirts of Limon we had a flat tire. So …. off on the side of the road in the searing heat, our driver had to change the very flat tire. Poor guy! No roadside assistance here…. lol!

This smallish town of Puerto Viejo reminds me of an old hippie town with the scent of “weed” wafting in the air and the odd old codger looking pretty “wasted”. As we were walking along the beach we were asked if we wanted to buy some….. not! Apparently this town has been developing recently, a bad reputation for holdups and robberies. Not good because to me it would be a lovely place to go at another time.

Everywhere you see people riding bicycles (with no handbrakes) in the most beautiful colours (look for pictures). A good portion of our group went riding but Linda, Jeanette and I just walked around looking in the stores, stopping at an ATM, then stopping to take a dip in the Caribbean. We all brought along our own snorkel masks because snorkelling was on the optional activities list but…. ‘twas not to be. The sea is too rough….. much better for surfing!

Our hotel “Escape Caribeno” was really quite lovely with beautiful manicured gardens.

Tempurature 29C at 1:30. Very hot and HUMID!

The last leg in our return into San Jose is up in through the Braulio Carrillio Natl Park which includes the volcanic mountains of the continental divide. The rivers that come off the mountains from rain runoff become the water supply for the city of San Jose. The forests of this park help clean the pollution created by the 400,000 cars per day that come in & out of San Jose. Sucio River that brings the deposits from the volcano is orange…. like rust. Quite disgusting looking.

13-February 7/19

Leaving our lovely beautiful lodge and grounds at La Baula Lodge across from Tortuguero…. 9:15 in am.

Approx 1.5 hrs on a river boat….(the only way in or out of the area unless in emergencies, a float plane can be used). The ride is lovely… relaxing. Arrive at Parasima….Cano Blanco at what is Costa Rica’s answer to a bus depot….. boats instead of buses …on the water. Funny but there was no stall to pull into so they just pushed their way in. This is the place to use the washrooms at a cost of 500 colones… about 1.10 CAD…. pick up some snacks and they try to short change you.

So then we get on a real bus for what is the worst bumpiest ride for forever….even worse than the tractor ride out if the cabin in the bush.

Up to 80% of reject fibres of stock of bananas used in paper production when product is not fir writing on.

Banana on conveyor belt..2nd choice, banana bunches or fingers into water are 1st quality and rejects with spots and whatnot go into baby food and used as thickening agent in many foods

We woke up to be serenaded by the jungle inhabitants particularly howler monkeys. Those monkeys sound like a pack of dogs howling….very loudly.

In the morning we left the lodge at 6 in the morning in search of bird life. It was an uphill struggle especially with the humidity as high as it is. Oh my god, my face and body were sweating profusely! There were a number of birds…… toucans, tanagers and hummers. There was even a wild turkey….not exactly close up though. But then ….my new camera’s battery “exhausted” after only about 20 minutes into the hike. I’m not impressed with this camera. Needless to say I didn’t get many close up pictures of birds.

Later in the morning after breakfast, we went for another hike…this time to a watering hole on the river. Again it was extremely hot and humid but it was so so worth it to be able to swim in fresh coolish water…..yes!!! But then….we had to walk back.

Later we had a lesson on making “epanadas”. Tonight we will have a bonfire and roast marshmallows.

Daniel at the swimming hole….Sarapiqui

11-Feb 5/19

Monkey ladder vine

Crops….black pepper, draecena for export, ornamental corn plants for fencing

12-February 6/19.

We arrived after 2 hour tractor trailer ride out of the bush plus 3-4 hrs on private bus and then 1.5 hrs on river boat atlast around noon. In the afternoon and after lunch we took another boat to Tortuguero town. It’s on an island that it’s back door is the Caribbean Sea. It’s not at all like the turquoise water I’m used to seeing but pounding waves like on the pacific side.

Johnny …our guide of waters of Tortuguero National park

80 km north of Limon

Tortuguero national park is 76,000 hectares, another eco park north of here….. together total 130,000 hectares incl water areas

Jesus Christ iguana

Howler monkey family

Tiger heron

Huge iguana

Green heron… littlest. Not green but eggs are

Blue heron turns white in 6-7 months .. not to be confused with snowy egret.

Wild almond tree aka ironwood… huge can live 400-500 yrs

Little itty bitty bats on almond called ”long nose bats”

Beautiful but deadly trees…. mimosa… somewhat kacy leaves will kill fish if cut and sap goes into water… leaves close at night

Songsreef…little brown bird

Needlebill… anihas… spear the fish

2yr old cayman in the floating grass

Spoonbill night heron …family with babies … beautiful…. quite large.

Family of baby Caymans… sun bathing. ….twitching away flies

2-toed sloth….blob up in mimosa tree

Bamboo brought from Asia as support for banana trees… now all over. When bananas get heavy with fruits will collapse because banana is 80% water.

Heliconia plant 32 varieties in CR… used as ornamentals…. similar to banana leafs

Spider monkey Central American brown monkey… long tail for hanging on when reach for food. Saw but no picture of small black river turtle

Cocoas… green hanging

Bloodwood or “antiseptic” tree … half circle to scoop leaves …composting. For making drums

more spider monkey… 12-14 only in troupe

Can hear Oro-pendulum Montezuma bird but could’t see it. Did later

Finally a 3-toed sloth on the move

Nefula spider web used for bulletin proof vests

Alligator tree also antiseptic tree… got spikes.

Turtles 1.5 metres across…350 kilo in weight.

Jaquar’s feed on turtles not eggs

Slaty-tail trogan

Puffbird…2