More Images of Costa Rica

Tha..tha...that's all for now!

Images of Costa Rica

Things I Never Want to Forget About Costa Rica--Part 2

Paddling hard into oncoming white water rapids, glancing backwards, and our guide is calming eating watermelon.

The biggest, baddest crocodiles on Rio Tarcoles have names like Fidel Castro, Saddam Huessin, and Mike Tyson.

Vampire bats secrete a substance to stop the coagulating of blood and interfer with feeling, so they can lick the blood as much as they want. And they return to the same victim, night after night.

My skin was luxuriously soft for days after the mud baths.

Leaf cutter ants harvest leaves to take to their nest, where they grow fungus to eat.

The sun rises at 5:30 every morning, sets at 5:30 every night, year round.

On the hanging bridges tour, our guide wanted to keep us safe

and warned us to keep focused on where we were walking.

Ali said, "I didn't come all this way to look at my feet."

Impatiens are the "national weed."

They eat everything with Lizarno sauce, not spicy, but tangy.

A group from New York, stopped our guide, a biologist, to ask what that animal in the field was. He said, "What animal? I cannot see an animal there, there is a cow in the way."

Little children walk for miles alone to school, perfectly safe.

Took a close up photo of an eyelash pit viper--1 of the 5 deadliest snakes in Costa Rica.

I'm incapable of uttering the simplest Spanish phrases, in spite of 2 yrs of college level classes.

Met up with Billy, Sandra, and Cody from Truckee at a very remote resort. How do these things happen?

Coffee tastes the same whether it is fresh ground or not, it just smells better.

Shampoo ginger smells like shampoo.

The average Costa Rican makes $500/month, but food and energy are very cheap, and medical costs are covered through a very inexpensive medical plan. They pay no income tax if they make under $600/month. However sales tax is 13%.

Sloths' fur turns green from the chlorophyll in the leaves they eat. They must climb down to use the ground to defecate once a week.

There are 5 types of bats: nectar, fruit, fish, insect, and blood.

Chicken of the Tree is iguana.

The males turn bright orange during mating season.

A pig walked right through the middle of the dining room while we were having dinner.

Jesus Christ lizards are not called that because they walk on water. No, it is because when one is running towards you, you shout, "Jesus Christ!"

When someone has been dead for 5 years, they open the crypt and scoot the bones aside to add someone new.

"Nightclub" does NOT mean disco. It is a strip club and the strippers are not exotic dancers, they are prostitutes advertising their wares.

I was thrilled to see toucans, scarlet macaws,

neon blue Morpho butterflies, yellow flycatchers, green honeycreepers,

howler and capuchin monkeys and a coatimundi.

The people of the Maleku tribe were almost wiped out

and there are only approximately 700 left.

They greet each other by saying "capi, capi"

and knocking on the other person's shoulder.

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If you were on the trip, what are you're most memorable things? Share them in the comments.

Almost Home

Well, of course, now that the end is getting closer, we are realizing how great this trip has been. The white water rafting and zip line were highlights, but I truly enjoyed the nature walks and boat rides too. We had the advantage of Alfredo´s vast knowledge and learned endless interesting things about the flora and fauna, and the culture including the ¨controverisal topics¨.

Non Stop Fun

Today was mega adventure day. We did the zip line first, 11 platforms. Then back for horseback riding up to the mud baths, which was very enjoyable. Now we get to rest a bit before drinks at the sunset bar. Pura Vida!

Arenal Volcano

We slept 5 miles from here for the last two nights!

More Fun at Arenal

This morning we went to the school to meet the children, watch them dance, play games and take a tour of the school. Then we visited homes of local women who treated us to a home cooked lunch.

This is a big afternoon with a hanging bridges tour, a trip around Lake Arenal, and then to see the lava flows from the volcano. Wish us luck!

So Far

We have been loving the ADVENTURE part of the tour. Our guide, Alfredo, is a biologist with a master's degree. Believe me, we are learning mucho. Bat lecture last night, nature walk this morning.

White water rafting on the Sarapiquis River was the highlight, of course. We were nervous, but the guides made it relaxing and fun. It is about the size of the American River with rapids.