Iguana
little white tree toad
Monday morning-
We sat out on our private veranda watching the clouds move away from the top of the Arenal volcano. Up to this time, the mountain has been obscured, but we got a good view and some nice pictures.
At breakfast, the serving crew must have been diminished since the weekend; we had a difficult time getting juice and hot drinks, which up to now have been served very promptly. I’m guessing most guests leave on Sunday, so the management has a short staff for Monday.
We are headed today to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and will stop for breaks and lunch.
We crossed over the Continental Divide and drove on the Pan American Highway—more about that later.
We stopped at a huge enormous souvenir shop connected to a cafeteria, where the predominant food is---you guessed it—rice and beans mixed with either veggies or meat.
The store had all sorts of wooden items (belts, purses, jewelry, placemats, bowls, etc), all kinds of embroidered items and macramé and as always, caps and t-shirts. One of our group bought two leather and wood rocking chairs to haul back on the airplane.
We were told that the Caribbean side of the country has rain 13 months a year and the Pacific side has seasons—rainy and dry. We are on the cusp of the rainy and the vegetation on the side of the road looks a little brown and dry, which will change in the coming months.
Almost to the hotel, we were taken on a side trip to the Crocodile and bird watching Safari.
We all loaded up in a covered boat and headed out to see critters. The guide gave each of us a brochure, which showed 58 bird pictures with their names and then he proceeded to point to birds and say their number in the brochure.
By the end, we had seen 35 of the 58, with 4 “bonus” birds (not in the brochure). Our guide, Hansel, pointed out Basilisk Lizards who are also called Jesus Christ Lizards because they seem to walk on water. He explained that their back legs move 22 times a second, which propels them across the water.
We saw multitudes of crocodiles, both large and small
and we saw iguanas.
We were in a tidal river in which the depth changes with the tides, daily. There is a mixture of salt and fresh water. The salt water is heavier and sinks to the bottom. We went into a Mangrove swamp where the mangrove trees “process” the salt, filtering it and leaving blotches of it on its bark.
One of my favorite new fruits is a guanavana. We saw one finally and it is the shape of a strawberry, but much larger (think soccer ball) and was really green with little seeds like a strawberry. I’ve had the juice and it is very yummy. Didn't see this fruit growing, but we did see mangos and papayas.
We finally got to our hotel, which is a part of a private club with a really large amount of land. There are security cameras everywhere, security guards, a private beach and private homes.
It is a lovely place as all of our hotels have been, but this room is quite a bit smaller than the others and N and I have been running into each other. There is barely enough room for suitcases and us.
About the time we got back to our room from supper, a huge thunderstorm hit, giving us a perfect score so far. No days without rain. We lost power in the room for a few seconds and then we began to hear drip, drip, drip. We discovered a puddle in the floor by the door and sopped it up.
It’s been a long travel day, more tomorrow. This trek is coming to a close. Tomorrow, the visit to Manuel Antonio National Park—the Pacific Beach. Nitey nite
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