Here are the latest and greatest (well, sort of) of pictures from our Costa Rica trip in April. We had a wonderful time, met up with friends for a few days (just by luck and coincidence), and Becky turned 15 while we were there. I've tried to pare down the pics to post...with only moderate success. So, here you go...
Our itinerary, the yellow line: from San Jose, to Torteguerro on the Carribean coast, and back to San Jose (by plane) and on to Arenal and Monteverde, and back to San Jose (by car) and on to Manual Antonio on the Pacific coast, and back to San Jose (by plane).
 In the plane, a little 6-seater, on the way to Torteguerro. |
 San Jose, nestled in the Central Valley. Half of the country's population of 4 million live here. |
We just barely cleared the mountains on the way to Torteguerro. Got up to about 7000 ft -seems high for this little plane. |
I'm trying to include just a few pics of the incredible jungle. Yes, it is a jungle out there. |
| We stayed at a wonderful lodge, Tortuga Lodge, in the middle of the jungle. The people were so wonderful, the food delicious, hammocks on the porches for every room, beautiful grounds and a cool trail out back through the jungle. We took two boat tours through the canals of the Reserve, and saw many birds, monkeys, and more. | |
Amazing butresses on these trees.... |
... and more jungle. |
Howler monkeys in the trees... we saw a couple of troops on the boat tours. |
Our guide, Fernando. Who knew everything and saw everything. I finally told him that he could tell us anything about the animals and jungle and I'd believe him! |
One of many caimen that we saw. |
A Jesus Christ lizard (a basalisk), so named because they can scamper across the surface of the water. We watched one do just that! |
Pretty flowers... maybe someone out there knows what they are. There were flowers everywhere. |
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My obsession with butterflies was evident. We saw many Blue Morphos, tho it was impossible to take their picture. |
A large spider (body was 2 inches long) that we saw on a walk in the jungle. |
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On the left - this is a Cecropia tree, where all these ants live and protect the tree from vines. When the guide tapped the tree, tons of ants came running out of small little holes along the trunk. It is the only type of tree that we saw that wasn't covered with vines and bromeliads.
A heron. We saw many beautiful birds, none of which I can remember. But Fernando knew them all... well, I think he did... |
Another bird... |
Becky on the grounds of the lodge where we stayed. The size of all these plants were incredible. |
One of many large leaf-cutting ants that we saw. We saw this steady stream of little orange, yellow and green bits go by... on close inspection, we saw hundreds of busy ants. Puts beavers to shame. |
Bruce, outsitting in his field. Oh, I thought it was supposed to be outstanding. |
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A fun place for a reptile-phile family. Which we are. |
The salt-water pool at the lodge. The whole place was just beautiful. There were hammocks everywhere (not to mention mosquitoes!) |
Bruce and Anna went to gaze at the Carribean Sea before leaving. |
Our plane, this time a 6-seater, to take us back to San Jose. |
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Continue on to Volcan Arenal and Monteverde...
Continue on to Quepos, on the Pacific side...