The rainforest is..

.. Very rainy! I woke after a sleepless night to the sound of.. rain. The volcano is obscured by thick clouds, so I dont think Ill be seeing lava during this trip! I guess Ill have to plan one to Hawaii! After Italy.. but anyways, I got up early as our trip to Cano Negro wildlife preserve was to begin at 7:20. We got a desayuna typica (local CR breakfast) which Im now addicted to, and the shuttle got us promptly. Three other couples joined us, from Washington DC, Montreal and San Diego. The couple from San Diego was a lot of fun, and we talked a good bit sharing our adventures in travel. They were actually going to Eco Thermales tonight, so I gave them scoop.

The drive was long but wandered through some beautiful farmland. Jorje was our guide, and Don Juan our driver. I started calling our driver Eagle Eyes, as he was amazing! He was driving at a good clip and stopped quickly to pull over. He spotted a sloth in the trees! The look like a brown-grey circle and can barely be seen, I suppose, unless you know what youre looking for! We ended up seeing two 2 toed sloths. The houses were mostly very small with tin rooves surrounded by flowing fields of papaya, plantains, casaba, yucca, ornamental plants, sugar cane and pineapple.

It was at this point that the tour guide asked if we have our passports. I never carry mine on me, because if God forbid my bag is stolen... so it was resting comfortably in the room safe. I asked about this, as we werent crossing into Nicaragua so I couldnt figure out why wed need it! He insisted we were crossing a border but said hopefully we wouldnt be stopped. It wasnt until the drive back that I realized he was pulling one over on us!! I had visions of being trapped in this country for longer than planned--which wouldnt be the worst thing!

We stopped at a restaurant on the way for water and juice. the restaurant is called Las Iguanas, and we soon found out why. There were 8 to 10 HUGE iguanas sunning themselves on the trees next to the restaurant! Apparently they like to live by a river, and there was one right there as well. The restaurant owners feed them tomatoes and other veggies, and they just hang out. They were green iguanas, though a few of them had bright orange spines down their back. We found out from our tour guide that those are males, and their spines turn orange during mating season to attract the females. He also told us that many of the birds are the same, where the males are brightly colored. I found this interesting, given that it seems to me that with people, women tend to do more ´primping´than men!

Jorje told us about the people that live in this area. Only around 35% graduate high school. Around 30 years ago family sizes were 5-6, and now they mostly have 1 or 2 kids only.

We passed a huge Parqueo sugar mill, and then a lone bird on top of a bare tree. Jorje said its a laughing falcon, and that the superstition goes that if its on a green tree, it will rain, and if it is seen on a bare tree, someone will die. Happily moving on... We came across a field of cows, and a baby cow decided to race our bus. It was really cute! We saw lots of different birds including egrets, spoonbills, kingfishers. We pulled over to a shrub to listen to a white collared bird sing to us. Then we saw some caiman, like a small crocodile. It was very cute! We saw lots of coconut trees as well and then a three toed sloth. And we werent even at the park yet!

We got to the park, following a rather arduous drive on a rock and dirt path. We got out, took a break, then headed onto the boat for the tour of the river. Right away we saw a huge group of howler monkies. Jorje started making the call that they make, and in about five minutes, one responded rather persistently! it was really interesting, like they were having a great old conversation. Then we came across some white faced capucian monkeys, like the ones I saw at the last hotel and then a spider monkey. We were very lucky to see all three that inhabit this area. One other monkey lives on the atlantic coast side, which is the squirrel monkey. The spider monkeys are usually very active during the day but this one was sacked out sleeping. I actually saw him first, and his back legs were dangling, and his head was resting on his hands on the branch. He was too far for a picture but quite cute. I did get some of the howler monkeys with pics through Jorjes binoculars.

The boat ride was for two hours and was so interesting! We saw lizards, the emerald basilisk also called the ´Jesus Christ´lizard as they can run on water. It was cool to watch as it stood up on two legs and dashed across the water. Then we pulled up to what looked like a dark band on a tree trunk. Turns out it was a group of bats sleeping! i have no idea how they saw it, and it was really interesting. They looked like scratches in the tree! We then saw a bird that sounded like a pig squealing!

We got back to the restaurant and had a tipico meal. Mine was casado chicken and rice with vegetable pear- not sure what it was like, but it was good, rice, black beans, chicken wiht a sauce, and a cooked plantain. It was very good.

It rained a lot on the ride back to the hotel. Unfortunately the weather isnt clearing so it looks like the day will end with rain. Its cooled down though, which is good, though its still pretty muggy. Ive been wearing my hair tied back to keep from scaring people! Im considerate that way..

Heading into town for dinner in a little bit, then maybe out for some drinks at a local hangout. We head out in the morning to the last area we visit. Im not sure if the next hotel has a computer i can use, so well see. Its the hotel we stayed at our first night, but we were in late and up early so I didnt get to explore the grounds. Im unsure what we will do.. we will explore grecia and sarchi, two artisan communities. But the earthquake hit the Poas park, and Im hearing conflicting information if its open or not. We did hear that its not worth going to the volcano if its cloudy, which it has been much of the time. So, i did find another waterfall we can explore, a butterfly farm and a park with a ruin of an old town that had a population fo 10k including buildings, aqueducts, etc. Ill see what the hotel suggests, and explore a bit as well. Tomorrow will be half travel I think, and then one more full day following that.

If I can write again, i will.. otherwise, Ill post an update when I am back and post some of the pics. Lots so far!!