Costa Rica was, hands down, my favorite port. It’s the one
place that I knew I would want to visit “for real” someday before the trip, and
now it’s a place I’m thinking I need to find a way to explore sooner rather
than later. We were in Limón which is the southeast corner of the country. Our tour
was really a 3-fer, which a chance to view wildlife from a boat on a canal, a
chance to view the rainforest from above the canopy, and a chance to walk at
ground level in the rainforest. Props to my (actual) sister, who has visited and
lived in Costa Rica several times for biology fieldwork and teaching; she recommended
this particular activity which most of our cruise group joined.
Needless to say, there is likely some positive correlation
between my excitement about a particular location or experience and the length
of space I take in my blog to describe it. This particular location excited me in several
ways – I got to do fun things/have fun experiences, I got to learn about interesting
things, I had the good fortune to have a knowledgeable and passionate guide,
and I got to do all of this with a great group of people.
We met our guide, Christopher, on the bus. He pulled our leg
with a long welcome (in Spanish), then tried Portuguese, Mandarin, and a few
other languages before grinning and speaking to us in excellent somewhat
Jamaican-accented English for the rest of the day. Christopher turned out to be
incredibly knowledgeable, have a great sense of humor, and absolutely added to
the wonder of the day. We later learned that the guides start as spotters, attend
classes to learn about the area and achieve English fluency, and are promoted
as their knowledge increases. I don’t recall when during the day Christopher
gave us a nice rule of thumb – the more brightly colored the animal, the more
dangerous it is (ie, a red snake is probably deadlier than one that camouflages
with its habitat).
The first stop was a boat ride on the Tortuguero Canal. Together
with a spotter, he identified spider monkeys, howler monkeys, a 2-toed sloth, a
3-toed sloth, a caiman, and numerous birds including snowy egrets, tiger
herons, little blue herons (no, Roy, they were not sad), sandpipers, vultures,
etc. The boat meandered slowly up and down the river so maximize viewing and
picture-taking. We did not see any Jesus Christ lizards – so named because they
seem to walk on water.
At the conclusion of the boat ride we were offered a tasty
snack of tropical fruit. The pineapple was to die for and the watermelon crunchy
and flavorful (for the Oregonians in the crowd it was at least as delicious as
a perfect Hermiston). I even tasted a banana and considered a second bite – for
those not in the know I do not like bananas, Sam-I-am, I do not like them in a
house, I do not like them with a mouse, I do not like them here or there, I do
not like them anywhere. And yet I willingly tried a Costa Rican banana before finishing
my pineapple and watermelon...perhaps it was the magic of Costa Rica in action.
The nearby vegetation included a water apple (manzana de
agua) tree, a fruit I’d never heard of. The “apples” are red-skinned, almost
pear-shaped, and slightly larger than an apricot. These fruits are so full of
water that it’s possible to squeeze one like a sponge and extract water. The
taste was very interesting – it was crunchy (yes,
I know crunch is not a flavor, but it was the overriding sensation),
had a bit of yummy tartness, and a hint of apple. Definitely a tasty, thirst-quenching
treat.
The weather gods were with us. It’s a rainforest, and while
we experienced a bit of mist or even drizzle, there was no deluge and not even
enough rain to consider pulling on the windbreaker that I’d brought in my backpack. The only actual “rain” we had the whole day was during the longer bus
rides. As it turns out, the weather gods have been on our side this whole trip (with
the possible exception of the few days in Florida before embarking when it was
about 60F/16C and rainy, prompting the Floridians to don their extreme winter
wear).
The drive from the Tortuguero Canal to the Veragua
Rainforest was, shall we say, not exactly on an interstate highway. Most was on
a 2-lane road, not all of which was paved, and it was not flat. Christopher commented
on the “butt massage” we were all receiving from the road and promised that the
return trip massage would be even stronger. Fortunately, the bus we were on was
quite comfortable and seemed to have decent shock absorbers.
At one point the driver pulled over in front of a narrow
path (many of us immediately recognized it as being a “geo-trail”), then Christopher exited the bus, crept down the path and
turned left out of view briefly then returned; his stealthy walk reminded me in a
good way of the early 1980s movie The Gods Must Be Crazy. He returned to
view, flashed a thumbs-up to the driver, proceeded to “wash” his hands with dirt
a few times, then walked out of view again, returned with his hands cupped,
reapplied dirt to his hands one by one holding his treasure securely in his other
hand. He then walked slowly around the bus so everyone could see the small strawberry
poison dart frog he was holding. It was bright red and about the size of a US
quarter. After returning the frog to the forest he reapplied dirt to his hands,
and later used a leaf he’d told us about as a home remedy to rub on both hands, so he did not
have any ill effects of holding the frog.
Along the road up to the rainforest we saw metal-roofed
homes, small farms, dogs, horses, a few small herds of cows that seemed to have
lots of loose skin around their necks, and lots of greenery. It is worth noting
that when someone from the Pacific northwest (westside, or wet side) says
things are green that is probably more impressive than when someone from the dessert
makes the same observation.
We arrived at the Veragua Rainforest and promptly divided
into 2 groups – one planning to climb the 350 steps to a waterfall and the
other doing a flat walk. Normally I would have gone for the waterfall, but I’d
been coughing a ridiculous amount for several days and decided that discretion would
be the better part of valor so opted for the flat walk. Christopher introduced the
guide for the other group and guided our group. We started with a well-done
exhibit about frogs and toads, then proceeded to an exquisite butterfly house
(think aviary but for butterflies rather than birds) at which we saw gorgeous iridescent
blue morpho butterflies, zebra butterflies which have more or less the same orange
and black colors as monarchs but with “stripes”, and others. I could have stayed in the butterfly house for hours. I won a 100
colones coin (about $.18US) for correctly answering the question “what color do
all butterflies have in common” (answer: none), just acing out Dave who later
won his own coin for answering a different question.
One of the treats of the day was getting to hear from one of
the researchers, Juan Ignacio Abarca Odio, about some of the current and recent
studies in the Veragua Rainforest involving bats, frogs, and other rainforest
inhabitants. If I understood correctly, the researchers are affiliated with the
University of Costa Rica and collaborate with universities from North America,
Europe and perhaps elsewhere (a US example is Harvard) to do grant-funded, peer
reviewed published studies. One assumes that the various researchers alternate
the “talk with the tourists” duty and it was simply his turn when we visited. His particular interest is frogs. The challenge of finding his full name based on my cryptic notes was a wee bit interesting, but worth the effort to credit individual scientists for their
work.
After hearing from Ignacio ("you can call me Nacho") the researcher, we queued up for the tram
that went over the canopy and down to the location to walk. The tram consisted
of 2 cars, each of which had seating for 8-12 people (our group of 18 fit
nicely). Interestingly, while I don’t do heights well, this particular tram was
so comfortable for me that I found myself standing for pretty much the whole
ride to take in the scenery. It was fascinating to see leaves that had been
partially eaten by (presumably) insects, the symbiotic relationships between
various trees and vines, and the sheer variety of vegetation. It was so dense
that sunlight probably almost never reached the ground, and it would be
uncomfortable (or perhaps dangerous) to leave the path to bushwhack. Our short
walk to the river was pleasant though unspectacular. Unfortunately our temporary
guide was not experienced, fluent in English, or a good spotter, but this was a
minor blemish in a fantastic and very professionally-delivered experience.
We had lunch which was not a highlight. It included chicken
which was tasty though dry, white rice, light brown beans, and fried plantains.
There was a small gift shop near the lunch spot at which I purchased a wood
cutting board. This was a rare location where the gift shop was unobtrusive and
felt like it was there to offer quality products as souvenirs rather than an
in-your-face moneymaker to part tourists form the contents of their wallets.
After lunch we saw a snake exhibit. There are about 27
species of snakes in Costa Rica of which only a handful are dangerous to
humans. Some are small and pencil-thin, others are up to 4 meters long and
wider than a human fist.
We concluded the day with our second butt massage on the bus
trip back to Limón, during which Alison (Sister Long Legs) and I had a lovely
conversation. It was a tribute to the wonder of the day (and the absence of
local caches) that even though we didn't get to find any caches before the tour there was very little talk of geocaching until the return
trip. Yes, we did successfully find the handful of caches near the cruise port, and I contributed a bit to the local economy.
It’s days like this one that make me grateful to be able to
travel and experience our amazing world.
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