Dec 30 – Costa Rica 2008

A Long Day of Travel – Including Some In The Air

Dec 30 Tagged with: flora, hike, In the sky, tour

Dec 302008

Today was four hours of riding in the bus, broken up with a number in interesting stops. We left San Jose at 7:00am, traveling east through the Braulio Carrillo National Park, over the Continental Divide to the Caribbean Sea.

Our first stop was in the Braulio Carrillo National Forest for an aerial tram tour of the rain forest.

Before the tram ride, we had a guided nature walk through the bottom of the forest. At the head of the trail there was a three toed sloth and her baby which we observed for a bit before heading into the forest.

On the nature trail

Leaf Cutter Ant Crossing.

We learned quite a bit about the biodiversity of the region, including the difference between a vine and an air root. Vines grow up from the ground, air roots come down from the plants in the trees. Tarzan swung on air roots, not vines.

“Monkey Vine”

Coolest insect: a bullet ant. My photo didn’t come out very well, but they’re about an inch and a half long and have an almost paralyzing bite. I didn’t get close enough for the shot. Duh.

These fungi are about 3/4″ across. Check out the tiny red flies on them.

Don’t eat it.

The cable-suspended tram travels a one and a half hour round trip through all three levels of the canopy. You travel close to the ground, then through the middle canopy, and then for most of the return trip you travel at or above the top of the canopy. It was incredible seeing the complexity of the environment, and trying to grasp the interwoven relationships of all the creatures and flora that inhabited it.

Heading out into the rain forest at the lower level.

The trip back over the canopy.

Me and My Bus

Dec 30 Tagged with: bus, Carl, family, On the road

Dec 302008

Outside the Aerial Tram

Lunch And Butterfly Garden

Dec 30 Tagged with: fauna, flora, food, Marcos

Dec 302008

Today was Marcos’ birthday. He’s our bus driver, and according to our guide Paul, “The second best driver in Costa Rica. The first best is in jail.” Many times Marcos proved his skill at maneuvering the huge Mercedes bus.

Happy Birthday, Marcos!

I wish I wrote down the name of the place we stopped for lunch, the food was great plus they had a nice butterfly garden out back. It’s near the town of Guapiles, and it’s exactly here: N 10.20316667, W 83.77471000.

Butterfly

Morphos wing detail

The plant is called “Labios de Puta”, or in more polite English: “Hot Lips.” It makes more sense before the blue berries appear.

Passion Flower

Bananas, Bananas, Bananas

Dec 30 Tagged with: banana, flora, tour

Dec 302008

Around 2pm we stopped at a Del Monte banana plantation and learned about the entire banana pipeline, from growing through picking to sorting and packing.

While on the tree, the bananas are encased in blue plastic bags. The bags protect the bananas from predators and damage, and also keep them from being sprayed by the insecticides.

Wild bananas (not at the plantation)

Tame bananas (at the plantation)

Once cut from the trees, they are hauled in trains of about 30 bunches suspended from an overhead cable system. The guys who do the pulling are among the more highly paid workers, and when you watch them do this grueling work you understand why.

Hauling bananas

Once at the processing area, the ‘hands’ are separated from the main stalk and floated down a pool to workers who cut them into smaller bunches and sort them for quality. Level 1 bananas are exported to the US and Europe, Level 2 bananas (which are smaller and may have small scars) are sold for baby food or pig food, and Level 3 bananas are discarded. You can buy a banana in Costa Rica for a few cents.

Banana staging

The ‘hands’ are cut off the stalk and thrown into a water stream, where they’re cleaned as they float to the next step.

These women cut the hands down to smaller bunches and sort them. It was amazing how fast they were.

Next to the processing area a few vendors were selling miscellaneous items, including fresh coconuts. I would guess this little guy got his share.

Leaf Cutter Ants

Dec 30 Tagged with: ants, fauna

Dec 302008

Meanwhile, back amongst the banana trees, the leaf cutters are hard at work.

To Tortuguero!

Dec 30 Tagged with: boat, fauna, river, spider

Dec 302008

Another hour of bus travel down country roads from the banana plantation is Parismina, where we offloaded from the bus, said goodbye (for now) to Marcos, and boarded a boat for the hour and a half ride to Laguna Lodge. We’ll be at the lodge for the next two days.

Parismina is the end of the road at the Caribbean Sea. From there, everyone travels by boat, like these locals.

The view out the window of the taxi, as we zipped up the Tortuguero River.

More locals, out for a spin.

The Princesa del Rio, chugging along.

After dinner that night, I went on a frog hike. I didn’t find any, but I almost walked into this lady. She was hanging from the canopy at about knee height. If my flashlight didn’t catch her I would have walked right into it – and that would have kind of freaked me out. Her leg span is about 4″. After I took this shot I looked away for a moment, and when I turned back she was gone. So was I.

The Princesa del Cielo, hanging around.