On our first day in Costa Rica, we drove out to the Caribbean coast, to Tortuguero National Park.  On the drive out there, we past by many wonderful sights including the spectacular collection of bird nests you see here.  These nests were made by a bird called "Montezuma's Oropendola".  Each male bird makes two nests for his mate, one for her to lay eggs in and one that remains empty to try to fool potential predators into thinking there are no eggs.
 

We also passed by acres and acres of banana plantations.  Bananas are Costa Rica's third largest source of income (after tourism and coffee).  As you can see from this picture, the banana flower is quite unique.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Once we reached the river, we climbed aboard our barcos.  We appreciated the shade covering; not everybody got one!
 
 
 
 
 

We motored downstream, about 5 boats in all, and our guide pointed out many interesting plants and animals as we went along…
 
 
 

….like this Basilisk (often called the "Jesus Lizard" because they can walk on water).
 
 
 
 

We saw so many different types of birds (storks, herons, egrets, jacanas, pelicans, flycatchers, even a Baltimore Oriole!).   This little guy is a Sandpiper.  We had two British couples on the boat with us who were avid bird-watchers; they almost knew more birds than our guide did!
 
 

We saw a few Spectacled Caimans and this big fellow, an American Crocodile.
 
 
 
 
 

There are many families that have their homes along the river's edge.  There are no roads in the park, so they must use boats and canoes to get to the nearest town.  The children take school boats to get to their local "escuela".
 
 
 

This is where we stopped for lunch.  We enjoyed a wonderful meal of gallo pinto (black beans and rice), fried chicken, salad, and dried plantain.  Gallo pinto is served at almost every meal and is a traditional Costa Rican dish.
 
 
 
 

After lunch, our guide took us on a walk through the forest in search of toucans.  There were no toucans to be found, but we did see this brightly colored bird, a Slaty-tailed Trogon.  Trogons are in the same family as the Resplendent Quetzal, one of the most beautiful (and most elusive) birds in the world.
 
 

As we journeyed back to our starting point, we caught a glimpse of a troop of spider monkeys making their way through the forest.
 
 
 

The highlight of our tour happened on the drive back to San Jose.  A baby sloth (called "perezoso" in Spanish) was hanging from this fence post.  Our guide showed us how to touch her without upsetting her.  Female sloths abandon their young when they are only 6 months old and from then on they must learn to fend for themselves.
 
 

On our second day we flew from San Jose to Quepos, a small town on the pacific coast.  The aerial shot you see here was taken on our way to Quepos. This is par t of Manuel Antonio National Park.  The Costa Rican government is a very strong advocate of rainforest preservation and has designated over thirty percent of the country as protected parkland.  Manuel Antonio is the smallest national park in the country and is said to be the most beautiful.
 
 
 

This is the Quepos airport.  A tiny little building that didn't even have a front door.  There are a few wooden benches inside, but for the most part people wait for their flights next to the "runway" (We put that in quotations because technically it is a runway, but really it looks more like an old gravel road).
 
 
 

From Quepos, we were taken to our hotel, Si Como No (translates to "Sure, why not"), four miles southeast of Quepos.  The owner of the hotel bought 20 acres of rainforest and built his hotel among the forest.  All the trees and plant material that was removed for the hotel was relocated to other areas of the property.  The large A-frame structure you see above the pool is where you'll find the lobby (and below it is the movie theatre, the only one in Costa Rica outside of San Jose, and one of the restaurants).
 

This is a view from the lobby, looking out onto the pool and the Pacific Ocean.
 
 
 
 

The rooms are in small buildings (each with 4-6 units) spread throughout the property and virtually every room as a view of the ocean.  Here you can see the view from our balcony.  It was pretty impressive!
 
 
 

This is an example of the lush vegetation that surrounded us.  This picture was also taken from our balcony.
 
 
 

This fellow is a White-Nosed Coati-Mundi.  He was sleeping on a tree just outside our room.
 
 
 
 

The restaurant we ate at most often was the "Rico Tico".  As you can see, the tables are right beside the forest and almost everyday you can see the local squirrel monkeys travel by on their way to Manuel Antonio.
 
 
 

If you look closely at this picture, you can see the baby clinging to its mother's back.  Squirrel monkeys travel in groups of 40-50.  So when they went by, it was like a never-ending parade.  Great fun to watch them jump from tree to tree and maneuver those thin, wobbly branches.
 
 
 

The beach was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel, all downhill.  Great on the way there, but walking back really did us in after the third or fourth day.
 
 
 
 

Many of the waiters at our hotel worked nights and then taught surfing lessons in the daytime.  The two most popular sports in the area seemed to be surfing and soccer.  Each of the larger hotels had their own soccer team.
 
 
 

This is the road you take, past the public beach, to get to Manuel Antonio.  It's lined with many surf shops, fruit stands and even an email café.
 
 
 

Our first time through Manuel Antonio, we took a guided tour.  Our guide, Marilio, was excellent and extended our 3-hour tour to 4-1/2 hours.  He was pointing out plants and animals every 3 or 4 feet.  We had a great time.
 
 

Many of the trails led you to a beach.  There were 6 different beach areas in total.  Each one was more beautiful than the next.  They are excellent spots to body surf or go snorkeling.
 
 
 

At the edge of the forest, along the beaches, you can usually find capuchin monkeys.  They won't come too close, but they are accustomed to the visitors so they sit still long enough for you to get a few good pictures.  The park rangers told us that if you leave your belongings unattended on the beach, they sometimes come down and steal them.
 
 

This little guy was tough to catch on film.  He was moving fast through the forest.  He is a Central American Agouti.
 
 
 

There were lizard and iguanas everywhere as we walked through the forest.  Some of them even have regular sleeping holes, so Marilio had no trouble finding them for us.  These two are Ctenosaurs.  They grow to be about 4 feet long.
 
 
 

Farther along on our tour, we found this Chameleon.  He was completely brown when we first spotted him.  Once he knew we were there, he immediately started to turn green.  That's why he appears so mottled in this picture.
 
 

A trip through any Costa Rican rainforest would not be complete without finding at least one sloth.  We got pretty good at spotting them on our own after awhile.  Costa Rica has two species of sloth: two-toed and three-toed.  This fellow is a three-toed sloth (perezoso de tres dedos).  The green tinge you see in his fur is actually a type of blue-green algae that lives in his hair shafts.
 
 
 

Every once in awhile, as we walked through the park, we came across a section of bamboo trees.  This was the biggest group we saw.  Since you all know how tall Del is, you can tell how truly overwhelming these trees were.
 
 
 
 

One of the tougher trails in the park leads up to this lookout point.  The trail up to it is all uphill and very narrow is places, but well worth the effort in the end.
 
 
 

We spend our last two days in Costa Rica back in the central valley, near San Jose.  We took a day tour up to the Arenal Volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the world.  At night you can see the red glow of the lava spewing out of the volcano's cone.  On our way up to the volcano, we stopped in a small town called Zarcero, to look at this unique park.  This park is maintained by one man, who has been the groundskeeper for over 25 years.  The building on the background is the Zarcero catholic church.
 
 
 

As we drove up to the volcano, the clouds moved away and we were able to get a clear picture of the entire cone.  If you look closely, you can see smoking boulders rolling down the right side.  Boulders as big as houses are continually tossed from the volcano's core all day long.
 
 
 

At the base of the volcano is the Tabacon Resort and Hot Springs.  Part of our tour consisted of playing in the hot spring pools and touring the magnificent gardens at the resort.
 
 
 
 

Cyathea multiflora (Tree Fern), grows to a height of 20 feet or more.
 
 
 
 
 

Heliconia flower, pollinated only by hummingbirds.  These plants grow wild throughout the forests here.  Great for hummingbird lovers, because the flowers and the birds are everywhere.
 
 
 
 
 

On our last day, we took a tour of a coffee plantation and factory.  This gentleman, along with a cast of others, acted out the history of coffee and how it came to Costa Rica.  It was quite a performance.  Very entertaining!
 
 

Here's how your morning cuppa joe starts out  (coffee plant seedlings)
 
 
 
 
 

Well, that's the end of our tour.  We hope you enjoyed it!