Costa Rica

Our Inland Tours of Costa Rica were Exotic!

They call these frogs "green jeans frogs."
( These endangered frogs are toxic! -
don't ask me why our guide was holding this one!)

One of our highlights to Costa Rica was a visit to Manuel Antonio Park. These monkeys were a real treat.

Our visit ashore at Drakes Bay was rewarded by the view of beautiful plantings around the Aquila Osa Inn.

The grounds abounded with one beautiful view after another.

Taking the dinghy up the adjacent river was quite an adventure! The rain forest surrounds everything in this area of Costa Rica.

We had a great place to land at the Inn. (right) Trying to land in the surf when the wind is up in the outside bay area could be problematic.

The Aquila Osa Inn in Drake's Bay featured these gorgeous wood carvings on all the doors. These doors were seen on all the guest cabins as well as bathroom and kitchen doors.

We trekked through the rain forest adjacent to Drake's Bay. This is NOT virgin forest, but it was pretty impressive anyway. Native populations have utilized surrounding forests throughout the world. It's only in the 20h and 21st centuries that we have appreciated the concept of conservation.

Amazing trees!

We were especially thrilled to view these macaws. They were not as plentiful as we had imagined. And not easy to photograph either! We actually thought we'd see flocks of native parrots, but this was not the case. These birds have been heavily poached to sell as "pets." I think there should be a ban on owning such birds, the same as owning ivory or certain exotic furs.

These monkeys were at the Aguila Osa Inn. There were some monkeys who came around the Inn begging and looking for food. They also liked to tease the dogs around the grounds.

These two monkey photos are Delia's.

A walk in the rain forest can have its hazards, just ask Mike! Delia's photo.

Actually a walk around the hotel grounds could be hazardous as well!

After leaving Drake's Bay and guys decided to go fishing. Mike was staying with us on this leg and he was an enthusiastic fisherman. The guys did pretty well in the fishing department! Here's one of Mike's catches. (Delia's Photo)

We brought sushimi aboard Lazy Bones that night!

YUM!!! These are Delia's photos.

Coming into Golfito! (right) We moored at Banana Bay Marina.

Banana Bay was a great place to reconnoiter with other cruisers.

We walked around the little town of Golfito in Costa Rica.

These ants are carrying away bits of flowers to feed their fungus gardens. The red bits are pieces of flowers from the tree they're walking down. It's a bit of a humbling sight. Not only are thousands of ants coordinating their efforts and carrying relatively huge loads back to their community, BUT then they engage in a farming effort to feed everyone. WOW!!! We saw this in the forests and in the towns.

We took an inland tour with the Lazy Bones crew. Our tour inland included fording this river. We got out and the tour bus drove onto the floating barge. Then this ancient engine was cranked and started to pull us all across the river. There were cables across the river to keep us from floating down with the current. There was some talk about building a bridge here, but this seemed to work just fine. In some ways it seemed safer than some of the bridges we drove over which, not only were one lane and NO guardrails, but the tires of the bus had only several inches of leeway on each side. That was scary!

This is a pretty normal road - actually pretty good! Throughout this area we saw fences that started growing! This is actually an advantage if you consider the action of termites and normal rotting on a piece of dead wood. I wanted to give you an idea of the countryside we drove through.

Most of Costa Rica has electricity, even in the rural areas.

We made a pit stop at a tienda.

Everywhere parents are eager for their children to be educated. The condition of the schools and the children's uniforms speak to their parents' values.

Just want you to know that property is available in Costa Rica. (Delia's Photo)

Here we are on our jungle tour. (right)

We were very lucky to see not only this three towed sloth (left), but also a more active juvenile on the right. Not only are they not easy to see, but they move so slowly that it's hard to identify their body parts! Also, they live in a warm damp environment and start to turn green from algae on their fur. Considering how many of these photos are Delia's I feel compelled to state that the tree sloth photos are mine!