Feb. 13, 2015
Parque National Palo Verde

An iguana greeting our entrance

This site is by far my favorite place that we have visited in Costa Rica. There are indeed animals everywhere. Who would have thought it? When we drove into this hot and dusty Park, mostly on a whim, we were not that impressed with it. First of all, it is a long way down a bumpy gravel road. When we finally got to the entrance gate, the very friendly Tick lady told us that the boat trip we had hoped to take up the Rio Tempisque would cost $80 US for just a 2 hour trip, and the park did not sponsor it, she said with disdain. We were disappointed, but we reasoned that because of the late hour we should at the very least spend the night. We had been, after all traveling for 5 hours. That is a lot for us.

A capuchin monkey looking at ME

As soon as we entered the park, there were bands of capuchin monkeys playing all around the road right in front of our room. Then pezote after pezote crossed almost over our feet to get to the drinking trough of water.

The loud sound of of howler monkeys sinched the deal. We never wanted to leave this place. So we have been here for 3 nights now and are planning to spend 3 more The accommodations leaves a lot to be desired, but the wildlife more than makes up for it.

A spoonbill going over the swamp

I haven't even mentioned the birds. There is a part of the swamp that touches the dirt road where there are literally hundreds of thousands of birds in every shape and size and color. It was the first time on this trip that I had wished that I had brought my “big camera and lenses.” I am now traveling with a very nice and small, but sofisticated mirrorless Sony NEX 6 with two lens. A wide angle and a telephoto lens, which has maximum reach of 200 mm. A 500 mm would really be much nicer, but who would like to carry all that heavy gear? Not me I reasoned.–until now. Still, I must admit that I am getting some pretty terrific shots, don't you think?

Sunset on the swamp

Feb. 9, 2015
Leaving Rinconcito Lodge today

Arriving at A Posada Rio Celestre, Parque National Volcan Tenorio

We have now been on several walks, and everywhere we go there are interesting birds. Now I am not pretending to be a birder, but I do know an outstanding looking bird when I see one. We weren't her 10 minutes before our manager pointed out a toucan perched on a tree not far from us. He was munching on some tastey tropical fruit. Along the way there were many others who just seemed to pose for photographs.

A beautiful toucan posing for me

Just another pretty songbird

Are you looking at me?

Blue Jay Costa Rica style

There he was a two toes sloth.

Feb. 05, 2015
Rinconita Lodge, adjacent to the Rincon Natural Area

Misty covered volcanoes

We started the day sore from our long walk through the National Park yesterday, so we took it slow. After breakfast we took a slow walk around the neighborhood. It was pleasant with sunny blue skies. There was a rainy mist blowing off the clouds as they seemed to get stuck on the tops of the volcanoes.

We went back to the room to get ready to go off to the Rio Negra hot springs. Since it was going to be wet and perhaps crowded at the hot springs I decided to just take my camera, and not the telephoto lens. That proved to be a big mistake. As soon as we parked along the road we spotted two good sized iguanas in what a appeared to be a love ritual. Even though we were only 10 feet or so from them my camera just didn’t have the reach to get a good picture. Nonetheless I tried. Kim on the other hand with her built in zoom was sure to get a few great shots before the iguanas fled down the hill.

Love ritual of the iguanas

Swinging bridge to cross the river

Kim relaxing in the hot springs

Rio Negra hot springs is built right as long the river. Two swinging bridges take you across the river where there are five or six separate pools with water about 40 deg Celsius. There was even a mud painting station where you could coat your body with the “healing” properties of Rio Negro mud. The guard assured us that it would take 25 years off our aging bodies. And I must admit that Kim did appear to have a certain youthful glow as we sat in the restaurant later that evening.

Kim waiting for the mud to dry

After a few hours we were a delightfully spent so we headed home. On the road, about half way to our hotel we spotted a troupe of capuchin monkeys playing in the trees on the side of the road. There were about 5 of them and the seemed to take their time about leaving. Once again all I could shoot was a pastoral landscape with tiny black and white spots of monkeys in the background. Still it was a thrill watching them scurry about.

Oh for a telephoto lens

Back in our room we quickly downloaded our photos to our iPads and did a show and tell. It was another very good day.

Feb. 05, 2015

Rinconita Lodge, adjacent to the Rincon Natural Area

Road to Rinconcito

Today started off nicely with another free breakfast courtesy of the local Best Western. Then it was back to my room to Skype with Kim for a few minutes. She had booked a room at this resort which is about 35 kilometers north of Liberia. It sits between a couple of volcanoes, and is surrounded by sulfur hot springs and boiling mud baths. Throw in a couple of waterfalls and you probably have a pretty nice place. The problem was that I am picking up Kim at the airport at 9:30 pm and then we need to drive in the dark up the dirt road. Simple solution I would go up earlier today to scout out the scene.

And that is just what I did. It took about an hour and a half doing 20 mph most of the way. The Rinconita Lodge is a little funky, and a little charming. I even got our room a little early, and got to take a wonderful, but heart thumping walk. I thought I might be able to make it to the Rincon Natural Park, but after an hour and a half of climbing up up up, I gave up, came down the mountain, and took a nap. I like this place so much that I think we should stay here three or four days. We'll see what Kim thinks in the light of day.

Rinconcito Lodge

Feb. 07, 2015

Kim has helped to put the the financial situation in order. “Sure it was $600 ( she always likes to round down the cost to the closest hundred) to rent the car, but just figure how much we have already saved in Taxis and bus fees. It would have been $20 from the airport to the Liberia, then it would have been $40 to Rinconcito Lodge. From there if we wanted to do a hike in the park it would have be another $20 to the entrance and that is only for one of us. Double that and we have almost paid for the car!”

I liked the way she was thinking so I began to relax and get into the moment. We decided to go off to the National park. We got in our now very reasonably priced auto and headed off for our first adventure. Really the second if you include the trip in the dark up here.

The Rincon de la Vieja National Park had a big 4 kilometers loop which the friendly ranger assured us would take about 2 hours. Four and a half hours later we emerged with a nice set of memories and stories. We had seen a three pesotes, a snake, and some cool looking birds. Oh yea, and a waterfall and some mini volcanoes. Not bad, but so far no monkeys. There were a lot of people on the trail and I reasoned that they had scared away most of the wildlife. Here are a couple of photos from that hike.

Waterfall in the dry season

Volcancito ( a little volcano)

Kim taking a picture of a pesote

Pisote looking for food. Relative to the racoon

A very cool tree!