We were told that our time in Costa Rica was great for seeing lots of animals. They're a lot more active just as rainy season is beginning. We had some incredible luck and got to see so many!
Costa Rica is incredibly bio-diverse. It has 3% of all species living there. When you consider how small Costa Rica is, this is huge. The country is as bio-diverse as the Amazon, but packed into a much smaller area.
We got up early to go bird watching, and on the hikes we took our guides were really talented at locating and identifying birds. We bought a bird book towards the end of our trip (I really wish we had it on the first day!) and we checked off probably 30 or 40 different types of birds that we saw. I never had much interest in birding before our trip, but it was a lot of fun!
We saw several different reptiles. We had a couple of sightings of the Jesus Christ Lizard, an iguana, and small lizards were in abundance. We saw two types of poison dart frogs. (They weren't scary as they don't attack, but they're beautiful and they make a lot of noise!) There were geckos that would make kissing noises in the lodge at dinner, and frogs that also croaked from the swimming pool at night. The scariest reptile sighting was of a fer-de-lance snake. They're the most dangerous poisonous snake in that region, and we were within about a yard of it on a hike. Our guide saw him and got us out of the way fast. I spent the rest of the day trying to recover from that adrenaline surge!
On a different hike, we also saw this guy (an eyelash viper), who was sleeping on a branch. He was several feet away from the path, and only about 18 inches long, so he wasn't quite as scary.
As for mammals, we really lucked out! A sloth took up residence in a tree not far from our cabin, and we would stop and check on him every time we passed by. He stayed there for several days, and I got pretty good at finding him in the distance.
You can count his toes in that picture!
We saw all three types of monkeys that live in the region: howler, white-faced, and spider. The spider monkey I saw was hanging from his tail trying to get a good look at us!
We were extremely lucky on one of our last hikes-- we got to see a wild cat sleeping in a tree! I had never heard of this cat before-- it's called a margay.
One of our most interesting sightings of an animal was with a coati. We had seen several on the property at our resort. They're very cute and curious.
The last day at our resort, when we came back from breakfast, David said he saw a coati leaving our cabin-- just the tip of his tail as he left. We started packing up our things, and the coati came back! He was only a few yards away from me! We watched him climb up to the second floor of our cabin (we were on the stairs peeking up to the second floor), and start nosing around in my things. He sniffed very carefully some toothpaste on the floor (a bag had been knocked over) and we warned him away from it. And then, he grabbed my eyeglasses case (with eyeglasses inside) and TOOK OFF with it! We tried to warn him away, but it happened so fast, and he had disappeared into the jungle!
It was funny, and we were surprised, but also quite sad about the loss of my (expensive!) glasses. We shouldn't have let him in the cabin. We talked about what a good story it would make, but what an expensive good story it would make. I tried looking down the hill, but I couldn't find where he stashed them.
The coati did come back, but he didn't bring my glasses back with him.
We had to leave without them.
Later that day, I checked my e-mail and I had a new message from the resort. The next couple to stay in our cabin had several things stolen from them, and the staff had found the stash, including my glasses! They're getting mailed to me! Apparently, things got kind of bad with the coati, and the resort had to keep our cabin unoccupied for a couple of days. It was an unusual occurrence, and the coati was going to be re-located to an area where there weren't humans to mess up its habitat.
So, that's my best attempt at portraying our honeymoon in Costa Rica! We had a wonderful time, and I cannot recommend a trip there enough! You can see all of our pictures at my Flickr set here. I don't have all of them labeled yet, but I hope to get it done eventually.
Regular knitting and sewing content will resume shortly!
Costa Rica is incredibly bio-diverse. It has 3% of all species living there. When you consider how small Costa Rica is, this is huge. The country is as bio-diverse as the Amazon, but packed into a much smaller area.
We got up early to go bird watching, and on the hikes we took our guides were really talented at locating and identifying birds. We bought a bird book towards the end of our trip (I really wish we had it on the first day!) and we checked off probably 30 or 40 different types of birds that we saw. I never had much interest in birding before our trip, but it was a lot of fun!
We saw several different reptiles. We had a couple of sightings of the Jesus Christ Lizard, an iguana, and small lizards were in abundance. We saw two types of poison dart frogs. (They weren't scary as they don't attack, but they're beautiful and they make a lot of noise!) There were geckos that would make kissing noises in the lodge at dinner, and frogs that also croaked from the swimming pool at night. The scariest reptile sighting was of a fer-de-lance snake. They're the most dangerous poisonous snake in that region, and we were within about a yard of it on a hike. Our guide saw him and got us out of the way fast. I spent the rest of the day trying to recover from that adrenaline surge!
On a different hike, we also saw this guy (an eyelash viper), who was sleeping on a branch. He was several feet away from the path, and only about 18 inches long, so he wasn't quite as scary.
As for mammals, we really lucked out! A sloth took up residence in a tree not far from our cabin, and we would stop and check on him every time we passed by. He stayed there for several days, and I got pretty good at finding him in the distance.
You can count his toes in that picture!
We saw all three types of monkeys that live in the region: howler, white-faced, and spider. The spider monkey I saw was hanging from his tail trying to get a good look at us!
We were extremely lucky on one of our last hikes-- we got to see a wild cat sleeping in a tree! I had never heard of this cat before-- it's called a margay.
One of our most interesting sightings of an animal was with a coati. We had seen several on the property at our resort. They're very cute and curious.
The last day at our resort, when we came back from breakfast, David said he saw a coati leaving our cabin-- just the tip of his tail as he left. We started packing up our things, and the coati came back! He was only a few yards away from me! We watched him climb up to the second floor of our cabin (we were on the stairs peeking up to the second floor), and start nosing around in my things. He sniffed very carefully some toothpaste on the floor (a bag had been knocked over) and we warned him away from it. And then, he grabbed my eyeglasses case (with eyeglasses inside) and TOOK OFF with it! We tried to warn him away, but it happened so fast, and he had disappeared into the jungle!
It was funny, and we were surprised, but also quite sad about the loss of my (expensive!) glasses. We shouldn't have let him in the cabin. We talked about what a good story it would make, but what an expensive good story it would make. I tried looking down the hill, but I couldn't find where he stashed them.
The coati did come back, but he didn't bring my glasses back with him.
We had to leave without them.
Later that day, I checked my e-mail and I had a new message from the resort. The next couple to stay in our cabin had several things stolen from them, and the staff had found the stash, including my glasses! They're getting mailed to me! Apparently, things got kind of bad with the coati, and the resort had to keep our cabin unoccupied for a couple of days. It was an unusual occurrence, and the coati was going to be re-located to an area where there weren't humans to mess up its habitat.
So, that's my best attempt at portraying our honeymoon in Costa Rica! We had a wonderful time, and I cannot recommend a trip there enough! You can see all of our pictures at my Flickr set here. I don't have all of them labeled yet, but I hope to get it done eventually.
Regular knitting and sewing content will resume shortly!
It sounds like it was amazing. Thank you for sharing it with us! I love the video of the coati!
Posted by: bea | May 20, 2008 at 09:06 PM
Wow--your trip sounds so wonderful--thank you for sharing all those details with us! I showed the pics to my husband, and now we're thinking of taking a belated honeymoon there as well! :)
Posted by: Clumsy Knitter | May 20, 2008 at 09:27 PM
ahahahha almost Monkey in your bed hehehe
Too cute! Glad you are getting your glasses back though.
Lovely Toucan pic!
Posted by: Kelly | May 20, 2008 at 10:29 PM
I am so not a nature girl. A snake could be 18 mms long and I would freaked out! I'm glad you guys liked your honeymoon though!
Posted by: tiennie | May 20, 2008 at 11:06 PM
sounds like you had lots of excitement! poisonous snakes, thieving monkeys! what an adventure!!!
Posted by: stacey | May 21, 2008 at 07:57 AM
You did such a great job depicting your vacation! I loved the little video. How fortunate that you will get your glasses back AND have a great story to tell. Your pictures were fantastic. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: kim | May 21, 2008 at 09:28 AM
My hubby and I are dying to take the kids to Costa Rica in the next couple of years. Your pictures of the bids seal the deal!
Welcome home.
Posted by: Liz K. | May 21, 2008 at 09:55 AM
What cool pictures - thanks for sharing. Love the little Coati.
Posted by: Denise | May 21, 2008 at 10:53 AM
seriously, wow.
& welcome home!
Posted by: pamela wynne | May 21, 2008 at 12:43 PM
I've enjoyed reading each honeymoon post. To see a sloth is real life would be such a treat! I love how their fur looks. The coloring on the birds would make some lovely colorways for sock yarn. Welcome back!
Posted by: Kim | May 21, 2008 at 01:23 PM
What an amazing trip! Hubby and I will celebrate our 20th in three years and I think I know where I want to go.
Thanks so much for sharing your special time with us.
Posted by: Abigail | May 21, 2008 at 08:06 PM
Wow, amazing, thanks for sharing! I love all your photos of the wildlife. The sloth is my particular favorite!
Posted by: whitney | May 22, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Great photos and post! Glad you had such a great time, and that you got your glasses back. Very cool that you saw a margay; most wild cats like to stay out of sight.
Posted by: Brenda | June 07, 2008 at 04:25 PM