Monday was my official REST day. It was mostly overcast but a few bits of blue in sky. I had a 7am breakfast meeting scheduled but had enough time for a short hike first.
There was less climbing on this trail than the waterfall one.Waterfalls into poolThe Fern Trail started behind the waterfalls and the trout pond.One can catch a trout and have it cooked 🙂 I passed.They had some big beauties in there! Just like the Trout Museum I saw in Montana in April.Very tall bamboo100 feet from the pool and it is dense jungle filled with bird calls.A small waterfall on the Rio la Paz, this is upstream from where the big waterfalls are. The jungle seems to have overgrown the path…..While hanging out before my 7am meeting I spotted this hummingbird in a tree nearby, they are quite noisy.Hmmmmmm.I headed into the Aviarium at 7am and was surprised that Pablo, my driver and rafting partner, was my morning guide.Big falconPair of parrots.Pablo unlocked the door to the Toucan enclosure and they quickly came over to us knowing it was breakfast time. They had 3 of the 5 Toucan types found in Costa Rica. The one on my arm here is the yellow throated (black mandibled) type I saw in Dominical. The one over my right shoulder is another.They enjoyed their kibble. They tilt their heads back all the way to swallow. They have amazing talons, they look like made of blue stones.This fellow was a little shy but stayed nearby patiently waiting for me to leave so he could have breakfast.
The Toucans were so calm, they let me stroke their feathers. They were all “rescue” Toucans, seized from people illegally trying to export or keep as pets. The shy ones probably remembered being mistreated by the cruel human species.
There were a lot of birds flying about inside the main enclosure, but I only had my iPhone and they rarely posed for photos, these cute ducks were underfoot a lot though and happy to be models.
This Parrot was the loudest, a SQUAWK that was audible even outside the aviarian and unbearably loud when I passed his cage.We next went into the Sloth habitat. This is a two-toed sloth. Looks a lot like Cousin It!This one is named Mulan, cute girlI got to feed them a healthy snack, green beans.She held the bean with her claw.While i climbed the fake tree to visit the other sloth, Mulan quickly (for a sloth) climbed the fence up to roof and then moved across ceiling to…Lie on top of the heater. Such gentle, precious creatures. I had seen Both a two and three toed sloth in the wild in Dominical which was amazing but getting to interact with them was incredible and I appreciated how lucky i was.
Much faster climber than i expected. I made this into a Vimeo video, now that I am blogging from the couch at home I am not as rushed and can take time to add media of my own and search web for resources and links.The sun came out! I was heading to breakfast buffet but as they were on the way I wanted to say hi to the monkeys and visit the snakes.The acrobats.Spider MonkeyPensiveWhite Throated CapuchinLos Serpientes! Me gusta!So only 22 out of 137 snake species in Costa Rica are poisonous, decent odds. I did not see any in the wild, at 5000 feet there are few at peace lodge but my zip line guide (at only 500 feet elevation) did tell me to watch where I stepped in the jungle.These were just a few of my favorites, they had dozens. I was the only one there. The animal enclosures open at 7am so I had private time with the butterflies, birds, and snakes. The monkey and jungle cats are available all the time as outside enclosures. Any child 5 to 75 that likes animals is in heaven here. Like any computer program or app the more I use it the more features I find. This is gallery view which allows me to display multiple photos without loading them separately. If you click on one you will get a larger image to view.
I didn’t get to handle any of these snakes but if you have you know they are NOT slimy. They are dry and cool. This one below has such shiny scales though that it looks wet.
Ach! Most of the snakes ignored me but this one followed me from one side of cage to other and then ….
While there are 600 snake bites per year in Costa Rica there are almost no deaths because they have an institute that produces anti-venom and it is available widely from their excellent free public health system. They also sell anti-venom at cost to other nations in region and Africa.
No horses were harmed in this video!It was becoming a beautiful morning as I walked thru the winding path up the hill towards the restaurant for breakfast (having used Purell and washed my hands after handling the animals).
The hummingbird gardens had many beautiful flowering plants and one could hear the birds loud chirps and even their wings but they flitted from flower to flower and up in sky so quickly that easiest to get photos of them by the feeders placed near some shaded benches. In just 5 minutes I saw at least 4 species. These are just iPhone photos, can’t remember if i took any with my real camera.
Such variety!
5 hummingbirds can be found in New York State (which is twice as large as Costa Rica) but only 2 are commonly seen. We have a few who make the rounds of our porch and English garden at the same time each day in summer.
Traditional Costa Rican breakfast including rice with beans, plantain and passion fruit. A few species of cuter than sparrows birds were hanging out on the restaurant patio looking for breakfast scraps.Some were pushy enough to land on table but easy to scare away with a wave of the hand. When I was done eating I did give in and throw some bread crumbs on the ground for them 🙂There was a great large wooden carving of all the animals of Costa Rica. Seeing the Iguana reminds me that we saw a bunch of them in a tree overhanging the river while rafting. Animals I didn’t see but was told about were anteaters that can be seen near the zip lining area and Tapirs that can be seen in the highlands between the Volcano and the river.There was a Tapir on the episode of Archer I watched last night!With nothing on my schedule until a massage at 3pm, i settled into a lounge chair at the bar by the big pool and trout pond. I read for a while and then did some blogging. They had Wi-Fi everywhere but really didn’t need for most things since I almost always had more bars of LTE than from ATT in my home or yard.It had been sunny at breakfast but a light drizzle started to fall and I slid my chair under the roof. There was Spanish language music playing which i was getting very used to. My total immersion Spanish learning was going great. I enjoyed speaking Spanish as much as possible with the staff, drivers, guides. My Buenos Dias, Buenas Tardes greetings I think finally sounded native Enough that people responded in Spanish (there were very few English speaking guests at the resort). I usually understood about 60% of their responses and it was usually only when I requested a switch to English that they did so. I continued with my DuoLingo lessons on iPhone until end of the surf week but then got lazy. i need to keep up with when at home.Darts and fishing rods in bar.Having finished a blog entry I felt like a swim, the pool by bar was unheated but definitely warmer than I have swum in at home but I wanted relaxation so headed to the heated pool, hot waterfall pool and Jacuzzi.The jacuzzi jets felt great on my still sore hips, legs and back. The hot waterfall was nice on my neck and shoulders.
After a shower and drying off with the super fluffy towels I settled in too start blogging again with the relaxing sound of rain falling on the pool, it was exposed but the jacuzzi area had cover. I started to actually doze off though so headed back to my room for some coffee. They had a real brewer and Costa Rican coffee that i drank constantly.
I got a NEST notification about motion in front yard and when I opened screen I saw this image from the prior evening! Ach. It melted the next day but I would soon start hearing from friends about the approaching big snowstorm.Australian fern palmsFrom my seat while blogging I was continually distracted as hummingbirds visited the feeder on my deck, invariably they were gone by the time I turned my camera on but I got a few iPhone photos, they were silhouetted though so colors i saw dont show up in photos.
I also saw a bizarre looking bird visit the tree next to my patio. My photos were a little blurry as he was in the shade under big leaves but I googled Costa Rican black bird with yellow tufts on legs and ….
“Odd” yellow tufts, “rather hefty” ; not very sensitive review! 🙂I blogged and read my book until 3pm when I had scheduled a deep tissue massage. My legs and hips were still sore from all the surfing (and my continual hiking and activities since).
This was the real luxury spa experience, cotton robes and slippers, etc. The masseuse must have trained at the same school as the one at Kalon Surf because again she was a small woman able to apply intensely painful pressure to my sore muscles. My trapeziuses and calves were the most painful although my quads no picnic either. After an hour of pain I was taken to a comfy chair and given a cup of herbal tea.
View as I sipped my tea. My monthly massage with Nick (looks like a HS football coach) will forever be but a pale reminder of the 4 massages in my 2 weeks in Costa Rica.
I managed to enjoy an hour nap before heading off to dinner. The sounds of light rain on the leaves and the bird calls was just like the music track they play at my home massage place.
The Caprese salad with locally made cheese was tasty and artistic. The Chicken and Risotto was tasty also but not photo-worthy 😉I skipped dessert as my Pina Colada probably had 500 calories! Note the sloth painting behind me, looks like a 3 toe with that dark fur.
I went to sleep early after reading a little about Costa Rica in the 1700s (sadly the usual story of imperial slaughter and enslavement of natives). The Costa Rican Reader explains that when the Spanish first took over Costa Rica (part of Guatemalan province of empire) there were 120,000 native Americans. By 1611 census only 10,000 and by 1700 less than 1000. There was intermarriage and also a small number of slaves imported from Africa for a small Cacao industry on Caribbean side of nation. By the 1800s the population was a fairly stable population with mostly European roots and mostly small farmers and ranchers.
I wanted to get up for my usual sunrise jungle hike before heading back to Hacienda Pozo Azul for another adventure at 8am.
