Costa Rica and Nicaragua

Itinerary Summary

December 27 - Drive to LA, and catch a flight to San Jose, Costa Rica
December 28 - Arrive in San Jose, Costa Rica - get a car and drive to San Vito, Costa Rica (near the Panama border)
December 29 - We went to Wilson Botanical Gardens and walked around on our own, then tried to find entrance to La Amistad Park or the lodge. Ended up going in a loop back past the botanical gardens, tried again, ended up in Panama by accident.
December 30 - Went on a birding tour at Wilson Botanical Gardens. Tried to find La Amistad Park headquarters.
December 31 - Drove to La Amistad Lodge first thing in the morning. Stayed there this evening.
January 1 - Drove to Bahia Drake on (Drake's Bay on the Oso Peninsula). Camped at Rancho Corcavado on the beach.
January 2 - Aviva took a wildlife tour to Corcavado Park, Jason went snorkeling at a nearby island. Camped at Rancho Corcovado again.
January 3 - Drove to San Isidro (south of San Jose).
January 4 - Drove from San Isidro to San Ramon (north of San Jose). Saw Quetzals at Mirador de Quetzals.
January 5 - Drove from San Ramon to Arenal Volcano (town of Fortuna). Toured a butterfly farm. Met up with Colleen, Jim, and Alexandra.
January 6 - Drove from Arenal to Monteverde. Went on a night time wildlife walk.
January 7 - Walked through the cloud forest at Santa Elena preserve, near Monteverde. Went to a Ranarium in Santa Elena. Then we drove to Canas and went to a wildlife rescue center, Las Pumas, specializing in cats. Then we drove to Playa Grande, and stayed up until 3 in the morning waiting for an opportunity to see a nesting leather back sea turtle.
January 8 - We went to Conchel beach for the day, then stayed at Playa Grande. Colleen, Alexandra, and Jim headed inland after that. Jason and I stayed up and got to see the Leatherback sea turtle lay her eggs, then we slept in hammocks between palm trees.
January 9 - Took a river trip down Corcabachi River, near Canas - then stayed in Liberia.
January 10 - Jason headed back to San Jose to return home. Aviva took a bus to Nicaragua, then a taxi, then a boat, a bus, and the back of a pick up to reach a research station on Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua.
January 11 - Walked about 8 miles along the outer road of Ometepe island to a waterfall, past petroglyphs and the community. Stayed the night at the research station again.
January 12 - Got a ride in the back of a pick up to Moyagulpa, then took the boat to San Jorge, and a taxi to Rivas, then a bus to Nandime, where I was picked up by Maria and taken to Domitila Preserve. Went on a brief hike.
January 13 - Went on hikes all day with Maria and Jesus throughout the preserve. Stayed the night at the accommodations.
January 14 - Traveled with Maria to Granada and stayed there. Walked down to the shore of Lake Nicaragua.
January 15 - Traveled to Masaya Volcano. Stayed in Granada.
January 16 - Took a bus from Granada, Nicaragua to San Jose, Costa Rica.
January 17 - came home.

Species List

Species Observed During Costa Rica/Nicaragua Trip
Common (or local) Name / Notes/Location
Agouti / At Wilson botanical garden, with 2 babies
American Crocodile / Corcavado, Rio Corcabachi. Drive to Bahia Drake
Anihinga / Rio Corcabachi
Anoli / Corcavado
Barn owl / Domitila
Black crowned night heron
Black headed trogon / Domitila
Black vulture / Everywhere
Blue-gray tanager / Wilson botanical garden
Boat-billed heron / Rio Corcabachi, Corcavado
Brown booby / Corcavado
Brown vine snake / Rio Corcabachi
Coati / Arenal
Collared aracari / Domitila
Compadres bird (Bucco macrorynchos) / Domitila
Coral snake (or mimic) / Near playa grande
Crested caracara / Northern
Ctenosaur (maybe) / Northern
Doves / Domitila
Glass frog / Possibly, maybe rough variety?
Glass wing butterfly / Las Tablas
Golden hooded tanager / Wilson botanical garden
Golfito Dulce Dart Frog / Corcavado
Gray fox / In captivity, Las Pumas rescue center
Great blue heron / Rio Corcabachi
Great kiscidee (spelling?)
Green backed heron / Rio Corcabachi
Green iguana / Everywhere
Groove billed ani / Northern
Hermit crabs / Corcavado
Hoffman's woodpecker / Domitila
Howler monkey / Everywhere
Jaguar / In captivity, Las Pumas rescue center
Jesus lizard / Domitila, Rio Corcabachi
Kinkajou / Monteverde
Laughing falcon / Domitila. Heard only
Leatherback sea turtle / Playa Grande, Laying eggs
Lineated woodpecker
Litter frog / Corcavado
Little blue heron / Rio Corcabachi
Long nosed bat / Rio corcabachi, Corcavado
Long-nose bat / Corcavado, Rio Corcabachi
Long-wing butterfly / Monteverde
Macaw / Corcavado
Magnificent frigate / Corcavado
Malachite butterfly / Domitila
Mangrove swallow / Rio Corcabachi
Margey / In captivity, Las Pumas rescue center
Masked titira / Wilson botanical garden
Mexican porcupine / Monteverde
Mica snake / Las Tablas (~4 feet long, black, eats venomous snakes)
Monkey ladder vine / Corcavado
Morpho blue butterfly / Las Tablas
Nicaraguan grackel / Domitila
Night jars / Ometepe
Nightjar like (larger) / Domitila
Northern raccoon / Monteverde, Playa Grande
Olingo / Monteverde
Orange kneed tarantula / Monteverde
Osprey / Rio Corcabachi
Owl / Domitila (large, brown, full spectacles in white)
Paca / In captivity, Las Pumas rescue center
Parrot (green) / Corcavado
Pelican / Playa Grande
Pygmy squirrel / Corcavado
Red-headed woodpecker / Wilson botanical garden
Red-tailed squirrel / Wilson botanical garden
Resplendent quetzal / Mirador de quetzal
Ringed king fisher / Rio Corcabachi
River otter / Rio Corcabachi
Roadside hawk / Wilson botanical garden
Roseatte spoonbill / Rio Corcabachi
Rough winged swallow / Rio Corcabachi
Scaly chested hummingbird / Wilson botanical garden
Scarlet rumped tanager / Wilson botanical garden
Sloth / Corcovado
Smokey Jungle Frog / Corcovado
Spider monkey / Corcovado
Spiked palm
Spotted sandpiper / Rio Corcabachi
Squirrel cuckoo bird / Domitila
Strangler fig / Monteverde
Swallow tailed kite
Tern
Tiger heron / Rio Corcabachi
Trogon (red chest) / Corcavado
Tropical gnat catcher / Domitila
Tucan / In captivity, Las Pumas rescue center
Variegated squirrel / Rio Corcabachi, Domitila
Violaceous trogon / Wilson botanical garden
Walking palm
White faced capuchin / Wilson botanical garden, Las Tablas
White hawk / Corcavado
Wood stork / Rio Corcabachi
Yellow headed caracara / Wilson botanical garden
Yellow knapped parrot / Domitila (endangered)

Narrative

First, there are some random things that we noticed about Costa Rica.

Fence posts are living trees. The branches used as posts sprout, then grow - and never need to be replaced.
All the dogs there look like they are a cross with dachshunds or Chihuahuas.
For new year's, there are three things that you need to do at midnight for luck. 1) Wear yellow underwear 2) eat 12 grapes at once for good luck each month 3) run around with a piece of luggage for good luck in your travels the next year.
They put in speed bumps, but don't fix the pot holes. The pot holes are more effective at slowing down traffic.
Iguana's can be fast, it makes up for them not being to car savvy

Southern Costa Rica

Jason and I arrived in San Jose at 7 am, we got a rental car, then headed south through the city for San Vito. The rental car agency was the last place anyone could speak any English for days (contrary to what we'd been told). We made it through the crazy hectic madness that is San Jose, with it's one way streets that make San Francisco look like a cake walk, and onto the Interamericana heading south. The Interamericana is the main vein connecting central america, and it is the largest road in Costa Rica. This means it is two distinct lanes, one in each direction, with occasional passing lanes and major potholes. These aren't just any pot holes, these pot holes are deep and wide enough to swallow a tire (and sometimes the whole car) without it ever hitting ground.

The road wound it's way up through the mountains called Cerre de Muerte (mountains of death). This is a beautiful but very steep, windy, and misty section of road known for frequent accidents. Overall we found the Costa Ricans to be excellent drivers, willing to pass when there isn't quite enough time to do so - but basically fairly safe. Then we descended from the clouds to a section overlooking the farming valleys of San Isidro. Lots of crops grow in this fertile valley, but primarily pineapple from what I could tell.

Getting to San Vito required getting off of the Interamericana, and onto the next step down in major roadways. This is when we found out what the bold red line on the road map meant…just because it is a main road does not exclude it from pot holes more frequent than pavement. Jason learned from the local drivers, and used both sides of the road to drive on - which ever side had no potholes at that particular moment was the correct side of the road. This road travels along a ridge, with various agriculture and grazing down large valleys on both sides. Horses are tied up at the entrance to houses, parked there while their riders visit. Other horses graze freely on the ample grass on the side of the road. This was a practice that we saw throughout southern Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Many of the horses had their manes shaved off, and their tails cropped short, with the top part shaved. Apparently this is the traditional fashion.

We finally arrived at San Vito after 7 hours of driving, much longer than we had anticipated given the short distance…on a map. Then we tried to get a hotel, and the illusion that we knew enough Spanish, from listening to that one set of "learn Spanish quickly" tapes, quickly dissolved. After many clumsy hand signs and grunts, we were able to get a room. San Vito was founded by Italian Immigrants in the 50's, and has the best Pizza place on this continent called Liliana's. In our second attempt at using Spanish we ended up accidentally ordering double beers, but I'm glad we pulled off actually getting dinner.

The next morning we drove to the Wilson Botanical Gardens. These beautiful gardens have acres of manicured walks through thousands of tropical plants. We saw an Agouti with two babies on the grounds, and dozens of new birds, banana forests, and lots of epiphytes. This is definitely a worthwhile stop for anyone interested in ecology.

When we left the gardens we decided to try "check out" La Amistad Park, where we planned to go for new years. This is where we actually got off of the bold red line road, and onto local roads. This is also where we found out that road maps of this area are sort of the map makers best guess at the time, and that every map and guidebook we had was slightly different in really key areas (like the existence of roads and towns). Also, many of these roads aren't paved, and are very slow going. Individuals driveways are often much better upkept than the main road itself, and there are no signs at most intersections (or driveways), so it is kind of your best guess on which direction you think the road goes. Also, many of the towns in one area are named the same thing. There are multiple San Francisco's within a few dozen kilometers of each other, and a few San Isidro's around the country. Needless to say, we got a bit turned around. We didn't realize how far off we'd gotten until we passed the Wilson Botanical gardens again, and which was supposed to be well behind us, we were supposed to be headed in directly the opposite direction. We figured out where we made the wrong turn, and tried again. This time we made it much farther, we actually saw a sign for the park! We then missed one turn, and there are no further signs which would give us a clue we were headed in the wrong direction. The landscape was getting increasingly rural. Along the road there were many indigenous families walking along, they were dressed in colorful traditional clothing, many of the girls were visibly pregnant, and there were lots of young children. There were lots of coffee farms in this region, and simple shacks built along the outskirts of the agriculture. Eventually we reached a building with a label "Policia de Panama", it was an agricultural inspection, and we realized we had taken a wrong turn and driven into Panama - so we headed back to San Vito again. Note for next time: Bring a compass.

The next day we went back to Wilson Botanical Gardens early, and hooked up with a bird tour. We saw tons of birds, lots of wildlife, and learned about a lot of the research going on at the concurrent Las Cruces Biological Station. We also got a map to La Amistad Lodge, which included rough directions!!! With our newly acquired set of instructions, we decided to try and find La Amistad again. This time we were successful! We found the lodge!! To get to it, we had to drive over our first in a series of Costa Rican automobile bridges which I wasn't convinced could support a person very well, two logs with some planks nailed across the top. Jason got out and jumped on them a bit, decided it was sound and just drove over really fast…We pulled up to a beautiful lodge amid a coffee plantation. Tried to inquire about our reservations the following day, and realized again that our Spanish was pitiful. We gave up after the woman we were trying to speak with gave us the number of the main office in San Jose. On the drive out, we passed a large black snake on the road, when we paused the car, it lifted it's head off the ground about a foot and freaked Jason right out. He hit the gas and didn't slow down for a few kilometers. We were feeling confident after finding the lodge, and decided to try and find a park headquarters that was mentioned as a place to camp in the guide book. After heading way off into the middle of nowhere, and asking directions at a few points, we were able to find the park headquarters (did you catch that - asking directions!!! - my Spanish was starting to catch on). These consisted of an empty building with a few wildlife stickers on the windows, and a radio tower in the back - it appeared to be undergoing repairs. There was some scaffolding and salsa music blaring loudly from the inside, but there was no one around. Back to San Vito.

About this time we decided to try and make a phone call using the calling card we had purchased. About his time we realized that despite there prevalence of payphones along the roads, the majority were out of service - and none of the functioning ones accepted the type of calling card we had. Costa Rica is in the process of switching payphone card technologies, so you have to get one of each type of card - then hope you can find a working phone for either.

There were schools everywhere in Costa Rica, even in the most rural communities - there was always an Escuela sign on the road. Many of the schools were just simple buildings, some with dirt soccer fields adjacent - but there were everywhere. Apparently Costa Rica has one of the highest literacy rates in the world, I guess that is what happens when a nation puts it's money into it's children instead of into it's army.

The next morning we headed strait to the lodge. The lodge itself was made from beautiful tropical hardwoods. We got there about 9, and joined a hike that was just heading out. There was a local guide carrying a huge machete, and one of the owners daughters to interpret. The hike wound up a hill, past the hydroelectric system of the farm. They carved a long horizontal shelf along the mountain to catch run off, which traveled down a created creek channel to a waterfall, where some of the water was diverted through turbines. The forest contained many ancient tropical oaks. We saw butterflys, including one with transparent wings called a "glass wing", native bamboo forests, capuchin monkeys, and a jaguar print on the trail. We also came across another large snake. I think Jason is a magnet for the things. There is also a plant with little purple flower called St. Lucia, and tradition says that you give it to someone and they put it in their wallet for good luck with money. But it has to be given to you by someone else.

That afternoon, the owner took us on a tour of the coffee production process. The farm had been started by his grandfather, and he still had much of the same equipment in action. The coffee beans must have the fruit removed, then an outer casing, then be dried, then the husks removed, then they are sold and roasted. Much of the processing is sorting quality based on density. All of the premium quality is exported. His workers are mainly from Panama. They are paid based on the number of boxes they pick daily, they make 10-12 dollars a day. He told us how his grandfather had been the one who decided how to establish the Costa Rican/Panamanian border in that area. He did it based on watersheds, along those mountains, all the area that drained to the south belonged to Panama, that which drained to the north was Costa Rica. The owner let Aviva work with a 4-year old Andalusian stallion that they were trying to train to take a bit. He was using the horse to improve the local breed. The entire farm was being run on sustainability and self sufficiency principles. The fruit from the coffee bean was composted, the coffee was shade grown, much of the food served was grown on the farm, their electricity was hydraulically generated. He also had a trout pond using a diversion from the creek. That evening was new year's, and many friends and family of the owner had come to the lodge for the celebration. There were only 3 other guests, an older couple from Florida and another traveler from Bavaria. As the evening started, the whiskey and wine was flowing freely, music was loud, and people were happy. Food was being brought around, and you had to take some. I was coming down with a cold by this point, just something I picked up from traveling - and it knocked me out fairly early. Jason came and got me about 30 minutes before the new year. One of the daughters was telling me about the traditions on new years. You had to wear yellow underwear for good luck, and it was sold in packs of 10 that time of year - and all the women were wearing a pair! You had to eat 12 grapes all at once at new years for good luck in each of the 12 months. And, you had to run around in circles with a piece of luggage for luck in traveling the following year. Everyone in the family did it, and all the guests joined in much to the entertainment of the family. Then Jason and Roberto (the proprietor) each had a cigar to welcome in the new year while we watched some of the family dance incredible Salsa. One of the men was the largest man I have ever seen dance, and he could really move!!! It was lively and festive, with all the kids laughing and music playing. When the countdown started, I realized that while I can easily count to 10 in Spanish, trying to do it backwards was a whole different story! We headed out to Corcovado the next day. Roberto said that I could drive Posiedo (the horse) when we returned, because he was going to be all trained by then. One of the girls came up and gave us a St. Lucia plant for good luck, and we went on our way.