I woke up around 5:30 a.m. because I thought I heard an unusual bird outside our patio. It turns out that there was nothing around for me to see besides the usual birds, but I sat out on the porch anyway.
We met with the Swiss Travel Service guides at 7:20 a.m. and caught a bus to their headquarters and then to Palo Verde National Park. It was about a two and a half hour drive from our resort and there were only seven of us on the trip. The location we stopped at appeared to be a family owned business with a little restaurant, gift shop, and boats along the Bebedero river. It was a muddy river that took us into the rainforest. Our guide, Fabian, was very knowledgeable about the animal and plant life (he did have a degree in forestry or something). The boat driver, Walter, did not speak English but he always alerted us to animals hiding in the bush. We still can’t figure out how he could see all of them. Chris and I decided to have a contest for animal sightings: 5 points for monkeys, 4 points for birds, 3 points for any other cool animal, 2 points for cool insects, 1 point for regular animals (cows, chickens, etc), and 10,000,000 points for a chupacabra.
We slowly boated down the river towards the gulf (Atlantic Ocean) but we did not go that far. We saw so many different animals along the way. Most of the wildlife we were able to see were various species of birds including a limking bird, mangrove swallows, bare throated tiger heron, spotted sand piper, black hawk, yellow crowned night heron, roseate spoonbills, wood storks, and orange chinned parakeets, among other birds. The crowd favorite was the rose spoonbills which congregated in the canopy above us and flew from branch to branch. They were pink like flamingos but their beaks were shaped like a spoon to aid them in fish catching.
I think the whole group was amazed by the number of American crocodiles we saw along the river banks and in the water. The guide took us within three feet of a crocodile basking in the sun before it went underwater. Costa Rica is home to two forms of crocodiles, the American and the Caiman. Only a couple people each year die from a crocodile attack in Costa Rica, which was good information for us to know as we hovered around them.
We spent awhile searching for the three species of monkeys commonly seen in Costa Rica: the squirrel monkey, the white faced monkey, and the howler monkey. We were only able to see the howler monkeys, but they were fascinating. Fabian was able to get them to start howling in the trees. We saw some baby monkeys playing with each other with their mothers close by. The dominant male made sure to keep his presence known to us by howling.
Some of the other animals we were able to see included the “Jesus Christ” lizard (affectionately named because it runs along the water), male green iguana, long nosed bats, black iguana, and coati. We were never bored as we searched the tree tops, water, and shore for any sign of wildlife.
Following the nearly three hour boat ride, we were invited to a picnic lunch of Costa Rican food – rice, beans, chicken, and rice pudding. It was delicious as usual. We then headed back home for a dip in the pool and some drinks at the swim up bar.
Considering that it is the rainy season in Costa Rica, it really hasn’t rained very much. The mornings are always pleasant and sunny. It usually doesn’t start raining until the afternoon or evening.
We went back to Gaby’s for dinner and Chris had some dish with chicken and I had mahi mahi which was very tasty.
Difference between "venomous" and "poisonous". Something is poisonous if the poison is spread through contact with its skin. Something is venomous if the poison is injected (through a bite, sting, etc.)
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