Coffee tour in the cloud forest - our last day

12/2/2012: After breakfast we left with Davis as our driver and said goodbye to Meghan, Ryan, William, Emilie, and Jeannet. They had all contributed to our enjoyable stay at Chilamate Rainforest Eco Retreat.

Along the way to San Jose we stopped for a tour of a coffee co-op. 140 small coffee farmers banded together to maintain the last coffee production facility in this region of Costa Rica. The coffee is shade-grown and  fertilized with compost from the coffee bean hulls. 

Coffee bean hulls turned into compost with the help of worms.

 In addition to touring the coffee facilities, the knowledgeable English-speaking guide took us on a very scenic nature trail.

 The overlook onto the Sarapiqui river (600 feet below us), could have been incredible. Unfortunately, we were just barely able to make out the sight of the river because the cloud forest is frequently hidden in the clouds, imagine that. The advantage of being in the cloud forest during the rainy season were the waterfalls, including a spectacular one adjacent to our hiking trail.

Susan: After our tour, we enjoyed a great lunch at the coffee co-op, featuring tilapia farmed at the co-op (delicious!), gallo pinto (of course) and great fresh fruit juice. Unfortunately, I’m not a coffee drinker, but Dan thoroughly enjoyed the co-op’s great coffee, and bought a few packs to take home.

Then we drove up and over the mountains, past the Poás Volcano (too cloudy to see it, of course). A powerful earthquake (6.1) struck in this area in 2009, destroying the village of Cinchona, and causing landslides that took the lives of 34 people and injured hundreds.

 

The road through this area had been a main route to the Sarapiqui area from the airport outside San José, and when the earthquake caused the road to be closed for over 2 years, it severely affected tourism near Poás. The road is open now, but there is still a section that is marginally navigable at best! 

Davis wove his way through the slalom course that is the pot-holed muddy road, and we enjoyed the beautiful views and waterfalls along the way.

  

We stopped to see a band of white-nosed coatis that were unfortunately being fed fruit by the passengers of another stopped car. Coatis acclimate to humans readily, and it was clear that tourists bought strawberries in the area just to feed to them. Davis told the driver of the vehicle that it wasn’t good to feed the wild animals, but they didn’t think it was a problem. At least it was fruit and not donuts!

We drove past the village of Varablanca, where there were large fields and greenhouses of flowers being grown for the commercial florist trade. As we drove closer to San José, we began seeing the signs of a large metropolitan area, but one that is surrounded in every direction by majestic mountains. If you had to live in a city, this would be a beautiful one to live in! 

 

We spent our last night at a bed and breakfast in Alajuela, not far from the airport. Although the garden and grounds were lovely and the rooms were reasonably clean, the owner (a U.S. expatriate) seemed high most of the time, and had a hard time finding toilet paper for our bathroom. He eventually produced a half roll after much searching. He also forgot to order us a pizza for dinner as promised, so we ate quite late that evening. After the wonderful hospitality we had received at Chilamate, this place was a let-down. But it added to the adventure, I suppose. The ride to the airport in the morning was also an adventure: many drivers in Costa Rica are scary! Once we arrived at the airport, we found our flight had been cancelled (thanks, American Airlines!). We spent the day in the airport waiting for an afternoon flight to Houston, Texas, and we flew from there the next morning to St. Louis. Thank heavens that happened on the way HOME and not on the way there.

All in all, it was a fabulous trip filled with great adventures. We gained a huge appreciation for the vast natural beauty and biodiversity of Costa Rica and the friendliness of its people. There is so much more for us to see: we will return!

Kinkajou hunt!

12/1/2012 Dan: After breakfast, we took another guided nature walk with Jaime. Jaime walked us over to a piece of forest across the Sarapiqui River that is owned by his family. Jaime personally built a very nice trail system through this forest, including two bridges.

Again, Jaime was a wealth of interesting information about the plants, animals, and culture. He mentioned that parrots are right-side dominant just like most humans, as evidenced by a local red anatto fruit that they grab with one foot while feeding. This stains their right leg red. Jaime said that when this fruit is ripe all of the parrots have red right legs and green left legs. Susan: He also told us that lianas (woody vines) always twine in a counter-clockwise direction. Apparently EVERYTHING has a dominant hand or direction!

 

 

Look closely to see the tiny male spider above this big female. He stays above and out of her way to avoid being accidentally eaten!

 

 

Dan: The afternoon back at the retreat passed quickly. After supper Susan was determined to relocate the kinkajou. After searching several dozen trees around the main complex of buildings, Susan found her kinkajou quietly laying in a coconut palm. I was sent back to the dining pavilion to invite Emilie and Jeannet to see the kinkajou.  

This time the kinkajou was more cooperative. Although it was dark and the kinkajou was 15-20 feet up, Susan got what pictures she could. She kept repeating, "You are soooo cute!" She was not talking about me.

That evening Susan gave Davis and Meghan her Mammals of Costa Rica book. They were extremely grateful to add this excellent book to the reference collection they keep for their guests in the reception/dining pavilion.

Floating on the Sarapiqui River and Laga Jalapa

11/30/2012 Dan: Happy 50th birthday Susan. We left after breakfast with two other guests, Emilie and Jeannet from Holland, for the 3-in-1 tour from Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui. Our $50 per person tour started with a boat ride down the Sarapiqui River with a guide that did not speak English. Nevertheless, he was good at spotting iguanas, basilisks (resemble very large chameleons), and monkeys. 

The first group of monkeys included both howler monkeys and white faced monkeys. Surprisingly to us, a large white faced monkey was grooming a large howler monkey. None of the monkeys made calls during the 10 - 15 minutes that we watched them. The second group that we saw was only howler monkeys. This group was in a tree near several riverbank houses with Chinese words on a concrete retaining wall. 

As our boat approached the area, three people who had been on a patio of the largest house in the center of the complex went indoors. Almost immediately the loud constant call of howler monkeys emerged from the building as our guide tied up to a tree on the opposite bank. During our entire 15 minute stop the steady howler monkey recording was broadcast to us. 

This was the only time our guide tied up on the bank and the only time he did not try to get us closer to the wildlife. Since the guide did not speak English, we could not question him about the noticeable inconsistency both in his behavior and what we were apparently supposed to believe was live howler monkey calling. An innocent sham, or a way to guarantee that tourists get to hear the impressive call of the howler monkey? We saw howler monkeys about ten times during this trip and they were never even partially as vocal as the recording played for us by the Chinese.

Susan: In reviewing the video I took here, I can hear when the recording starts, but I also can see and hear the howler monkeys in the trees calling in response to the recording. So although it may have been deceptive, it did give me the opportunity to see and hear a howler monkey call!

Mangrove swifts

Dan: We resumed floating downriver and docked at a private home. A van driver who did not speak English picked us up and drove us to Lago Jalapa, an oxbow lake. We met our guides (a man, a woman, and a teenage girl) at a very nice pavilion, with clean restrooms and bats hanging on the walls. We were told the bats were vampire bats, but we were unable to confirm their ID. We were supposed to take a "rainforest naturalist tour" down to the lake, but again our guides spoke no English. Furthermore, the 200 meter walk to the lake was through trees that were mostly 20-30 years old. 

Some trees were labeled with their scientific names but even if we had been fluent in Spanish, I doubt that our "naturalist guides" would have been impressive rainforest guides. As a former naturalist, I know that there are always things in nature (such as herps and fragrant plants) that transcend language barriers. Our guides seemed perplexed about what to do with a 6-inch turtle on the trail and appeared unable to determine if it were male or female.

When we arrived at the lake, one of the two tour boats was submerged next to the dock. Needless to say, when we were issued our life jackets we dutifully put them on. 

Shortly into our float, our guides pointed out both a basilisk and some iguanas. It soon became apparent that Lago Jalapa was a magical place even without a shared language or the roseate spoonbills on Lago Jalapa’s advertisements.

Natural beauty is a universal language. The beauty and tranquility of Laga Jalapa spoke for itself. 

Blooming orchids, carnivorous bladder pods, boat-billed herons, and anhingas were just a few of the pleasant beauties that complemented the serene ambiance. It soon became apparent that Jeannet shared Susan's passion for photographing every wildflower. We felt very blessed to be sharing this magical place with kindred spirits exploring nature both great and small.

 

 

On the walk back to the pavilion, we took a slightly different trail that included one very large-buttressed tree in a lowland drainage. The large folding buttress roots created a living grotto where several bats were hanging in plain view about ten feet up. Our presence disturbed them slightly. Some bats flapped their wings and shuffled around but soon they settled down and we moved on. 

 

Our guide pointed out this  cool looking grasshopper with a very unusual antenna!

 

Once back at the pavilion, we were served fresh juice, papaya, banana, mango, and watermelon. 

Our driver returned us to Puerto Viejo where we tourists were astonished by the very long lines of people at the banks. It was Friday and the last day of the month. We were told that Costa Ricans were withdrawing their weekly pay that is auto-deposited into their accounts. Banking is slower in Costa Rica partially because the guard has to unlock the door for everyone entering and leaving, and waves each person entering with a metal detector.

Susan: Visiting a bank in Costa Rica was quite an experience. Security is VERY tight, and after the guard let me in, he gestured that I should take a number and sit down to wait my turn. Thank heavens there was a video screen that listed the current numbers called and what window they should go to. While waiting for my turn, I was trying to figure out the words to ask for the money I needed, and pulled out my iPhone to use my Spanish dictionary app. The guard quickly gestured that I was to put my cell phone away – it was not permitted to use a cell phone in the bank. When the woman who was sweeping the floor got a call on her cell phone, she had to wait for the guard to let her outside before she was permitted to answer it.

When a person’s number appeared on the board, there was often still a person at the window that they were being directed to. When a person stood and walked to the window after seeing their number called, the guard waved them back to their seat, making it clear that you could not go up to the window until the person who was already there was completely done.

I finally made it to the window, and was able to get a cash advance with my debit card, but they would not give me any dollars as I had hoped, issuing me the total amount in Costa Rican colones. Dollars and colones are accepted equally in Costa Rica but redeeming colones back in the US for dollars would be a pain. Luckily, I estimated well, and we were able to use the last of our colones at the airport (paying the “departure tax” of $26 per person). 

Jeannet and Emilie

Dan: Emilie and Jeannet wanted to visit nearby Heliconia Island, a small privately owned botanic garden owned by a Dutch couple. In Holland, the woman had been a dog groomer and her husband had worked for Phillips electric until he was downsized. They had no prior experience running a garden, a restaurant, or cabin rentals and were not fluent in Spanish when they bravely set off for Costa Rica.   

When I asked the owner what she missed most about Holland, she said she missed dark breads. Susan and I had only a passing interest in the garden tour, but we enjoyed close looks at two spectacled owls, a grey-necked wood rail, and numerous other colorful birds.

Gray-necked rail

After supper at the retreat we saw an animal about twenty feet up in a noni tree eating the "ice fruits". The body was about 18 inches long with a thick furry tail about 20 inches long. Kinkajous look much like a lemur, which was what Ryan called it. Surprisingly, Davis was not familiar with the kinkajou and called it a possum. 

Davis searched unsuccessfully in his Natural History of Costa Rica book for the unidentified animal we had observed. When Susan found the kinkajou in her Mammals of Costa Rica book, Davis was notably impressed. Susan was both enthralled by the kinkajou’s adorable appearance and very annoyed by its unwillingness to be adequately photographed.