Costa Rica

My first time in Costa Rica! We docked in Puntarenas, one of several towns by the same name in Costa Rica, this one sort of on the northwest side of the country.  It is less than two hours drive to San Jose, the capital.  I went on a tour that took us out into the rainforest, as where we docked was surprisingly dry.  I learned that this country has quite a bit of diversity for all its small size (about the size of West Virginia, around 4 million people), over 900 species of birds, and even has a 12,000 foot mountain from the top of which it is actually possible to see both the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean to the east at the same time.  My tour took us about 45 minutes away and into one of the nature reserves (about 25% of Costa Rica is protected land), where we went on a walk through the rainforest and across a few "skyway" bridges suspended in the forest.  It was beautiful.  We spotted some interesting birds, iguanas, leaf-cutter ants (straight out of the Discovery Channel, I know!!) crocodiles and even monkeys (howlers and white faced monkeys, from quite a distance).  The air was full of the sounds of cicadas.  My find of the day was a lucky spotting of a poison dart arrow frog, this one was small, black and green.  My guide was so excited he hugged me and said he would kiss me if he could.  He also said he used to see dozens of them every time he visited the forest, but they have been disappearing as more land is developed, and a day where he sees even one is a really great day.  So it was a great day! Glad I could help.  After our walk we stopped in Hotel Villa Lapas, a small hotel out in the rainforest on private land, where we had some wonderful fresh tropical fruit.  It was a really nice afternoon, and gave me a nice introduction to this new country.  Back on board as twilight fell and we started to spillway, we sat out on deck 4 on the bow and listened to the sounds of so many birds floating in from shore.