piii - San Ramon to Arenal

We generally hiked twice a day - in between meals... group hikes were fun but the noise inevitably scared off the wildlife.

Did i mention that the forest was magical? It was. I wish I could go back.

Believe it or not, we actually did work there! here i am id'ing benthic macroinvertebrates with pablo - our stream expert. he spoke next to no english! i was able to practice some spanish in this group! we had 2 papers and 3 presentations total to complete on this trip.

Macroinvertebrate identification. Caddissflies (i think!) build little "homes" out of leaves and branches for protection from turbulent riffle waters. how cute!

a butterfly caught in jim's trap. gorgeous clear wings!!!

Blue Morpho butterfly. These were enormous and so abundant. Striking - almost glowing blue color.

Day - 4 (i think)... time was lost on this trip. the hike back down from San Ramone. We had to walk all the way down to the paved road as the muddy conditions were not conducive to bus travel. it added a good 1.5 / 2 hours to our trek but it was well worth it given the beautiful day.


Arenal. When we finally made it back to dry land... hot and dry and even HOT WATER in the showers in this hotel. it was nice - i coulda done without all the tourists though! (yes i was one of them) :)


An enormous orchid... phelanoepsis perhaps?? it was climbing up the catcus outside of the hotel - incredible! right - coconuts... and more coconuts!


left: a hummingbird! they had really cool calls that you could hear from afar! Right: silky breasted tanager. Note the yellow tummy!

making out way up to the arenal trail. a short, partially rocky, incredibly touristy area...
beautiful but i wasn't a fan of all of the people!

There were two species of Toucan chillin in the tree on the hike up to the volcano!!!
Right - chestnut mandibled; left - Keel-billed Toucan.

a cuati! they are so cute - and all over CR!



Another glorious shot from Arenal. Screw the volcano - check out the water and the glorious mountains! :)


Crocs! Right next to a farm! boy were these some brave cows. These pictures don't begin to describe the incredible SIZE of these creatures. ENORMOUS!!!


Sunset in Uvita along the Pacific. No need for words.

And hotel #2! Hot water - naah... geckos - hell yea! SO CUTE! Note GG hanging on the sign!
We stopped here because the bus ride to our true destination - Sierpe to catch a bus to Campanario - was LONG!

We are nearing 1/2 way through! stay tuned for MORE! yes more! i took 1000+ picts so synthesizing into a few blogs takes time my friends.