Monkeys!!!!!!

finally it was clear enough to see most of the Arenal volcano. Steam is always coming out of the top but it hasn't spewed sand (arena is Spanish for sand) and lava for 10 years. Note 'living fence'  When Costa Rican was being settled by Europeans, they could fence what they wanted and live on it ten years and then the land was theirs. Didn't seem to use surveyors. People wanting more land would move their neighbor's fences. Finally they had to plant trees along the fences which are harder to move

Lake Arenal which extends almost across the country. Formed by a dam. Would be a good place for an Alternate Panama Canal as it is very deep

A motmot bird. You can't see its tennis racquet like tail feathers.They make eye level holes in cliffs and surprise passerbys. I saw another variety of it perched in the wildlife rehab.

Looking straight up into the canopy of this cloud forest

these dots are long nosed bats measuring less than 2 inches Earlier in the week, we saw 20 of them lined up to resemble a snake so birds would bypass them as they roosted

first of the 6 hanging bridges. They would limit us to 15 at a time. Tried to convince this guy to walk one foot in front of the other like on a balance beam. He walked like a penguin causing lots of sway. One bridge was 500 feet up

my friend waving from the highest bridge

leaf cutter ants sometimes having 50 foot long trails. They take the leaves underground and feed off a fungus that grows on the leaves. What I didn't know that on the leaves are up to three tiny ants that prevent predators from planting eggs on the carrier ants

one of the many bromeliads

that day we sat in the front of the bus (seats were assigned to prevent view hogging) and thought these were monkeys. No, coasti mundis related to raccoons and just as destructive but they come out during the day

more lake

we were at the turtle sanctuary (no turtles!!!) and came across a troop of howler monkeys. Very loud, We'd wake up to their grunts and howls in all the places we stayed except in San Jose

sunset at the fancy resort we got to stay in for 2 nights

It was time to leave La Fortuna. We stayed 2 nights in San Jose (3 if you include us going there a day early to avoid weather shut downs and airline shenanigans), 2 nights in La Fortuna, 2 nights in our deluxe Guanacaste resort, then one night apiece in Manuel Antonio Nat'l Park and back at a different hotel in San Jose. First stop: hanging bridges in a cloud forest. Two hikes were offered: a leisurely, flat stroll and a much more vigorous hike up a mountain that included the 6 suspension bridges. So if you were not in shape or had some fear of heights and swaying bridges, you were strongly encouraged to do the easy one. Sadly some slow pokes thought they could do the vigorous hike so we had too many people for the guide and we had to wait for people to catch their breath. Also we were encouraged to walk as quietly as possible to not scare away the wildlife. Less than 5 minutes into the walk, one of the women screeched on the top of her lungs

MONKEYS!!!!!

So much for whispering though I think you can scream at monkeys all you want and you won't alter their behavior one iota. It was a troop of howler monkeys. There are 4 species of monkeys in CR: howlers, the biggest being spider monkeys(from the way they move), capuchin or white faced monkeys (favorite for organ grinders and on TV shows such as Maurice on Friends) and the rare squirrel monkeys which are only found at the Nat'l park. We saw all 4 species over our trip. On this walk, I did come across the motmot, who isn't easily spooked either and at the tail end, another sloth. Not much else other than lots of vegetation. One man took one look at the first suspension bridge and turned around to head for the bus. He later refused to go on our tram ride as he was afraid there would be some sway. One thing I didn't see were biting insects though I was covered in DEET. I didn't use it again as bugs really weren't a problem anywhere. It was the dry season but in some parts of the country, there is no dry season and for a dry season, it had been unusually wet.

Back on  the bus we came across the coatis, drove around the lake (a very big lake) and stopped for lunch. Sea bass! Though one could always have chicken and always, rice and beans. Alcohol was not included so there was coffee, tea and fruit juice. Alcohol and soda could be purchased for a lot.. This particular place specialized in green banana ceviche. I don't like ripe bananas but this tasted good to me. CR has about 12 different microclimes despite its small size. We were headed for he flat desert where there is cattle and lots of brown ranches. Boring. I fell asleep only to awake on the Pacific coast at the turtle sanctuary, which Caravan puts lots of its money into. We saw some film strip on the life cycle of the baila or leatherback sea turtle which is in decline no thanks to all the developments along this coast. They always had to deal with predators digging up the eggs or cormorants picking off the babies. So they are stacking the odds by protecting the nests and walking to the sea with the babies to scare off the birds. Even this is hazardous especially on the Atlantic Coast. Drug runners often dump their loads before capture. Others hear about this and patrol the beaches at night for the drug packages to float ashore. Some turtle volunteers have been killed. We walked along the beach for awhile. Near our bus was a large troop of spider monkeys, which lack thumbs so they move side to side through the trees.

On to our over the top resort. These rooms go from $500-$600 a night without food so Caravan is good at negotiating. Also, no beach views for us. We got 'jungle view' which was fine as from our balcony, we could see orange fronted parrots go from palm tee to palm tree and wake up to the howlers. No human noise. And the food, lots of variety and it was very good! I could resist somewhat the offerings at the other hotels but not here. All my weight was gained here and no amount of running and water aerobics could undo it. Bonus: no early departure on the bus.