Critters

There are lots of dogs and cats here, and most of them are running loose, with a surprising lack of dog poop anywhere.  Maybe that's part of what makes the jungle so fertile.

The guidebooks are correct when they describe the variety of animals in this country. The only thing we didn't see were snakes, and I'm OK with that.  Some creatures we saw up close and personal, others from a comfortable distance.  Some even tried to take the food off my plate.

During our brief stay at Arunal, the volcano side of the country, it rained constantly.  We looked for a potential activity so that our time would not have been totally wasted.  We discovered a tiny nature preserve a short distance outside of the town, Ecocentre Danaus.  It used to be a farm, and now has been reclaimed to preserve both the flora and the fauna of the area.  Our guide was a young Swiss man who was a passionate volunteer and he opened our eyes to a new world in the jungle.










Owl Butterfly



We were guided through the whole life cycle of the butterflies, right from seeing the eggs to walking in a butterfly garden.

There is a large variety of frogs, and they are surprisingly small and hard to see.  This one happened to be on the stairs at the hotel 

in Quepos, driven out of hiding by the torrential rainstorm.

The monkeys are cute, but vicious and unapproachable.  At the Ylang Ylang resort, they save old bananas for a few days and the monkeys seem to know the day and time, because we were sitting quietly enjoying coffee, and suddenly the air was filled with screeching, and at least 20 capuchin monkeys gathered for their weekly treat.  At the same resort, we also saw the local version of a racoon, the choati.  Also cute but with very sharp, large teeth. 

Choati



  





We were travelling to a private beach (more in a later post) when we stopped to take a picture of some birds.  We looked down, and this guy was just lying there enjoying the sunshine.  It's a good thing I didn't pick this canal to cool off in!

                                         


This is an agouti, a cute and quiet relative of your average rat. 
It is very different to see these creature in person, so to speak, rather than in a book or on the Internet.  They are quite awesome, particularly in their natural environment.



                                                                    The only toucan I have
                                                                    ever seen was on a cereal box.  These guys were 3 feet from us.

It's fun to keep your head on a swivel, because you never know when you are going to see a bush move, a monkey jump, or a crocodile dive into the water.

You have to be aware, so your senses are heightened and there is a constant sense of excitement about what you might see next.  "Look!" becomes a  
                                                                     common exclamation.

This was one of the iguanas we saw in Manuel Antonio National Park. (More on Mark's scam vigilance in a later post) The smaller one is called a "Jesus Christ" lizard, because they can walk on water.  I've always thought I could do that, too, but no one has ever mistake me for JC.


Jesus Christ Lizard



This is the cat that camped with us during our last couple of days.  Bold as brass and very insistent on cuddling!