Enjoying ourselves still!

This is a very cool part of Costa Rica, although getting around it a touch tricky. Today we kayaked in an estuary and in a river that is bordered by mangroves. These trees are adapted to living in the salty water that flows up the river from the ocean at high tide. Some have leaves that actually gather and release the salt, other species have tall roots that hold them above the salt water. They provide habitat to crabs, fish, birds and many other species, and create a shadowy, mysterius, very beautiful forest. We saw several white ibis, ringed herons, green backed herons, a tiger heron, and many flycatchers. At one point a brown pelican landed near our kayaks and swam with us for a while... it seemed curious! We also saw a Pacific Ridley sea turtle swimming in the estuary... it would lift its head above the water for a few seconds, then dive. I also talked with a woman who is involved with the Community Rural Tourism movement. We stayed on a farm that is connected with this movement in Bijuaga a few weeks ago. The idea is to use tourism to bring income into local rural communities where farmers are losing their land to agribusiness interests. Visitors learn about local peoples´lives and share information with friends at home. We are both very interested in this movement, and plan to promote it when we get home. Tomorrow... the JUNGLE! Monday we will start to head south into northern Panama for a week or so. Then we will move north through Costa Rica again, to catch our plane back to the States. I will try to check in tomorrow evening if we are not too exhausted. What is going on in the US anyhow? We have heard there are huge wildfires in Colorado and other western states, and that the Supreme Curt upheld the health care plan. Other than that...¿Que pasa?

¡We love Puerto Jiminez!

Getting to this town was an adventure in itself. We took a very slow bus, feeling very nervous that we would miss our transfer. We were on time and wound up waiting for an hour at a crossroad of two highways, with nothing around but a restaurant, a gas station, and a stand where a woman was selling bean tamales (quite yummy.) We knew we were ok because other people were waiting. The bus took us on winding jungle roads, and we arrived at dinnertime. This town is amazing... very relaxed, and very pretty. It is on the shores of Golfa Dulce, one of the deepest gulfs in the world. Today while biking around town we saw scarlet macaws, caimans, a huge blue morph butterfly, a colony of nesting white ibises with cheeks, and more!! We are planning further adventures, and will update. Again, it is a comfortable and safe town with lots of infrastructure... pix will come!

We love Uvitas!

This has been a really nice kickback stop on our way south. We got drenched in a downpour on Monday, our first real soaking. Yesterday we hiked to a lovely waterfall and a bamboo forest, accompanied by a mischevious and friendly black dog who we named Noche. He seems to get a big kick out of hiking with touristas. In the afternoon, we found ourselves at Ballena Parque Nacional, an exquisite place. There is a long peninsula stretching to the ocean, it splits into two parts at the end and resembles a huge whale´s tail... hence the name! This is a place where high hills covered with tropical forests reach the ocean. The beach itself is bordered by forests and palms, and there are clear, winding rivers that wander from the trees to the sea. The beach is covered with yellow, tan and ivory clam shells. Red and while burrowing crabs scurry to the holes where they hide. Vultures, royal terns and other birds hang out in small groups like political caucuses on the beach. Quite a find! We are now heading for Puerto Jimenez on the Osa Peninsula. This region is one of the wilder parts of Costa Rica, but the town has lots of infrastructure - hotels, food, internet, busses, a small airport, health services, etc. We expect to be in the region a week or so. And yes, we will get photos up when we find a computer that is compatible with our memory cards. ¡Adios para ahora!

´We´re in the town of Uvita for a couple of nights. It´s on the coast, mostly agricultural but with an expat community. Lots of birds and butterflies. This afternoon we plan to hike to a bamboo forest and a waterfall. Tomorrow we hope to make it to the Osa Peninsula.

¡Una dia fantastico!

People will tell you not to go to Manuel Antonio National Park, claiming that it issmall, crowded, and surrounded by chintzy development. Do not listen to them! These comments are true, but irrelevant. You can hike the trails and hang out on the beaches on one long day (we just crowded),but our day was superlative! The scenery (tropical forest next to the ocean with offshore rockformations thrown in) is superlative! We saw three species of monkeys today... howler monkeys staring at us, spider monkeys swinging high in the trees, and a troupe of white faced cappuchine monkeys... including a mom with a baby on her back. Sloths (very slow moving mammals that look like big, shadowy furballs in the trees) were everywhere, as were iguanas and many other lizards. We also saw a monitor lizard - this is the species that runs across water on two legs, looks like a small dinosaur, and has a tail that actually mimics the shape of leaves so it can hide in trees. This one jumped out of a tree, hung out close to an amazed group of people before scurrying off on two legs. We saw much more - flowers, many wild fungi, a toucan, woodpeckers, and a huge pelican flock over the ocean. We will get some shots up when we have a dependable computer. We are making our way south to the Osa Peninsula, the real wilderness of Costa Rica, where we will hang out for a week or so. We will stop halfway in between, after a 3 hour busride tomorrow, and stay in a town that sounds great, but whose name I can{t remember. We will be there one night, maybe two... if I have a computer I will check in. Internet cafes may get a touch spotty... but I am hoping not, will check in when we can. Oh yes, happy belated Summer Solstice!!

Howler Monkey, Ometepe Island

Volcan Concepcion, Ometepe Island