Last update from Costa Rica

Righto... this will be my last post from beautiful Costa Rica. I could have stayed another week, there seems to be SO much to do and I feel I've only just scrapped the surface. Everybody tells me I MUST go back... and I might well do... one day, God willing.

Nature's wonders

On Friday night, after I last emailed, I decided to stay behind after dinner (instead of heading for bed early) and sit near the feeders to look out for possums or racoons (as they are mostly nocturnal). I was soon joined by Edwin, the nice naturalist chap who I'd first met whilst based in Savegre. He talked to me for about two hours and was SO interesting (all naturists I've ever met are because they are SO passionate about saving the jungle). He told me for instance that one kind of animal (but I cannot, for the life of me, remember which one !!!) can create its own air bubble before diving and looking for fish, as if it had its own built-in scuba diving kit. Wow.

I did ask him if most of the jungles were protected from deforestation here but he said that only half of them are. Costa Rica is 30% thick jungle and only 15% of that are National Parks. The rest is owned by private investors and most naturalists are actively compaigning to get them to sell their land to people who would protect them. Because, if they use it for farming, the sad part is that after 2 years the soil is no good anyway, so you have chopped all this amazing habitat for very very little profit. And once you've chopped down all the trees, it could take a LONG time for them to grow back again...

15mns after we were into our conversation, we saw our first opposum. It has smaller eyes than the possum and is a gorgeous ginger colour, all fluffy, with a long white tail like a wire that he used to dangle himself down so that he could put his nose straight into the feeder. Edwin only switched on his torch a few seconds at a time, once every few minutes, to show me how gorgeous he was, because nocturnal animals cannot stand light and he didn't want to disturb him too much. Just like we are not allowed to take photos of frogs with a flash because if you overdo it, you can make them go blind.

We experienced a downpour 15mns later, the sound of the rain on the roof was deafening, we thought it was GREAT fun. After that, he said it was the best time to look for frogs as they love the rain. Sure enough, within minutes he found me the famous green one with the big red eyes. But I didn't take any photos... only people who had digital cameras could get away without using the flash much. Edwin mentioned that a female frog is usually 3 times as big as a male frog, because she will need to lay 3 x 40 eggs in different locations. But the eggs must always be laid above stagnant water and under a leaf so that the birds can't see it. When the eggs have matured, after 20 days, they will be born with the reflex to jump so they must have water to fall into. Otherwise they will die. The main predator at this time, when they are 'in waiting' are snakes, who can lurke around and eat all the frog eggs. It can happen quite often but as he said, no one will interfere because if the snake wasn't eating so many eggs, it might create an inbalance with too many frogs. Nature is so much more clever than men, that it would make NO sense to interfere because the bigger picture is bigger than what we can even conceive.

We then went back to the lounge area (no windows, too hot) and I ordered another papaya milkshake (my fav treat here) and we chatted some more. He was also telling me for instance that humming birds have evolved alongside heliconia (the beautiful red flower that almost looks like a staircase... if you don't know the one, I have taken LOTS of pictures of them, as they come in all colours, so I will soon send scans over). The heliconia has shaped itself so that it's easy for the humming bird to get nectar and water from them (the flowers are like mini wells that can retain water for them), and humming birds, in turn, have adapted their beaks so that it fits the flower of heliconias perfectly well. Snakes have also made the most of heliconia's colours and shapes. One particular snake is yellow and its scale colours is almost identical to one of the type of heliconia, so they often climb up and put their head at the top and wait for humming birds to come closer... and... easy meal.

He said that snakes usually use just enough venom to paralyse their prey, so that it doesn't move when they swallow it... yuk. Aren't you glad you cannot be eaten alive ??? What a horrible fate. I truly cannot bear snakes... and yet, I guess they have their own purpose to fill too, otherwise there'd be too many rats ? He once almost stepped on a deadly snake and said that if he had, and if he hadn't been taken to hospital within 2 hours, amputation would have been a must. The only time you might lucky with a snake bite is if you have a 'dry' bite, i.e. the snake has used up his venom recently on a big enough prey and as its stomach will be full for at least 2 or 5 days, it will take 2 days for him to produce enough venom again for the next meal. But, the odds of this happening are rare...

That is the most incredible part of nature, everything is part of a whole, and one the reasons it makes most naturalists so cross when people feed animals is that, not only you can make them sick as their stomachs are not designed to eat sweets, but if they grow to dislike their 'normal' diet because they have developed a sweet tooth, then they won't be after flowers so much and so the flowers will miss out as they rely on the insects or birds to disperse the nectar, and trees need the mammals (pretty much any mammal) to disperse their seeds. The birds and monkeys eat the fruits and then 'reject' them later... this ensures the trees can survive as they cannot move themselves ! Everything in nature is so finely in tune and balanced that you can soon create a major disaster if you interfere... and as he said, the tragedy is that most people mean well. They actually think they are helping the animals... when in fact, they are slowly killing them in the long term... and their whole environment in the process. ahhhh...

Some trees try to be smarter and not rely on animals so much. The mimosa (I think it was this one) for instance has seeds that look like giant vanilla pods. They will 'explode' in the heat and the pod then opens up wide, like a boomerang so that it can fly a lot further away from the tree. He said that as a kid, he used to pick up all the natural 'boomerangs' to make them 'fly' a lot further... (I guess kids who live in the jungle have got healthier games to play than computer games!). They look a lot fitter too, I tell you.

We swapped emails so that I can ask him more questions if I can think of anything else. He was fascinated by all my travels... I mentioned I'd hoped to go to Madagascar in Oct, he said that ALL naturalists want to go there as it is almost exclusively endemic.

Photo workshop

The next day, it was really sunny again.... I was delighted. In fact, the weather has got better and better as the days went by. Downpour has only happened over lunch-time (when I was indoors emailing or eating) or at night. Perfect !

I met up with Greg again and we first ran through the technique, a recap on metering, which I badly needed. We then started to walk through a trail within the lodge ground to try and look for flowers and birds and within seconds we were surrounded by about 15 toucans.... I was totally enthralled. We saw all 3 different types of toucans and he said in the 13 years he had lived in CR, he had never seen so many, let alone all 3 in one place. We were mesmerised... You just didn't know where to look. They seemed to follow us too, which was sooo cool. There were also other larger birds with yellow tails too but not as cute. I was just spoilt for choice. I endeavoured to look for tucans that were the nearest to me so that I could fill my frame. I have NEVER seen wild toucans that close before, let alone that many together...

I thanked God SO much. I felt my photo album would now have all of CR's most famed treasures - the macaws, the toucans, the morfo, the frogs, the jungle shots, the beach shots, the countless bright flowers... un poco de todo. It might actually look better than my India album - much more colourful on the 'nature' front anyway. But India still gets thumbs up on the food front. Nothing can beat theirs ! :) Costa Rican food still bores me to tears... I don't know how people can eat the same thing day in, day out.... the only blissful thing here are the fruit juices or milk shakes with fresh fruits. Every day we have new juices, cas (deep green), star flower (yelllow), tamarin (dark brown), etc. Flavours I've never tried before and though some are a touch bitter, I love them all.

In the afternoon we did more flower shots, Greg showed me I could use back lighting in the darker areas by pressing the 'test' button on my flash. This could only work because we were a team. I put my camera on the timer and read up the count down, whilst he stood behind the flower and pressed the 'test' button at the same time I said 'zero'. It might be harder to coordinate on my own, though, if I had a longer exposure, it'd easier as my timer goes 'beep beep' a lot faster during the last 2 seconds, as a hint. This was a tip I'd have never thought of before. And he let me use his macro lens for a few flower shots... including the ginger shampoo which is an incredible piece of art, looks like plastic but finely designed and when water gathers in its mini wells, the indigenous people say it smells like shampoo and collect it to wash their hair. I wish I'd had the chance to try it as I was seriously intrigued....

Last but not least, he said we should take some close up of frogs as no trip to Costa Rica is complete without frog pictures. I told him about Blue Jeans being seriously dangerous and he laughed it off and said that my guide had exaggerated the tale. So, delete my gangraine story from your memory bank ! He then showed me how wrong the guy was by catching Blue Jeans in his hands and putting him on a nice leaf. He said that for close up of frogs he always cheats and puts them in flowers or nicer leaves, etc. It just looks better. The frog are a bit stressed for a minute but then calm down quite quickly.

After we said good bye I went back to the feeder at night, to try and see the lovely opposum again, but he didn't show up. In nature, every day is a different day. And as I told Greg, who knows, if we had done the workshop a day earlier, as planned, maybe the toucans would not have surrounded us so much ? We'll never know...

Zip Line

On my last day I decided to go for a dip in the gorgeous swimming pool (I love swimming surrounded by lush vegeatation and bright red or pink flowers)... it beats the indoor pool any time. I had a nice splash for 20mns and then I then I asked about the zip line again.

The day before I was told there was no one booked to do it... but thankfully, when I checked again, 2 people had just booked, which meant I could join them.

A driver from the lodge took me there (for a fee!) and I zipped down 12 cables again, but it wasn't as spectacular as over Arenal. They were not as long and definitely not as high. Maybe 1/3 of the height. It was still fun, but not as thrilling as the first time. Still, the setting was gorgeous and the last cable ran across the Sarapiqui river, so they had saved the 'best for last'.

I was so in the mood for adventure after that that I wanted to try the rafting as, going by the Guest Book, everybody raved about it saying it was the best of all... but they only do minimum 2 hours, minimum 2 people, and my driver is picking up at 3pm and all tours start at 1:30pm. SIGH. I just needed an extra 3 hours in CR really... SO frustrating.

But I've also been told there is a stunning waterfall about 1H away from here, on the way to the airport, and that if possible, I should make a quick stop over. So, I'll try to negotiate that. I don't particularly fancy sitting 3 hours in an airport lounge, so 2h30 will suffice ! I know that one gets the best seats if you check in early but... life is always a trade-off.

In fact, the lodge is very quiet. At breakfast or lunch or dinner I never see more than 5 other people and the dining room is big enough for over 100 (24 tables for 4 - my maths are correct, no?). Edwin was telling me that this is the best time... in between seasons... he said 3 weeks ago he was at Selva Verde, it was fully booked and the noise of conversations and cultery was deafening and he hated it. Whereas this week, you can hear the sound of the river nearby... you can even eat on the porch, with your feet dangling down in the air, as you are overlooking the river as the balcony is designed to double up as a table with benchs. Cute.

Anyway... on this note, food is calling! And I need to have a shower and wash my hair and get ready for the BIG trip... 24 hours door to door, ahhhhh...

I hope you've found some of info interesting... I realise it's not my most educational journal but that's about all I could find out! Sorry...

BISOUS, Sylvie xxx

Some pictures from my first workshop, (c) Greg Basco / Deep Green Photography

To achieve this kind of effect Greg had to put the speed on a slow shutter and twisted his lens left to right a few times. Cool, hey ? It doesn't work every time, you have to pick a good subject for that kind of effect to look as intended... but it does create a nice 'mood'...


Another one he took... Costa Rica had so many different types of humming birds, it was quite something...

Another neat idea of Greg's ... He was teaching me how to make the black bird look as black as it really was by using my exposure compensation (otherwise the camera will default to 'medium grey') when the bird decided to move to the front of an old cart with a red wheel. Within seconds Greg had 'seen' the potential... a neat aura ! (I was sitting at a different angle, so couldn't quite 'see' that effect from where I was --- that's my excuse anyway ! :).

The front of Bosque de Paz ("Forest of Peace"), the beautiful stream was my favourite area and made the lodge grounds look extra 'peaceful'... Do I look professional enough ? :)

More of the same, with all the camera gear. It was hard work carrying all the lenses, flash gun and tripod everywhere I went but it paid off. I couldn't have taken half of the shots I took without the right equipment. Shooting in the jungle, with little light, is very challenging indeed.

Another trail off Bosque de Paz... most had countless impatiences. It added splashes of colours everywhere, though they did look 'out of place' somewhat... I preferred to focus on the more native plants instead - wilder look ! :) Impatiences ? I can find them in England in flower pots!

Trekking the Selva Verde

Friday 28 April. Well, it was "another (glorious) day in Paradise", Phil Collins would have approved... Waking up to the sounds of the jungle always feels intriguing and mysterious, this is why they don´t want to put TVs in the rooms here. The theory is that if you fall in love with the jungle (which most people who come here, do) you will want to protect it and save it. So this place is also a famous Educational Centre where kids learn all about its treasures and wildlife, as they are the future decision makers of tomorrow. In fact, Selva Verde was bought by an Italian travel agent 2 decades back. She saw it for sale and bought it quick, to make sure that no entrepreneur would convert it into farm land. It took her about 3 years to decide what DO with it all.... but at least she felt she´d secured the birds´future. It seems that Costa Rica is a leading example around the world for Conservation and many people have been moved to buy patches of rainforests so that they can remain rainforests forever more.

After a great breakfast (lots more fresh fruits and guanabana yoghurt, yummy) I had my 1:1 jungle trek with a local guide. We tried to find some birds but though we could hear them and ´talk´to them (it always amazes me when they reply !), it was ever so hard to spot them. We did see a beautiful relative of the quetzal and another cute little thing with his very red head but nothing much. Still the actual walk was SO green and SO lush, I could have taken photos at every corner. I was totally enthralled, especially as the sun was dancing on all the leaves which seemed to add a touch of gold to the whole picture. An overdose of GREEN, Selva Verde, indeed. Wow. Just my kind of place, as you know.

The greatest story I heard this morning was that female birds are always very attracted to dances, so the males usually have very bright legs. The greatest dancer can actually do a Michael Jackson impression of the moon walk !!!! Another fab dancer can do backward loops in the air to impress his audience. HOW COOL is that. I´d just LOVE to see a birdie do the moon walk.... maybe it´s where Michael Jackson actually got the idea from, hey? Who would have thought !!! Grey pigeons who only fly around or eat junk all over London will just will not cut it for me anymore....

Another cute story I heard yesterday, to do with cows this time, is that there is a farm nearby where they are trying an experiment by pampering their cows. They are treated to A/C and to classical music. The result ? Each cow produces an extra 20 litres a day to say thanks ! Great ! May it be the way forward to treating animals with increased respect...

But the jungle remains a dangerous place, and it must always stay in the back of your mind. If you see a trail of army ants (and you do see them pretty much everywhere, marching away in huge numbers, one inch wide and God knows how many meters long) you must NEVER step in their path because they will invade everything that´s in sight. There are tales of people having to evacuate their houses for up to 2 days if the ´army´ decides to march ahead and their house happens to be in the path of where they were heading for. Millions will invade the home but after that, when you move back in, they have cleaned everything out that was a pest, i.e. no more spiders, no more lizzards.... they´ve eaten the lot. So in some weird ways, they can be viewed as a blessing in disguise. Greg was telling me that he had a nasty experience with them once, he was focused on taking a photo (as I would !) and didn´t realise he was standing in an army ant path and they started crawling all over him... went into his trousers, etc. He said he had to almost strip naked to get rid of them, and even then, ended up with so many bites that he´s now become slightly paranoid about them. I can just imagine the nightmare... if I end up with 40C with ONE wasp sting, God help me if I get stung a few dozen times by nasty ants.....

That´s the side of the jungle that is not pleasant. And something you just cannot afford to forget. Every time I needed to get hold of a tree to go down some slippery slopes I always first checked there was no bullet ants on them (6 times the poison strength of a wasp... say no more!!!!).

It is really HOT as well in the jungle. You sweat doing very little. I still haven´t seen the toucans but heard they were by the pool between 6am and 7am... and I tend to get out of bed at 7am. You can swim in the river to refresh yourself but I´m not sure it´ll be worth it since we have a pool. The water might be cooler, but there are crocs around, up to 4 meters long.... though saying that, I have been assured that crocs do not hang around water that flows too fast as they don´t like it, and they actually prefer to feed on the countless iguanas. Still, again, bearing mother in mind, I am not sure she´d be too impressed if I favoured the river. Isn´t it sad how we become so much more cautious when we get older ? There hasn´t been ONE casualty YET, and still, she´d automatically assume I´d become the first! All the kids in the river swim around quite happily though. We definitely lose our ´throw caution the wind´ attitude as the years tick away..... hum. I guess I do need my two hands to type right now and it´d be a shame to lose one but it is also true that if you do not risk anything, you do not live.

Oh, I twisted my ankle yesterday too.... but thankfully I applied my Chinese medicine (a small bottle of white flower oil) that I keep on me at all times, and it did the trick. No more pain when I woke up. It can´t have been a bad strain then. I was just a bit limpy for a while.... That´s the thing with the most beautiful areas on the planet, you always need to watch your feet and yet it seems a shame because there is SO much to look at all around you.

We also spotted our first 2 wild frogs on our walk. One was nicknamed ´Blue Jeans´(that´s the one I mentioned yesterday with a red top, like a T shirt, and blue bottom legs) and one that´s white and green. The most poisonous frog in the world lives in Colombia I´ve been told, and the Indiginous population uses the venom to put in their arrows.

No sooner had I got back to my room, (and had had a most needed shower), that the heavens opened and we had an almighty downpour. In a way, I guess it also was a blessing that my photo workshop didn´t happen today because it´s always less fun walking in muddy trails + the light is dire for photography, needless to say.

At 1.30pm I then went back to see the receptionist and asked if she could book me on the Sky Line (as there is one only 10kms away). But when she called, she was told that it was already fully booked for today. I was gutted. I then asked if could be booked for Sunday a.m. (one last trip before my big trip home that same night) but she was told that (a) they wouldn't send a shuttle bus to pick up ONE person and (2) they also would not organise a zip line tour for just ONE person either (so, that was the "getting my own cab to get there anyway" idea out of the window). So I am on standby.... so, it shows, once more, that the world is not designed for single people !!! :(

"Botanical Gardens"

So, when Greg called me around lunch time to finalise details for tomorrow I asked him what he suggested I do instead and he said an American chap who has lived here 20 years had designed a botanical garden that was well worth a visit. So, ok, off I went for that (though again the cab fare ended up costing me more than the entrance fee) but it was a bit disappointing. I expected something massive, like KirstenBush in Cape Town or God knows what... but it was easy to walk around the grounds in just 30mns and he mainly specialised in ONE type of flower (so you just saw more of the same but in different colours or slightly different shape or texture). But it took 2 hours because the owner was so proud of his garden that he insisted on showing me all the most beautiful flowers in each tree. It was kind of sweet I guess, and it's so hard these days to find people who actually care about what they do, or have any passion in them, that I went along with it. But he kind of hoped I would take photos of every single bloom (almost) and I told him straight away I could not afford to develop so many. As it stands, I took about 10 photos more than I would have liked, simply because I felt under tremendous pressure not to hurt his feelings. But if I'd been left to my own devices and wandered around alone, I would have probably only taken 3 shots instead of 15. Oh well....

The last 30mns were the best as we just sat on the porch with an orange juice, by the bird feeder and watched them all come to eat some plantanos (they like those better than bananas). We saw Fluo again, and other birds that were all blue... and 2 toucans, but I didn't have time to change my zoom lens before they flew away again.

It was a pleasant enough afternoon but NOT as exciting or beautfiful as the morning trek. It felt like a holiday though.... I give you that, no hard work, no sweat, no stress... so it qualified as 'relaxing'.

Righto, I'd better sign off and let other people use the computer.... I've got my photo workshop tomorrow but I'm not sure there are many more flowers in the area that I haven't taken a photo of YET and I'm really trying to limit myself to 10 films no more (and I've taken 9 of 36 pix already) simply because the holiday has already cost me enough money as it is. Ah, to be rich and not counting one's pennies... :)

The countdown has definitely started... One and a half day left... and then it'll be a 24 hour journey, yet again, to reach my humble bedsit (all the rooms I've stayed in all over Costa Rica were designed to sleep 4 people, so, in effect, they were larger than my 'own' place!!!). Phew. I just pray I won't be too jet-lagged on arrival (it's always relatively easy settling into a new place, but for some reason, always seems twice as hard to adjust back to reality whenever I come back, I wonder why that, HUM).

Bisous to you all, Sylvie xxx

Selva Verde Lodge

Thursday 27 April. Another glorious day in Arenal... I could feel the sun filter through my (thin) curtains as of 6.30am, warming up my face. I soon got up and managed to do all my hand washing and it had all dried up by the time my driver came to pick me up at 9am ! :)

I had grown attached to the place, strangely enough. The staff had been so nice and treated me like family (Costa Rican are hugely welcoming, it has to be said... every time they do you a favour it´s like ´mucho gusto´ - it was a pleasure). I don´t know if it´s because they all took pity on me because I was the only guest all alone (same old....) but it was kind of sweet.

It took about 2h30 to Sarapiqui, my last stop. Again, beautiful countryside, more rivers, more horses in the fields, more amazing flowers by the road... new ones than I´d never seen before (but had no time to take photos for one reason or another). I remain astounded by the diversity of colours in this country. I know I say it most days but it is a fact you can never get away from -- nor would want to.

Selva Verde Lodge (Green Jungle Lodge) lived up to its name ! It does feel like a jungle here, and I have already spotted two huge iguanas by the riverside (took great close ups), but no toucans by the pool (first thing I checked !!!). I bumped into a guide I´d met in Savegre who gave me some pointers of where to go to get the best photos, he also said he´d try and find me if he spots some. Very nice of him. I told him that CR was a country full of incredibly kind and warm people and he said it was a great compliment since I had visited so many countries, but it´s true... I´ve never felt so safe in my life. They are always beaming and trying to keep you happy.

No sooner had I checked in that I asked about excursions for this afternoon. I wanted to canoe down the river but you needed a minimum of two people, and since I could not clone myself, it fell through. Again, though, it was a blessing in disguise as I could enjoy a pleasant boat cruise instead, in the shade throughout and was able to take decent photos and spread all my camera gear on the seats -- something that could not have worked in a canoe ! It was SO hot that I also can´t help but think that I would have had a sun stroke in a canoe as I didn´t take a hat with me (spending most of my time in the rain forests it seemed somewhat... ironic).

The river was a muddy brown and we didn´t spot as much as I´d have liked but I guess it´s because we set off at 1.30pm when (I´d assume) most birds would be having their siesta. But I guess if you leave it too late then you´ll be plagued by the mossies as of 4pm and since my legs already look pretty dire, it made sense to remain sensible. We did see 2 toucans, 5 iguanas, 1 big croc, egrets and snake birds drying their wings on dead branches as they do.... but nothing major. I cannot even say the scenery was stunning... not the best I´d seen so far anyway.

Tomorrow I was due to do my work shop with Greg but he´s been asked to speak a conference so we´ve put off our photo work shop by one day. I´ll go on a guided walk in the morning and am still not sure what to do in the afternoon.... I have noticed that they can organise tours to the nearest sky lines which sounds tempting !!! Many tourists all asked themselves the same question - this is such an amazing way of viewing the world, why can´t all countries build similar zip lines near their natural treasures? I mean, something similar over Banff in the Rockies would also look breath taking, surely... It can be done quite discreetly. In CR they minimised damage to the rain forests by dropping all the material with helicopters, this way they chopped down very few trees as there was no need for roads and trucks.

I have now spent 3 hours on line, trying to keep my journals up to date and I was not supposed to be on more than 15mns (there is only 1 PC for 60 guests) but thankfully no one has come to bother me yet... it´s now 7pm and dinner stops at 8pm so I guess I´m going to sign off.

I realise this is not my most exciting post but hey, you cannot win every day. I cannot believe that London is already beckoning me.... 48 hours away now, eeeek.... thank God the colours of Spring are starting to bloom over there too, otherwise it´d have been too big a shock to my system.

After my 1st week (when my moral hit rock bottom that rainy morning) I did wonder if two weeks would be too much (only because solitude can feel pretty heavy at times) but now I´m back in the swing and days are glorious, so long as I am visually stimulated, I am happy... enough. It still would be more fun having you guys with me ! (have I dropped enough hints by now???) I thank God for technology though because with the time difference, even phone calls would be difficult....

Hasta manana... (that´s ´see you tomorrow´ but I think most of you had gathered that, right?). And apologies if my posts look so plain but I am unable to edit my posts on my Blog from this lodge, I keep getting error messages. Bummer...

Wildest Day YET ! Arenal Sky Trek and Sky Tram

Wednesday a.m. I woke up to what sounded like the polar bear from the LOST series... harrowing sound... till I realised that I was just dreaming and it was actually a howler monkey, NOT a polar bear (NOT in Costa Rica anyway, hum). The howler monkeys are actually the noisiest animals in the world (for a ratio of body weight vs how far the sound will travel). They can sound around the corner and actually be over a mile away. Their throat is huge for their body size and they look seriously ugly... and their vocal cords produce the most horrible, hair rising sound. At 6am the volcano roared too and my brain was still puzzled (not used to the sounds of volcanoes just yet) so I didn´t get out of bed... some did and said it had puffed up a lot of smoke. Cool !

Anyway... after much debating in my head I decided not to go to the Rio Celeste. I am sure it was stunning but I didn´t fancy spending a small fortune ($150) nor hike for 4 hours up hill... been there done that often enough by now. Plus, since the weather can change any minute here I didn´t want to risk spending all this money and find I couldn´t even take pix in case it started to rain. Plus it now was my last day in the Arenal area and I really wanted to do the sky trek... well, no, I tell a lie, at this point I was not sure I´d have the guts to go ahead with it. I have a fear of heights and the thought of dangling 660 ft up in the air didn´t sound hugely appealing (this is the kind of thrill that you tell mother about AFTERWARDS, NEVER before). But strangely enough, everybody I met that day had already done it and they ALL raved about it SO much that I knew I´d never forgive myself if I didn´t try. Costa Rica has many such zip lines but I had only met one tourist who had done it before, in Mexico.

So, to start off with, I thought I´d walk to the butterfly centre, whilst the sun was glorious, and could enjoy some bird watching on the way. The centre was only 1.5kms away, so by my books, it should have taken me 40mns no more to get there (as I walk quite fast).

So I packed all my camera gear and blissfully set off into the sunshine... looking out for Fluo but he was a bit shy that day. After 45mns I was getting seriously hot and had stripped off as I went along... well, I was wearing a bikini on top and my shorts and there were so few cars that it didn´t look too revealing. I used my camera to hide my ´assets´ and would grab my T shirt every time a car passed by just to play it safe. Costa Rica is supposedly remarkably safe for women but you never know... after an hour, I started to have doubts about my sense of direction though... but then, there was only ONE way to go, only ONE main road, so surely I had to keep going... but it was getting hotter and hotter and I just had to plunge into the river to cool down because I could not take any more heat (my shorts dried up in 30mns flat). The little swim did me good but still did not cool down my brain...

At every turn I was still convinced I´d see the sign for the butterfly garden... but no... I ended up walking 1h20 and found myself outside the Sky Line ! i.e. I have walked 3 kms more than I had intended (my great plan, HAD things gone according to plan, was to get a cab from the butterfly centre to the Sky Line). I am still baffled how I could possibly missed my one turning... but I guess it´s because I was walking to the left handside and the signs were on the right (but none were facing me). I felt SO stupid... but I said before, getting lost in Costa Rica is SO easily done. I actually burst out laughing when I read an email from my sister today who said that the Prime Minister of Costa Rica actually got lost recently too and spent 48 hours in the jungle going round in the circles !!! There you go... serves him right, he´s going to have to invest more money in much needed sign posting !!! AH. Oh, sweet irony...

So, I switched my plans around and decided that, since I was there, I would start with the Sky Line experience. The chap at the gate managed to convince me that I just HAD to do it... but then added ´it is a further 1km up hill... you may want to wait for the next shuttle bus, it should arrive in 5mns´.... well, Costa Rican time being pretty much the same as Indian time ... 5 minutes turned into 25mns and still no sign of any shuttle bus so I told him I´d *have* to walk it, I could not sit around all day. It was nice practising my Spanish but I had a busy day ahead...

So, off I set off, and walked UP hill for what felt like an eternity, in blazing sun... but the views on the way, overlooking the Arenal lake in the background with the lush canopy jungle on the foreground were breath taking (not that I had much breath left to start with by then though !).

I eventually reached the top, exactly 2h30 later when my intention had been to only walk 45mns max... again, I asked at reception if it´d be scary, again, everybody raved about it and said: quite the opposite, it was addictive.

So, I signed up for the whole package, the aerial tram and the sky trek. The tram was the easy bit... just sit back and let yourself go slowly up above the jungle canopy.... the views were very impressive and we were all amazed by how very rich this habitat was. We didn´t see much in terms of birds or wildlife but the ground was so thick, every inch seemed to have 5 to 10 levels.

Check this link for a video of the panorama

http://www.arenaladventures.com/sky.htm

We then got to a big platform and started practising our ´position´ for flying like a bird. You need to actually sit back (almost on your back) and cross your knees so that you don´t swing around too much. If you do, you could get stuck in the middle of the line as it will slow down your speed and then someone may need to go and get you... and no one particularly likes dangling 660 ft in the air, with nothing but a harness or two to hold you. It did seem very safe I have to say and they buckle you up twice, once around the waist and another time around your poulie. Each cable of steel can take up to 5,000 kgs in weight (so I had a safe margin there !), etc. So, we had our first practice run over a 20m cable, at a 3m height. Seemed easy enough. Next cable, 25m, also just 3m hight, where we needed to practise breaking. This is because sometimes people can go down the zip line a bit tooo fast and it helps if they use their body to break (swinging left to right) before landing... it kind of minimises the jerking motion on arrival.

I wasn´t good at breaking I have to say, never got the knack of it. So, it´s a good job I never had to do it ´for real´afterwards. The first two zip lines were tame... the next one was YEEEEK... 720 meters long and probably as high again!!!! I took a deep breath, felt a big push, and off I was.... it´s quite fast (55 mph) and I was trying to take it all in and keep my eyes wide open as the views were just incredible... a true bird´s eye view and I realised I may never experience that again. It was very freeing... and actually enjoyable!!! After we had all reached the 3rd platform we were already´into it´ already! All in all, we had a total of 9 more zip lines to zip down, ranging from 60 ft to 660 ft above ground and we covered 2.5kms in the air. The Arenal Sky Trek was only built 2 years ago so I´m glad I didn´t get to Costa Rica a bit earlier as I´d have hated to miss out. I think there is also one in Monteverde that might be 8 years old though.

I must say this was a HUGE thrill, the kind of day I will remember for as long as I live. I do rate this amazing and unusual experience as one of the top 3 most thrilling travel experiences of my entire life (No 1 would have to be cuddling cheetahs in South Africa and 2. snorkelling off Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef as the diversity of fish and corals was visually mind blowing).

It was over all too soon and we were all ready to do it all again... but I really wanted head off to the butterfly centre too and take photos of the giant blue morfo because I felt my photo album would not be complete otherwise.

Butterfly Centre

This time, I got a cab, because time was of the essence (the sun would go down at 4pm) and I wanted to make sure I got there whilst it was still quite sunny as butterflies tend to spread their wings more when it is.

The centre was smaller than I expected (no way to have lunch there, so in a way, it was a blessing in disguise that I *had* got lost as I needed to do things the other way in hindsight) but they have a few large tents with several butterflies and a small frog pond. The orange and yellow butterflies seemed more common but I eventually found myself in a tent full of blue morfos... maybe 150 of them in 15m2 and it was incredible. If they all eat fruits, they are so focused on their food that you can touch them and they don´t even fly away. The only way to make them fly away was to shake their feeding pot... and then you´d be surrounded by 25 x 2 pair of wings and it was visually striking. Such a beautiful blue, a cloud of magic. I could never get tired of watching them fly... I was in awe. But trying to take a picture of one with its wings open was a big patience game. I had to wait ONE HOUR before I managed to capture one... and then he paused for my camera for about 10mns, on some pink impatiences, which was picture perfect. I was delighted !

They only live 3 weeks each but take 3 months to become butterflies (2 months as crystalline and 2 weeks as caterpillar and 2 weeks as something else). What a process ! But what a result... I was so gutted for them that I ´incidentally´ freed one... just because I´m an idealist and I wanted one to be totally free before dying. Don´t tell anyone !!!

I also took more flower shots because everywhere I turned there seemed to be a picture opportunity. The garden had many angel´s trumpets (same shape as trumpets but white body and pink edges), Costa Rica really is the Garden of Eden.

I also took a peep at the frog area but it was being built so they only had a tiny one (as high and wide as my smallest finger nail). Half red and half blue (literaly: the top half is red, the bottom half is blue). It´s the most poisonous one they have in CR. If a dog eats it, he will certainly die. If a human touches it, gangraine will develop so fast that you might need amputation if you had not been seen at the hospital within 2 hours. Scary. One staff member opened the glass window so I could take a picture without my flash getting in the way, but I was glad when he shut it.

After 2 hours there (it was plenty to cover all ground) I went back to my hotel and enjoyed more fruit milk shakes and watched more birds fly away as I wrote a few more post cards.

Another memorable day... Another one that felt like a holiday (well, after the longer than planned morning walk, that is).

Tabacon Hot Springs bliss....

Hola chicos and Chicas,

Well, carrying on from where I left off.... the morning after I last emailed (i.e. Tues a.m.) I woke up to the sound of pouring rain... So much for my good plans of heading for the Hot Springs and then doing the sky line... The drizzle and low clouds persisted till 10am, and by 9am I´d run out of post cards to write (the good old post card writing method still works as a time killer and a pen never experiences power failure... though mine did run out of ink a bit !). I must say that when it looked as if the rain would never clear I did hit an all time low in my moral. I thought to myself: this is is just crazy. I never do NOTHING. I never read books and don´t even watch TV in the UK so I was not going to start this in Costa Rica... though it may have helped with my Spanish further. If I cannot take photos, I get depressed because one seriously runs out of options fast.

I got chatting to the staff... all very nice. Everybody thinks my Spanish is great but I cannot work out if they are just being kind or what? Because it certainly doesn´t feel great to me and they obviously haven´t quite worked out that I cannot express myself in the past tense, which is limiting somewhat! But I still understand an awful lot which always cheers me up no end.

ANYWAY... at 10am the first ray of sunshine broke through, the mist lifted, the view of the volcano appeared again (before that you could not even tell where it was) and the birds started singing and flying around again... and so my soul soared with them. There are SO many birds in the area... it was amazing.

So I went for a quick walk down the road, before lunch... and I did see my friend Fluo (he´s actually called a Tavenger I think but Fluo suits him best because his colour is such a dazzling orange). I saw an awful lot of birds in one hour... without even looking for them. They were all around me... many social flycatchers too (mainly yellow). That is the great thing about the Neo Tropics, because the birds are so brightly coloured, they easily stand out on branches... and I wish I could have recorded their beautiful songs too. I even walked around the lake area but it was a bit muddy and my shoes would often sink quite deep so I didn´t hang around too much. But it was quite scenic walk, with the majestic presence of the volcano in the background and some horses running free in the foreground...

THERE I started to appreciate the location... because as much as the hotel was in the middle of nowhere I have to admit that the view from it was seriously fabulous -- on a sunny day. I took some great shots of the Arenal volcano with some beautiful flowers in the foreground (the hotel´s grounds)... In fact, I have never taken SO many flower shots in my entire life as I have in Costa Rica. You would not believe the variety of colours and shapes... it just bewilders me. I am trying to be selective but they are so unusual... and the ones I had seen before seem extra vivid. It really is a land of colours... and I have decided I will get all my pix put on CD so that I can share more pix on line (via a link again, not to worry, so I will not blow up your Inbox), because I really want to do this small country justice.

I then had my lunch at the hotel (exactly the same menu every day, every lunch and every evening... and rice and black beans are THE speciality here... so everything goes with black beans - soup, puree, you name it... Honeymooners beware !!!) and at 1pm I called for a taxi to get me to the Hot Springs as I had seen photos of their gorgeous gardens (botanical style almost) and I really wanted to go there on a sunny day to make the most of it.

It cost me $30 for the cab fare (return, then I damned the location again) and $35 to get in... but when you stepped in, mama mia... it was like stepping into the Garden of Eden. I had NEVER been in a hot spring in my life believe it or not.... because, well, Iceland would NOT be my kind of place since they only have one tree, and there aren´t that many other pretty places that have them. But this particular hotel was built around the Tabacon river so that all the water that flowed through the various pools (made more striking with various strategically placed waterfalls) were totally natural volcanic hot water. And hot it was... they said that the pools all had different temperature but I never found a natural one that I could actually swim in. No one was swimming more than 1 mn, after that, you felt exhausted. It was a hot day for a start, so going into hot water did seem a bit mad in some ways.... but it was just an amazing experience because every time I had been in water that warm it was in my bath tub and I could not even stretch my arms in it, let alone swim. To watch the water steam and think this was all natural seemed just surreal for me.

Everybody seemed to really enjoy it. It felt like a real deluxe treatment... they had great changing rooms, hair dryers, etc. And at night, because of its fab location, we even managed to see the Arenal throw a bit of lava in the air which really looked bright orange -- a natural fireworks. It sometimes would roar and puff up a lot of smoke during the day too... This particular volcano has been active for a few decades, and every single day, without fail, it spits out some lava. When I went back to my hotel at night you can see buses load of tourists standing by the side of the road waiting for some ´action´.

Everywhere around the Tobacon Hot Springs they had the ´Emergency Exit´ sign posted in case there was an eruption. It did seem a bit daunting at times... the last big one killed 80 people but we were told that particular hot spring was not in the direct path of the lava.... but still, one could not help but think of Pompeii !

I must say it was probably the most relaxing day of the holiday so far and, for once, it did feel like a holiday. I just pampered myself, and would sit on top of the waterfalls so that my feet would be cooking gently (relaxing after my blisters) but my body wouldn´t overheat. Perfecto. And volcanic water feels so soft... It was just lovely having no smell or chlorine... and the setting, all this amazing vegetation... big flowers everywhere... real palm trees... when the ones you could hope for in London would be all made of plastic by a pool. It really was a WOW location, the best in the area, by a LONG shot. Maybe even the best in Costa Rica.

Oh, and the way back, I had another special treat, we spotted an armadillo on the road... I was SO excited because just an hour earlier I´d bought a few field guides at the souvenir shops and was just thinking ´I guess I will never see one of those because they are nocturnal and I won´t be venturing into the jungle on my own at night !´... and so, wow, to see one, so unexpectedly was fabulous. No time for photos, but I will treasure the memory. They look SO weird and almost plastic like, with a shell like tortoise but in a dinosaur kind of way. If you can look up photos on the internet they really do not look real, to see them move was like ´wow, these things actually breathe´... they were SO toy like. Now I´d like to see an ant eaters, they have two kinds here and they both look so adorable... but they are noctural too, so, fat chance.

So, I went home happy and had a good night´s sleep.... I´d taken lots of great photos and had two special treats... but it still would have been nicer with some friends around. Everybody seemed to be with ´somebody´ or chatting at the pool bar, etc. Oh well, in another life... or hopefully back in this life once my photos are developed.... !!! (this should tempt some of you -- in my dreams anyway).

Till then, here is a little snapshot of what I found on the internet:

http://www.tabacon.com/piscinas_i.html

Arenal

Another day in Costa Rica and yet again, not all is smooth but I guess it's still better than being stuck in London doing mondane things...

Carlos came to pick me up at 8:00am and after a quick breakfast we drove to the next stop over, the Arenal area. The temperature started rising very quickly and the humidity level also grew higher with every mile - it seemed. The scenery was lovely, as ever. More bridges, more rivers... we even passed one that had the softest blue waters because it came from volcanic rock...

I wanted to take pictures off all the bridges but I soon realised I would have ended up with 100+ shots of river flowing gently and my photo album would have looked seriously boring after a while. We also saw some amazing birds flying across the road... the most unusual I've seen today had black wings but an almost fluo orange body. You could spot it a mile off. Truly dazzling colours but too fast for a picture.

We stopped on the way to La Fortuna village which is very small but has got all the facilities you'd need. So, I bought more post cards (it took me over a week to actually *find* post cards, most are just prints that they sell with nothing at the back), coffee for work, etc. I wanted to find an alarm clock (I'd brought TWO with me and they BOTH broke down yesterday !) but Carlos assured me that the hotel could provide alarm-call, hope so. Plus shampoo (the hotels just do not supply shampoos - ever, it seems) and shower-gel (another rarity in most countries, strangely enough.. but, call me fussy, I cannot wash with soap, it tends to dry up my skin in no time at all).

We then drove 35mns out of town and got a bit closer to the Arenal volcano (the most active volcano in Costa Rica). Carlos stopped the car/bus and showed me how to look out for the steamy rocks, white rocks, that fall off its slope as the volcano throws them in the air... he said they'd look ember red at night and that I could probably spot them from my hotel room.

He was a really nice bloke, almost acted like my mother on many occasions ! He immediately spotted all my nasty fly bites and even found me some aloe vera to rub on - he knew which plant to go for to ease the itching, etc.

He drove me to my hotel and we both realised it was in the middle of no where. Worse still, it had no internet (ahhhh, I could not be 6 DAYS in a row without internet !!!) and the hotel also didn't really have any excursions that left from my hotel. In fact, all departure points were from La Fortuna which meant an extra $50 in cab (return) for me to get there and back... and they all started at 7am, so it meant waking up at 5:30am.... ahhhh.

I told Carlos I feared I was going to be bored stiff here. All on my own again... with no one to hike with me (which would be useful just in case I got injured in some ways... it doesn't have to mean something as drastic as a snake bite, it could just be twisting an ankle or something). Greg said there is an aerial tram nearby that he highly recommended but I'm not sure where... I haven't seen it advertised anywhere yet. They have the zip line though and also a butterfly garden which I may try and go to (only 2kms away so cheap cab ride) as I'd love to take pictures of the morfo (wide blue wings). There also are the famous Tabacon Hot Springs 20mns away which are supposed to be oustandingly beautiful. With several springs of different temperatures, manicured gardens, etc. It looks ever so picture-perfect, from the post cards that I've seen of it, but it's yet another $35 to get in, and $30 to get there and back by cab... :( That's the biggest EEEK of this location. It has a great view of the volcanoe, etc. but if I want to do anything else, it costs me double just to get there and back + an extra hour of my time, which, considering it gets dark at 5:30pm, is a lot !

So, after Carlos had a little nap in my room (the poor chap had woken up at 3:30am today to take some other people to the airport before coming to pick me up) and after we had lunch, I asked if he could drive me back to La Fortuna (since he had to go back that same way) so that I could at least do something like looking up tour operators and emailing Foto Verde Tours to ask if they could spare me a driver for a day...

They've emailed me back to say they couldn't as they were both already busy on other 'missions' but they're trying to arrange something with a local operator. There are 2 things that would take my fancy, from what I've seen in brochures, it's a walk by the Rio Celestre and a walk on the hanging bridges. The Rio Celestre is of this amazing blue and 'legend has it that after God created the earth, He dipped His paint brush in this river, which is why it became so beautiful'.... Ok, I don't believe in legends, don't worry... but I have seen pictures of this river and it does look rather dazzling and unique. And hyper photogenic. There is even a waterfall that's turquoise blue and which must be a jaw-dropping sight. The hanging bridges are a 3kms trail, over 15 separate bridges, hanging from 60m to 150m above the ground to try and see all the animals and birds that live on the canopy. I figured it might be neat for photos....

But Paulo (Greg's partner in this venture) has warned me that it'd be a 3.5H *each* way to get there as it's quite far from Arenal and they both can't be done on the same day. I wouldn't mind, personally, because all the scenery in CR is so beautiful that I'd rather be on the move, with my eyes wide open, than just wandering around the lodge... and if I have a personal driver, at least I can stop whenever I like for photos... but I didn't want to spend more than $200 on an additional day trip (having already spent quite a LOT on this holiday as it is), so none of the above will probably work out... sigh, sigh...

Still, I shall go and shop around for further info, just in case... after that I'll need to get a cab back to my hotel (probably $30 !) and won't have email access again for 2 days...

It's quite stormy outside so a write-off as far as photos go, hence a good opportunity to chat to you all and update my journal before I get toooo behind...

I miss you all and wish we could chat face to face ! :) Bisous, Sylvie xxx

Hello again,

Fever saga

Well, last time I'd emailed I said I'd gone to bed at 6:30pm... and by the time I got back to my room my fever had reached 40C (which is over 100F)... I took the said 2 pills prescribed by the nice chemist, but to no avail. The next day at 6am I anxiously took my temperature again, and though I felt better (the shivers had gone), it still showed 38.1C, which at 6am, was a LOT. It meant I was going to rocket to 100F again by late afternoon.

So, Greg & I talked on the phone and he suggested we swing by his hometown and visit his local chemist who is very good. And if he felt he couldn't help, then take me to a private clinic (which would cost a lot more!). So, when Carlos came to pick me up, Greg gave him directions over the phone and we met up with him 90mns later.

The chemist said straight away that if I had a fever then my best bet would be a jab, that I could take tablets but it would take several days to work. I asked if the jab would hurt, he said no... It was true when the liquid went in but afterwards it stung like hell and I felt seriously queasy... he then gave me something to sniff to make me feel a bit better.

He also suggested I keep on taking the 2 pills a night that had been prescribed as they could only help speed up recovery. Plus he prescribed another cream with anti-asthamine. All that for a grand total of $8... I was relieved as my travel insurance doesn't cover the first $100.

So, off I went, with a sore bum, but it did the trick (I hadn't had a shot in my bum since I was a kid !!). Within a few hours I was very much on the mend... and I then could enjoy a beautiful drive to Bosque de Paz (the Forest of Peace). There were lots of bromeliads on the trees and just lovely valleys with horses and countless bridges with rivers of pure water (the national motto here is 'Pura Vida' - Pure Life). They say it all the time... it works for any kind of greetings. Doesn't really have an equivalent in other countries or languages. There were SO many different trees along the road too, it was bewildering... and there was lovely light too. It rains on & off a lot here and after each rain you have the brightest lights...

No sooner had we arrived at Bosque de Paz that a gorgeous caoti came to greet us... This made my day as I love them to bits, they look so cuddly. They had a lot of feeders around the lodge which attracted some mammals and many birds. I mainly saw agoutis and caotis, and a striped agouti that only came out at night. I was told that once a jaguar even came near the feeder to snap up an agouti that had just been pigging out for a while - all fattened up ! hum.

It rained that afternoon, so I couldn't walk very far. In fact, I couldn't walk very far whether it was rain or shine because the trails were SO badly sign posted, they'd change the names of the trails half way through, they'd show you 2 'exit' signs in opposite directions, etc. etc. More often than not you came to a left and right turn and had NO idea which was to go... I mean, just utterly useless. It was infuriating because it meant I was unable to go very far at all and could only walk the same paths, where I knew I could find my way back... as the last thing I would have wanted would be to be stuck in the middle of no where, in the dark... with jaguars roaming around !!! With so many trails to choose from, no one would have even known where to start looking for me... hum.

The location of the lodge was stunning, by a pretty little stream, and right on the edge of one of the most biologically diverse national parks of CR, at the optimum altitude (so that the animals who live in the high land sometimes come down to that level, and the ones who live in the low land sometimes come up as high as this too). So, in effect, it gave you maximum opportunity for diversity.... but I didn't see an awful lot. Not even ONE monkey. But there is so much that one could not see... they claimed that pretty much every tree at this altitude would host about 1,000 different species of insects or flowers... 90% of which would be on the canopy top.

But it was incredibly peaceful and the lodge's motto was 'Where there is Peace, there is God' and you could really sense that. It was beautiful but I could tell I was going to be bored very quickly, with no internet and no one to talk to...

Thankfully, later that day an American couple arrived at the lodge and since there was just me and no one else but them, they suggested we have dinner together, which was kind of them and meant I could have some conversations at least, since I'd come over to CR without even ONE book to read... I was banking on having internet connections every night and as I usually prefer writing to my friends...

Photo Workshop 1

So, as usual, I would go to bed at 8:30pm and sleep till 7am. The next day was my workshop with Greg. He really had an eye for spotting unusual things (like a red tyre behind the black bird which made it look like an aura!), and knew how to move his camera to get some 'mood' effects (1st shot, left to right and right to left over a 2 second shutter speed). Whether I can duplicate his style and achieve as good results again, God knows !

He taught me that I could even use my polariser on a cloudy day to minimise the glare from the leaves, he showed me how exposure compensation works and how to make water blurry, and would show me with his digital camera what the different settings meant in real terms. Being visual, I needed to SEE the results. I'm still not 100% au fait with it all and I'll be glad to have a recap in a week's time! But he was very pleasant and very professional and it was nice to be with someone who could appreciate beauty in nature the way I could.

We walked about 4 hours trying to find a secluded waterfall, but kept getting lost. Greg told me that this was not just a case of bad sign posting at Bosque de Paz but in all over Costa Rica. That, a few years back he'd once asked for directions to a farm and he was told 'you turn right where the old bus stop used to be and left where Juan lived 30 years ago'... as he told me, 'if you knew where Juan lived 30 years ago, you wouldn't be asking for directions' !!! But he said Costa Rican seem to take pride in the fact that *they* never get lost and assume everybody can cope too... so, you will find no street names, no house numbers, etc. etc. And there's me who can't even read a map, so, one with no names... forget it !!!

And there were no kamikase flies over there, which was such a relief. Though the sand flies still got me and my legs currently look terribly sore with every bite being surrounded by a red circle about an inch wide. Yuk.

The lodge was owned by a millionaire who set it up to raise awareness of the importance of rainforests and to organise conferences for scientists, etc. The next World Conference on Orchids for instance will be held there, as there are 1,500 species in CR and 33% were represented in a garden he'd carefully planted. 90% of them were minuscule orchids, the bigger ones that we usually see in shops are hybrids... but the 'real' ones, you needed a macro lens to try and picture them (and Greg lent me his and I couldn't even focus with that, phew, hard work).

But I was reading in the lodge literature that every second of every day in the neo-tropics an area of rainforest the size of a football pitch is cleared out, which is seriously worrying. Greg, who is a political scientist too told me that this was probably exaggerated, esp in CR where pretty much all the national parks are now protected so they could never be chopped down. Still, at the lodge where I stayed they re-invest every dollar you give them to buy more acres so that the animals can live in peace forever more as the main reason animals become extinct is because their habitat is slaughtered as much as they are. They also said that the tremendous fires caused by such clearing of rain forests had caused 50% of the gas emission that have made global warming worse. Seriously, seriously SAD stuff...

But it was a very peaceful place though, as the name suggested (!) and only botanists or people with a special permit can visit. And they had the best fruit juice I've ever had in my life ! They said it was blackberry but it looked a lovely pink and tasted more like a mix of grenadine & raspberry. I was addicted to it ! Yummy.... I also had a papaya milkshake to die for... For me, fruits will always be infinitely much tastier than chocolate ! :)))

Waterfall located !

The next day I went on a guided tour to the waterfall, with the American couple and it took us 2h30 up hill to reach it but it was pretty glorious. 30-40 meters high, and surrounded by such lush vegetation... it looked like a movie set. I just hope I took some decent enough pix. It was only 1h to walk back down...

After lunch we all had a nap (as it'd been such hard work going uphill) and then we went to the laboratory so that our guide could show us the smallest orchid in the world under a microscope. The design was incredibly rich considering you could barely see it with naked eyes. They tend to discover 2-4 new orchids every year at Bosque de Paz alone... it's like a treasure hunt. They all seemed tremendously dedicated to recording every single one they'd found so far. Meticulous work. Personally, it'd have bored me silly after a while... I love all flowers, not just the ONE specie, but it showed we're all different ! :)

Another quiet evening, another early night... I really felt it was time to move on. In fact, in every place where I've been so far, I've kind of stayed one day too many in each. Because 2 days is enough for me to take all the photos I'm likely to want to take... it'd have been fun with just ONE friend to talk to, or walk the trails with... but completely alone most of the time was a bit too daunting and too lonely, somehow. I didn't realise I wouldn't have my driver with me the whole time... which made such a difference in my previous trips. There they just take me from A to B, drop me off and tend to go... which doesn't seem to work for me :(

Wasp sting create chaos!

Well, this morning I had to make do without my guide so I wasn't as effective on my own, I have to admit... I did go back to the nests he'd showed me but only saw a very brief sighting... I'd hooked up with a couple of photographers from Denver who had this massive camera lens and gear that weighted a ton and I'm glad I wasn't that well equipped as we had to cross a tiny bridge (just about the width of two feet next to each other) with a low wire to stop you falling over into the river... yeah, right. That would only work if you were 5 years old...

The guy was also a pharmacist (his day job) and it was quite handy as yesterday I got stung by a wasp and the pain actually grew worse overnight. It was throbbing a bit and when I woke up I had a rash about 3 inches long and I found it more difficult to lift things with my right arm as my forearm was so sore (felt like deep bruising). As the hours went by the swollen 'stain' seemed to get longer and longer and wider and wider. I've since had quite high fever, 39 C, eeek.. and a few side effects (I'll spare you the details!) and I'm sure it's down to this darn wasp sting. I've even lost my appetite too (well, my throat and gums are also sore = not so easy to chew).

The chap in question therefore gave me 2 anti-asthamine tablets, 1 for daytime (but he did say it wouldn't be very effective as the stronger ones make one drowsy) and 2 for night time and he applied some cream too, but that was 6 hours ago and the day pill hasn't worked at all. I've also got another pill vs wasp allergy from the hotel, 3 hours ago, which also did nothing. They've just given me a gel to apply on the swollen area too.

This afternoon it really rained heavily... my guide did come and pick me up, in his car, and we drove up into the cloud forest hoping it would stop eventually, but it didn't... we watched the rain fall down, listening to old French songs on the radio... but I could tell I was getting a lot worse (shivers, etc) so maybe it was a blessing God prevented me from trekking as strenous efforts is the last thing I needed, hum.

I was speaking to some members of another group today, bird watchers, they saw 350 different birds in 11 days and said that one of the lodges where I will be staying later has got heaps of toucans that come and sunbathe by the pool ! She said they are obviously used to humans so you can take some great close-ups.... wow. Can't wait. As you may know, toucans are in my top 3 birds... because, a bit like the quetzals, they look like big soft toys.

The couple I went 'photo hunting' with this morning also had a jeep which was most welcome as, feeling under the weather, I didn't have as much energy to carry my camera gear as much. I took one decent shot, but still no head shot. I'd have to be incredibly lucky for *that*.

The funny thing is that, having waited by the nest 1km away from the lodge for about 1 hour for a 20 second reward, I headed back to my cabin and one male quetzal flew right in front of my eyes. Then I looked up and a female was looking down at me... they kept talking to one another and flying from branch to branch (courtship ritual I think) and so I got to see them closer than ever. So that's another 2 sightings for this morning. But still no sign of the toucanet (which is actually emerald, not orange as I said earlier)...

I tried to make some log fire to keep warm, but still no luck with making it last beyond 5mns... I ended up having a candle-lit hot bath instead ! I've also asked for a small heater now as I cannot face getting out of bed in the morning if it's only 15C in my room - you know how one feels the cold a lot more with a fever.

The weather was still only good for about 3 hours today and even then, I was quite chilly this morning in the shade (or maybe I felt the cold more because I was a bit feverish). The rainy season is not supposed to start before May... but with global warming, we all know that seaons are not as defined anymore... :(

So, not a good day at all ! I'm sorry this is such a boring post. I didn't want to mention the wasp sting yesterday because I didn't think it was a big deal but it's turning into a major deal, bummer.

At least I have tomorrow afternoon off to sleep some more before I do my photo workshop... I just have to hope that the night pills do the trick.

Lots of Love and I'm not sure if I'll have internet access at the next place, so if you don't hear from me for the next 3 days, it doesn't mean I've succombed to a strange virus ! (she says, hopeful !!!).

I'm even going to skip dinner... how about that ? :) But don't mothers always say that you should feed a cold and starve a fever ???

Bisous, Sylvie xxx

Successful Treasure Hunt !!!!

I won't keep you in supsense, I'll start with a bang: 8 sightings of quetzals today, WOW, WOW, WOW... boy, I'm such a happy bunny !!! I can't even tell you... I almost cried with relief. To have been 'so near and yet so far' would have been unbearable...

But let's start at the beginning... going back to last night actually when I thought I'd treat myself to a hot bath followed by a log fire... well, do you think I could actually MAKE a log fire ? There's got to be a trick to starting one up because mine only lasted 5mns (and that was courtesy of the fuel paste they give you to make things supposedly easier!). Once the fuel had burnt off, my logs gave up too. I never even got them to the 'amber' stage... I guess a bloke could have probably figured out what to do (fanning?)... but I was clueless, so after 3 go's, I gave up - I'd run out of fuel paste too. Slightly frustrated. But not as frustrated as if I'd been planning a romantic evening !!!! AH.

So, I ended up going to bed at 8:30pm, it was pitch dark by then and there was absolutely nothing else for me to do. Best to wake up earlier when the sun is out me thought.

So, I woke up at 6am and had breakfast at 7:00am sitting outside on the porch that is the nearest to the humming bird areas. They are very territorial birds so I tend to have my breakfast with the same 'bird' every morning - i.e. its branch is the nearest to my table. It almost feels like I'm having a pet by now as we have a lot of eye contact. Animals always make me feel a less lonely, every time I can look into their eyes, I can always find peace somehow... oh, and they had lots of fresh melon at the buffet today (double treat!), so I managed to eat 1/3 of what was on offer... selfishly.

My guide then came to pick me up at 8:30am and I was relieved to know it was a 1:1 tour. The paths one has to walk around the cloud forests are so narrow, and so slippery, it's easier when there are fewer people.

My guide was a blessing and ended up being worth every penny. These guys really know their stuff and within 5 minutes he had managed to find me a quetzal nest... he pointed to one dead trunk and said 'look, look, we've timed it perfectly, the male is just popping its head out of the nest NOW, it'll make a great shot'... and I was like 'where ? where ? where?'... I just could NOT see it. I mean, there are SO many trees !!! So he had the good sense to grab my camera and quickly took the shots I couldn't see. He then quickly set up his massive telescope and had it so that I had an amazing headshots of a male quetzal and I was like : WOW !!! as soon as I put my eyes to the lens. I never expected to see them sooo clearly. I cannot even describe how exquisite these precious little birds are... they are utterly perfect to look at. Totally flawless from a visual standpoint. Their head are perfectly round when they get curious (their tiny feathers on the top raise up and it makes them look extra fluffy and cuddly) and their eyes are also perfectly round so they really look like soft toys more than real birds(humming birds, for instance have got almond shape eyes). Their chest is a vivid red, their little beak a bright yellow and their wings are 'trimmed' differently from the standard wings of a standard bird, if you look at the pictures I sent you over (via links published in my itinerary) they almost look dented. And their tail, the icing on the cake... soo majestic and vivid green, and curling at the end. I was just speechless. I was mesmerised... unable to take my eyes off it for one second. It was just the most beautiful little thing I had ever seen this side of the world (as far as birds go). No wonder Costa Rica have named the quetzal national bird.

I was so grateful for a 1:1 tour as I could just keep my eye on the telescope for much longer than I would have done with a group of 15 where I could have only enjoyed 1/15th of close-up time...

After my first sighting, I had stars in my eyes for the next 30mns, as if I'd fallen in love ! :) I kept seeing in my head its cute little face and perfectly formed head ... again, like being in love when you play the moments back again and again and again... right? (at least we girls do, I don't know if men are as romantic !!!).

My zoom lens was good but I won't have a head shot with it, my guide had a x40 lens, which was so superior to mine. I would have missed half the thrill without his powerful lens I have to say. It's the perfection of the details that make you go WOW. They have pictures of this bird everywhere, as I said earlier, but because it looks 'too cute to be true', to actually see one was like...wow, they really ARE such amazing birds. It almost takes a while for your brain to process this fact. And for your eyes to actually realise that this is reality and not yet another picture.

If nothing gets better after that, just that moment will have made the whole trip worthwhile. And I'm just endlessly grateful I've got my sight to enjoy such treasures...

My guide then said we could go to another nest downstream and try and get a bit closer. But only a little bit closer because if you get too close, the quetzals will abandon their nests and their offspring will die... needless to say, I would have never wanted that.

We got to the 2nd nest (which was fenced off to make sure people kept their distances) and he installed my tripod accordingly (and could work it much better than I could as I'd only used it once before).... and then he said 'right, it's 9:45am, I reckon the male will take over from the female at about 10am, it's uusally their routine, they take it in turn to incubate the eggs. This month is a good month to watch quetzals as it's the nesting season, so you can pretty much guess what their next move will be'... Another thing that I'd have NEVER known myself, as a tourist, needless to say. And this guy was even able to talk to them ! It was incredible... he'd just whistle in a certain way and the females would answer and come closer because they were confused thinking another male was around... Triple WOW. This guy really was a genius ! There's nothing he couldn't do... He could spot a fly a mile off... his eye sight was incredibly sharp.

So, we waited... and sure enough, almost on the dot, at 10am the male suddenly starting flying around the trunk that had the nest in. He just stopped on a branch nearby first and just stared at us and gave me ample opportunities to take great shots showing his long long tail. He was still about 10m away so I was glad to have my tripod as I had to seriously open up my aperture to 20, which would have meant blurred shots hand-held. I also tried out my flash gun which I hope helped further. I also had 400 ASA films, which should also help... either that or I've over exposed the whole lot !!! But as the majestic quetzal was kind enough to pose for me for 10mns I was able to take about 10 good shots and try several settings in the lower range. I won't know the results for 2 weeks though. Suspense...

After the male had gone in, my guide showed me that because their tail is so long, it doesn't fit in the hole so you sometimes can take the cutest shots of their little head popping out of the nest hole with their tail over their heads!

We then watched the female go in (not quite as cute and without the long tail) but similar colours.

After that, he suggested we go higher up into the cloud forest to try and spot some tucanet (orange tucans, only seen in this area) and hopefully more quetzals. Well, we never saw the tucanets, but we did see another 3 quetzals. 1 male for 2 females. They have to compete for his attention during the mating rituals and we watched the courtship with much flying around. But again, if it wasn't for my guide I'd have missed it all. He would be telling me 'look here, another one'... and I'd be like 'WHERE ??' and sometimes I just could not see them at all till he set up his telescope right on their faces. Because they are mainly green and the dense folliage of the cloud forest is a similar green, it was like ... forget it unless they actually fly. The red spot on their chest was a big help but only if the sun was shining on them... if the sun was behind them the colours didn't show so well.

So, all in all, we had a very successful trek. I was exhausted but I learnt a lot and was grateful for all his tips on how to use my tripod too !

I was then able to venture off on my own in the afternoon, in search of more birds... but without his keen eyes (boy was he good!!!) and his fab telescope, it was half the fun. In fact, I turned round half way through a trail because I could see it was going further & further up and I worried that I'd suffer from exhaustion again... and also, if I had fallen into a ditch, it could be days till anyone found me ! The lodge was useless at giving directions, they provided no maps and though some of the trails were sign-posted, more often than not you'd come to a cross road and had no idea whether to turn right or left to follow your particular trail. Some were 2kms long, some were 8kms long and they kept crossing each other's paths and I just didn't fancy walking 8kms instead of 2kms, esp. when it gets so dark so quickly under the canopy...

I took some nice shots that showed all the moss on the trees, and tried to take them by little streams to give some sort of focus (because composing an interesting shot when it's 'messy' all around is quite an art!). But again, because the light was so low, I had to drop down to 20... I thought I'd practise using my tripod in every possible angle whilst I was just doing scenery as opposed to wildlife. Less stressful as you've got far more time to set things up properly.

I also forgot to say... another thing that's seriously irritating in the cloud forest, beside the lack of decent light, is the amount of flies that go straight for your eyes. And I mean, right in... every day I take about 3-5 out, stuck on my eye ball...and I was worried that one day one would manage to get stuck under my eye lid which would 'blind' me temporarily and with no one to guide me back to the lodge and with drops by the path... it just didn't seem sensible to venture into difficult territory. Plus, I did promise mother I'd be careful so... I'm trying to keep my promise ! :)

But the flipping flies really ruin the fun ... they really make me feel like I'm a cow almost, I have to constantly wave one hand in front of my face to try and keep them away from my eyes (since I don't have a tail)... and with the sweat involved in going up the steep paths, I was even starting to feel that I probably smelt like a cow too ! I tell you I have 2 showers a day here... and I still get blisters on my feet every day and I have to wash all my clothes every time I get back from a trek (and then I'm kind of stuck because they don't dry easily as 18C in the shade is just not good enough... and, as we know by now, I cannot even make a nice log fire to dry them up faster either ! I may have to revert to using the hair-dryer if all fails and I run out of clothes to wear any day soon !). If anyone has any better suggestions, feel free to email them ! :)

Anyway... I can't wait for my photo workshop ! I really need to learn to think fast and smart and not panic... right now, if I see something unusual but my camera blinks as if to say 'wrong settings' I turn all the knobs in no specific order, just till the blinking stops. Having no idea what I've done or why or anything... hum. Pathetic.

On my way back to the lodge I thought I'd stop by the first quetzal nest I'd seen, just in case the male was out again.... and sure enough, he was !!! Now I knew where to 'see' him, it was a lot easier. Within minutes a whole group of people arrived, but it was actually a blessing as their guide also had a massive telescope (x50) and they were quite happy for me to take a peep once in a while so that I could enjoy head-shots... something I could never tire of.

In fact, I stayed with that quetzal over an hour.. till he decided to fly away. He seemed to enjoy the attention....but was about 20m away so though I took some shots with tripod & flash gun & low settings, I really have no idea if they will be any good. Someone suggested I get that particular film put on CD so that I can enlarge further on screen... or lighten up backgrounds, etc. (providing the shots aren't too grainy as 400ASA is not as crisp as 100 as we know). Everything in photography is a trade-off basically, with a 100 film, I simply would not have been able to take the shots at all...

It gets dark here at around 5:30pm which is way too early by my books... at 2pm the light is getting dull already.... disaster.

I'd tried to book another private guided tour for tomorrow morning with my genius guide but they only have 2 guides here and they are both already fully booked. Bummer. Going out in the afternoon is a waste of time really (light wise)...so I guess I'll just go back to the quetzal nests in the morning, all on my own, and wait... patiently. 10am and 11:30am are the best times for activities he said. It's amazing how these birds can work like clock-work and know the time with such precision ! :)

Voila... nothing else to report, my eyes are still full of quetzals... London with its dirty grey-ish pigeons will look anything but thrilling on the bird front on my return.

But I do feel incredibly blessed that I have lived long enough to see such beautiful creatures and I shall even pray that we can have some as pets in Heaven ! :) Mind you, if I had one as a pet in this life, I'd find them such a distraction, I wouldn't be able to get any work done, I'd just want to gaze at them all day long... again, just like I feel when I'm in love ! :) sigh.

So, let's see what tomorrow brings... Since I have a guided walk in the afternoon only at 1:30pm, I'll have to pray that the sun will shine a bit longer... please, pretty please...

I'm off to have my dinner now and no doubt will dream of quetzals all night !!!

Savegre Lodge, Tuesday 18th Apr 2006

Well, I ended up leaving the hotel with the internet a little bit past 6pm last night which meant I missed the most glorious sunset. I could have kicked myself... the first night it had been a pale pink, the 2nd night a darker pink, but last night it was a vivid purple with stripes of pink and would have been SO unusual as a shot, but ... of course, for once I'd left my camera behind in case I got robbed on my way back ! They do say that the area is very very safe but there's always a first, and I didn't fancy being that one... so, by not wanting to take chances I blew it ! :)

Oh well... I had another dinner with the people I'd befriended the day before and headed for bed fairly early as we all had to be up at 6am for a boat trip at 7:15am.

It was another beautiful morning the day I had to check out and I felt so sad at the thought of leaving such a heavenly place. As if to give more regrets I was greeted by several couples of scarlet macaws who kept flying in front of my balcony. To see such vivid splashes of red, yellow & blue in the sky is always something one treasures. I also saw more smaller toucans, whose chest bears the most incredible patchwork of colours too. Even their beak had got several shades of orange on it. I must say I never cease to be amazed by the outstanding diversity of patterns that God has thought of... He didn't just make ONE toucan, He made many variations on the theme... and ditto for SO many species.

Anyway, I took one last shot from my gorgeous balcony and waved good bye to the massive caterpillar and grasshopper that had managed to crawl on my desk over the last 2 nights... they had added a touch of 'exotism' to the place so I didn't hush them out ! :)

Once on the boat it was the same 20mns to go back to the main shore and then the jeep ride and the 45mns flight back to San Jose. The airport lounge was just a shed with some half cut tree trunks to sit on. I had to take some photos of the plane on the air strip before take off ... such a massive contrast from busy Heathrow !

I was picked up by another driver (Carlos) and he was quite friendly. Probably 55 but very chatty and he was more than happy to chat to me in Spanish. I am actually quite chuffed because I can understand 95% of what they tell me, they don't speak too fast here (or maybe he made an effort for me?) but it's such a beautiful language and I find it totally romantic to read things in Spanish, they have so many lovely expressions that just woudn't translate in English or French... I guess that's one of the plus of being tri-lingual, you can feel more 'in it' when you interact with the locals in the language that they can feel and think in. I just really enjoy this side of the trip too and just know I will miss it when I get back.

Anyway... we had to go 2,000 ft up from San Jose so it was quite interesting to see the vegetation change from tropical forest to cloud forest. You suddenly see a lot more moss on the trees, and ferns and massive leaves and more flowers... well, different flowers... different birds. The beauty of Costa Rica is that though it is so small (only 0.005% of our planet's surface) its topography is incredibly diverse, and blessed with many mountains and beaches - ranging from the Caribbeans to the Pacific. My driver had never travelled abroad but, as I told him, at least he was born in a strikingly beautiful place, which is a small consolation. The temperature in Savegre is also cooler but still pleasant. About 22C by day (i.e. no sweat unless you put lots of weight on your shoulders like some foolish people do... ) and 12C by night. I even have a bath tub so I can have a hot bath AND my own log fire if I so wish (they have put logs and matches next to the fire place and it smelt of log fire when I walked through the door). Pretty neat. My bed is massive too... in fact, all the rooms I've had so far have been incredibly spacious. Too big for one person ! But then I can spread all my things and make myself really comfortable ! And spending 3 nights in each place is actually just about right... you start to see it as a 2nd home and it saves having to constantly pack & unpack!

We eventually got to Savegre Lodge for lunch and the first thing that struck me was the amount of humming birds that they had on the grounds. Countless humming birds, everywhere you looked. They try to attract them by giving them watered down honey in some plastic things that hang down from trees. Humming birds just LOVE that stuff but Carlos was telling me that the downside of treating them to this (to keep the tourists happy, same old, same old) is that they have neglected flowers as their nectar isn't as delicious and so they find that out of 10 humming birds that they study, only 2 will actually have nectar on their beaks, which, in the long term will create a macro disaster (man made this time!) because the flowers rely on the birds to spread their nectar... and the flowers are food for other things... and we saw what happened in Coracavo when you take out ONE element out of the food chain... it all goes haywire.

But they are cute little birds, most are the size of my thumb but some are even smaller... and they are all colours. Mainly blue, green, some have got red in them. I took some neat shots of a few drying their wings in the sun. It's just really easy to picture them here... whereas in most natural places, they fly so fast from one flower to the next, you don't have time to focus that they're gone already....

After Carlos left (I treated him to lunch), I went on one of the many trails around the lodge trying to find some quetzals, but no luck so far (he'd seen countless and told me that most Costa Rican people have never seen one because they cannot afford to come to Savegre or other places where one can see them). He'd also seen some jaguars... I was jealous ! But he said I shouldn't feel so upset I didn't get lucky because National Geographic came over last month to film a documentary on jaguars and they had to be in the reserve 40 days before they saw their first sighting !!! They are too smart and tend to avoid humans like the plague. Also, there used to be many many more but even Corvacado only has 40 left now because humans have hunted the pecari almost to extinction, and it's the jaguar's favourite food. So, they had to move elsewhere to try and feed... so, back to the food chain being interrupted again and creating chaos. When will we ever learn and what will it take? God knows... I guess we won't bother to learn much until our own specie is threatened... (but then one would argue that the tribal people hunted the pecaris to feed their own families too ! But then the jaguars ended up having to look for cows to feed on instead and got shot down by farmers who didn't want to lose their meals either! etc).

Anyway, I shall move on from the subject not to become too depressed. So, as I said earlier, I ventured towards the waterfall, with my rucksack and all my gear, yet again, in case I spotted the prized quetzal up on a tree... it was actually a pretty ride by the river with all the lush vegetation around it... so I took some nice scenic shots, but saw no wildlife whatsoever. And I didn't even get to the waterfall... the last 500m were just impossible to manage with all the weight on my back. I almost fell backwards once, and could have seriously injured my back... I don't know how I managed to get my balance back, I think an angel must have pushed me back as there was no one in sight to even shout for help once you were down the ditch ! :) One had to use ropes to go up or down slippery slopes and if I'd wanted to actually get to the said waterfall (30m high) I would have had to get rid of my 'excess luggage' and hide all my camera gear AND tripode (= I only had one spare hand to hold onto branches, etc) and I just didn't want to risk it. Chances are, no one would have stolen it as I only saw one woman there, who was heading back when I was nearing it... but still, it'd have been bummer to have all my gear stolen just a few days before I'm due to have my photo workshop with Greg Basco ! (oh and when I was on my Nature Air flight from Drake Bay, I noticed he'd written and illustrated an article on sloth bears for their in-flight magazine - cool!).

Anyway, I'm trying to become more sensible as I'm becoming older... so I ventured back, and I must say I was totally shattered by the time I got back the lodge. I'd sweated buckets and had developed blisters on my feet, and my legs felt like jelly... and I did think to myself at my peak of exhaustion 'why is it that my holidays never feel like holidays?'... 'why do I put myself through all this?' ? :) I guess that one wants to see as much as what the land has to offer once you're in a beauty spot, esp. considering how much it costs to GET there in the first place.... just having more naps would feel like a waste of time in the long run.

But I'm glad to say I managed to do without a nap today, though I'd only slept 6 hours last night... (reason being I'd made a point to not wear ear plugs so I could hear all the jungle noises - esp. the macaws' bickering, because they sound quite unusual... and I don't get to hear them very often).

Voila! I guess I'd better sign off and get some food before they close the restaurant !!! Food, as it happens, is nothing to write home about actually... I haven't had ONE dish yet that has really excited my taste buds so far... Peru or India were first class in comparison. BUT I haven't had anything that's made me sick either and even tap water seems fine which is amazing. So, I'm not complaining !

There's only one PC here but I've been able to grab it before anyone else did... whether I'll get as lucky tomorrow & the day after remains to be seen.

Tomorrow we have a guided walk to try and locate the famous quetzals and I'll be heart-broken if we cannot spot one... they have many many pictures of the said bird at the lodge here (even on the key-rings! and on their stationary, etc.) and it just looks totally adorable - and exquisite. Truly an awe inspiring sight. Fingers crossed! I haven't been very lucky at all so far, so I hope my luck soon changes for the better... Only time will tell...

Cano Island - Tuesday

This morning we set off at 9am to go to Cano Island, the best place for snorkelling... but it'd been raining quite heavily all nights and the clouds had not quite cleared when we woke up. It was a pity as, stating the obvious here, visibility is much clearer on a sunny day !

Again, our friendly dolphins decided to race with us and we made sure we let them win ! :) Sometimes one can spot whales in the same area, but we didn't see any (not that I minded myself as I've got zero interest in them).

We didn't have a ladder to get off the boat easily enough so we had to jump but at least the water was so warm that it was ok. But I was very disappointed by the state of the corals, hardly any decent shape left at all... my guide explained that El Nino had destroyed everything in 98. I explained to him that the very same phenomenon happened in India that same year as the warm currents kept going Eastwards. It seems amazing how much damage global warming can do, on such an enormous scale.

One US tourist had actually brought over an article that was published in the NY Times just last month, highlighting the fact that Corcovado had had twice its annual rainfalls in Sept, Oct & Nov last year (most likely caused by global warming). This deluge had triggered a ripple effect of disasters that had killed half of the monkey populations and countless tucans, macaws, etc. This was explained by the fact that the trees were too 'drowned' to produce fruits, so all the birds who are fruit eaters starved to death, the monkeys who also eat fruits were also decimated... millions of insects also perished, which then meant that thousands of bats died of starvation too... they said that this micro disaster in a very small area of the planet showed exactly what will happen on a grand scale if we don't get our acts together fast. I couldn't help but wonder if it explained why we had spotted nothing on our walk... if 50% of the wildlife had died just a few months earlier!!! My guide felt it was seriously exaggerated... but I guess we'll never know for sure.

Anyway, after 45mns of snorkelling in strong currents, I was exhausted (but I cheered myself up thinking it was good exercice for toning my thighs!). We went back to the shore for another picnic lunch and we had 2 hours to spare to explore the island or snorkel some more, but, shame on me, I dozed off - again. See what I mean about getting older ? Scary ! I'm starting to worry that I've been bitten by the tse-tse fly ! (my excuse...).

We snorkelled some more in the afternoon, in a deeper area, to try and spot bigger species, such as sharks, but I only saw a little one (fear not, we were not going to try and spot the BIG ones for fun !).

We got back to the lodge at 3:30pm and then someone kindly told me that the hotel around the corner from ours do have internet access, via sattelite. Bliss ! Now, why the manager of my hotel couldn't tell me that 2 days ago, God knows, but I thought I'd grab the chance to say a quick hello whilst I can.

Tomorrow I'm going to be on the move again, travelling to the next place, my flight is at 9am, and I have no idea if they will have internet access when I get to the next lodge -- so I no longer dare commit myself to 'daily' updates !!!

I'd better sign off and wait for the sunset, which is going to be any minute now... I have a 5mns walk back to my hotel, on the edge of the jungle and a very weak torch, so I want to make sure I'm back before it's pitch dark in case I step on something unpleasant.....

Bisous and keep well and keep warm ! It won't be as hot at my next stop so I'm enjoying wearing very little here whilst I can... :)

PS- sorry these posts aren't as elaborate as I'd like but I was constantly aware that I could lose the sattelite connection at any minute and was very wary indeed..... hard to relax ! :)