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
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
posted by Sylvie at 12:04 AM
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