Boston Legal
Chuck
The Closer
The Colbert Report
The Daily Show Eureka
Dexter
Eureka
Heroes
House
Life
The Mentalist
Mystery!
Psych
Pushing Daisies
Sanctuary
Saving Grace
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
ADELE
Black Kids
Carolina Liar
Feist
Fleet Foxes
Flight of the Conchords
Fountains of Wayne
Kaiser Chiefs
Kathleen Edwards
Keane
KT Tunstall
Lemon Jelly
Liz Phair
Mark Knopfler
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Massive Attack
Matchbox Twenty
Melody Gardot
Nada Surf
Plain White T's
The Pretenders
Santogold
Sea Wolf
Shelby Lynne
The Shins
Snow Patrol
The Ting Tings
U2
The Verve
We did not actually see many “wild” animals in La Danta Salvaje’s rain forest preserve. I’m sure our group of hikers was far from discreet in terms of noise as far as any wildlife was concerned. It would have been pretty easy to detect us and avoid us. But we did have some encounters with wildlife.
Tapirs
We found tapir tracks, including some very large ones. The trails we hiked on were originally tapir trails, so we were really the trespassers on their pathways. Seeing a tapir is rare, however, and we did not have the privilege.
Jaguar
We did see a jaguar track, however, which was really cool. They are quite rare, so to find that one was in the immediate area was exciting. Although we never saw the cat, we may have had an encounter with it, just the same.
On our third day in La Danta Salvaje, Mike and I found ourselves trailing the rest of our group, which was being led by Bernardo that day (Bernardo and Lydia live just down the mountain from La Danta Salvaje, and they consist of the staff at the lodge when groups stay there). We were on the monkey trail in search of monkeys, and then headed down to a swimming hole at the river. As we walked through the dense forest, I heard a strange sound. Read the rest of this entry »
On our first night in La Danta Salvaje, the rain forest preserve in Costa Rica, we were fascinated by the exotic fireflies that came by our outdoor kitchen/dining area as we relaxed sipping hot chocolate and rum after a wonderful meal. At first, they seemed to be ordinary fireflies such as we encounter in North America — nothing much remark upon, except that they seemed to be rather larger.
But when one landed on the table, I was startled to see two glowing “eyes” on the top of it — never saw anything like that when I was growing up in New Jersey! The little bug flew off before I could catch it, and as I watched it flitting around, it was eerie to see those tiny glowing eyes zig-zagging through the dark. Sometimes the abdomen would glow, too, like a regular firefly but brighter, and sometimes just the pair of eyes would be circling about.
Here’s a video that lets you see what these glowing click beetles look like when they fly about at night.
David, our host and guide, took a log from the fire and stood at the edge of the railing waving it so the embers glowed and sent off orange sparks in the night. Read the rest of this entry »
Andrew is clearly the speed-leader when it comes to posting multimedia content from our trip to Costa Rica. Check out the video he has already put together. Keep in mind, too, that he shot all of it with his digital camera, not a camcorder.
Nicely done, ‘bro! Good soundtrack choice, too, as always!
Ah, we’re on a roll now! Here’s the link to another Costa Rica travelling companion’s pictures, taken by Get Out Philadelphia Adventurers‘ esteemed and exalted founder and Grand Poobah, Amy
I haven’t even had time to look at them yet, but will do so soon. Enjoy!
One of my travelling companions to Costa Rica, Andrew, has posted his photos from the trip and I want to link to them here. He’s got a great eye and many of his pictures do a better job than mine of capturing the beauty of Costa Rica.
Plus, he’s got a few photos of Beto (to the right), our surfing instructor extraordinaire! Andrew also arrived a day early in Costa Rica and went to a volcano with Maureen (also on our trip) and a new friend he met at the Hotel Aranjuez, so you can see those volcano pics in his gallery, too.
I’m sure I’ll do more with my hundreds of photos from my trip (and there were entire days when I did not take any, so there could have been far more). But just to get started, I’ll post the links to them here. I’ve divided them into several albums and some are small and some are not — I’m hoping to eventually supplement them with photos my friends took on the trip.
Click on the photo on the right of Big Mike and Kimsan (El Huevito) to see the pictures from La Danta Salvaje, the rain forest preserve. Still, there are many things I remember that are missing among these pictures, so I will try to supplement this gallery with my friends’ photos. For example, I don’t have any photos of us swimming in the waterfall pool, although I do have video that I will post after I edit it. Unfortunately, Kimsan lost his SD card from his camera, and I think he was the one who took still photos at the waterfall, so we’ll have to see how many photos we can turn up. You’ll get a good sense of the jungle feeling from the photos taken on our hikes, but I am afraid the pictures of tapir and jaguar tracks look like I accidentally pressed the shutter while carrying the camera.
Click on the photo to the left to see just a few photos taken at Casa Viva, the lovely place owned by the truly gracious and friendly Jeanie Waller, where I stayed in Punta Uva, just down the road from Puerto Viejo. That’s me “chillaxing” in the hammock. I want more photos of the grounds, which were stunning, and of the beach that was just a few yards away. I have a good bit of video, but have not edited it, yet.
Here’s an interesting puzzle: in the rain forest preserve where I spent four days, La Danta Salvaje, in Costa Rica, there are no mosquitos at night. During the day, the little blood-suckers would come around at times, like when you’re relaxing in the hammock on the porch enjoying the gorgeous view and the birds flitting around from tree to tree, so they certainly are present in the rain forest and they know how to bite.
But we slept with the windows open at night in the lodge without any mosquito netting. No problem. I don’t know why it’s essentially the reverse situation there of what we have here in the US, where night-time is the preferred mosquito feeding time. Maybe I’ll research it later, or maybe someone out there knows the reason why and can explain it.
Honestly, I was expecting far more bugs, but overall it was not significantly different than Read the rest of this entry »
I thought I would start my postings about my fabulous trip to Costa Rica by explaining the term that is so common there, “pura vida.” However, it has proved harder to explain than I expected. Some things just “are,” and trying to explain them is futile. To a certain extent, I think this is the case for Pura Vida.
The casual way I understood the phrase while I was in Costa Rica and encountering it on a daily basis was along the lines of, “No worries, things will work out.” I knew, of course, that the literal translation was “pure life,” but it was clear that the connotations of the expression were much wider and deeper than that. It was as if all the implications associated with living a “pure life” were bound up in the phrase in a metaphorical sense.
“Pura vida” also reminded me of the Hawaiian phrase, “hang loose,” which is also widely used in many informal circumstances. One can end a phone call with “pura vida” almost as an expression of good wishes. One can greet a friend or even new acquaintance with “pura vida” as a friendly expression of well-being.
Of course, after only nine days in the country, I hardly qualify as an expert. So I tried to research the phrase a bit, Read the rest of this entry »
I opened my window blinds this morning to look out on the Brandywine Valley and had to laugh. There, on the roof of my local watering hole across the street, and all around on the ground, was snow!
I got home last night after dark from Costa Rica, and I can assure you there was no snow there. Temperatures were in the 80’s and maybe in the high 60’s at night.
It was such an amazing trip, and I had so many adventures, that it will take a long time to tell all of the stories. But that’s okay, as I am in no rush. A little bit at a time is fine.
So, for this morning, it’s the snow and how it makes me realize how far away I have been not just in distance, but in state of mind. Costa Rica was a fabulous state of mind for me. Even though I am no longer there in person, I’m going to try to keep the state of mind as much as I can. More on that later.
According to my itinerary, I’ll be flying home from Costa Rica today, hopefully pleasantly exhausted from a great adventure. I’m writing this from home before leaving, setting it up to be posted on 2/25, and much as I am looking forward to the trip, I am also looking forward to returning.
It’s fun to go on the adventure, of course, but one of the reasons I seek new adventures is to savor them afterward. I can’t spend all of my time going on adventures, after all. I do have a job, and although I like it, I can’t say it’s really an adventure.
We did not actually see many “wild” animals in La Danta Salvaje’s rain forest preserve. I’m sure our group of hikers was far from discreet in terms of noise as far as any wildlife was concerned. It would have been pretty easy to detect us and avoid us. But we did have some encounters with wildlife.
We did see a jaguar track, however, which was really cool. They are quite rare, so to find that one was in the immediate area was exciting. Although we never saw the cat, we may have had an encounter with it, just the same.
Here’s an interesting puzzle: in the rain forest preserve where I spent four days, 
I opened my window blinds this morning to look out on the Brandywine Valley and had to laugh. There, on the roof of my local watering hole across the street, and all around on the ground, was snow!
According to my itinerary, I’ll be flying home from Costa Rica today, hopefully pleasantly exhausted from a great adventure. I’m writing this from home before leaving, setting it up to be posted on 2/25, and much as I am looking forward to the trip, I am also looking forward to returning.