This was an excellent guided tour of the cloud forest reserve. Without our guide we wouldn’t have seen half the wildlife. With our small digital the guide could take pictures through his spotting scope which I thought was pretty cool.
Howler monkeys with my camera.
Howler monkeys through the scope.
Emerald Toucans
Tree Fern.
The inside of where a tree once was, strangled by vines it has rotted away leaving the vines to stand around the hollow core.
Resplendent Quetzal. Costa Rica’s national bird and a symbol of freedom as it is said they will not survive in captivity. Our guide made sure we saw one and was very happy when we found this male.
An area adjacent to the park entrance has been set up to attract hummingbirds.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve
Friday, April 18, 2008
Santa Elena
This is the jumping off point for the Monteverde area.
We ate one night at “The Tree House” which is built around a large tree. Not just a novelty, the food was excellent. http://www.canopydining.com/
A street scene. The roads into and around this area have been intentionally left mostly unpaved to limit the vehicles in the area (encourage busses etc over private vehicles) The local young people favour motorcycles.
Night Walk - Children's Rain Forest
This guided walk started out in a downpour but as it let up we saw snakes, tarantulas, frogs, and assorted insects.
Don Juan Coffee
After getting the lay of the land in Santa Elena we went on a tour of a the Don Juan Coffee plantation. It was an informative tour with the best coffee ever at the conclusion of course. 
We even got to meet Don Juan himself, the owner, now retired and raising chickens and veggies in a corner of the farm.
Santa Elena or bust
The first leg of this day is a travel day. 
Breakfast at the square again. 
Shannon wanted to take her home with us.
Part of the day included a water taxi across Lake Arenal. Saved us some rough roads and it was very scenic. Much of the road over this section was very rough but the view spectacular.
Always 8:31
The central square of La Fortuna was nearly adjacent to our hotel and contained a fountain and some landscaped beds. It also adjoined a beautiful old church. For our time there the fountain was our breakfast spot (take-away from the bakery) before heading out for our days activities.
You'll have to pick your favorite shot from these three. I can't do everything for you.
Our full day in La Fortuna was our ‘wet day’. We spent it Canyoneering which involved rappelling down several waterfalls and scrambling in the canyon. After that we changed locations and went White Water Rafting and hit the Baldi Hot Springs again before a late dinner.
Baldi Hot Springs
We visited here both nights in La Fortuna for a dip in the various hot pools. Advertised as having twelve pools ranging from a skin poaching 67°C to 32°C it was a fun place to explore. The boys and I took one run down the most violent waterslide ever (you shouldn’t get air right before a ninety degree corner) … we were warned. http://www.arenal.net/baldi-hot-springs.htm
I didn't take a lot of shots here... kinda felt like a stalker which is never a good thing.
Volcano Arenal
After lunch and booking our next days activities we had some free time before boarding the bus again for an evening excursion to the active side of Volcano Arenal. Along with the viewing we were also treated to pizza and beer... my kind of outing. It was a misty night with some light rain so not ideal conditions but we could see the glow from the eruptions and see the orange trail from the boulders as they bounced down the side of the volcano.
These shots are very fuzzy due to the long exposure hand-held… challenging.
La Fortuna
On the way to La Fortuna our driver spotted a sloth and pulled over so we could have a quick look.
Volcano Arenal from the bus.
The church that adjoins the central square.
Click to read full post......
Costa Rica
The next number of posts are from a family holiday we took this past February to Costa Rica. It was with Tucan Travel (highly recommended). Our group was 17 tourons and our two guides so for the most part we travelled by mini-bus. I’ll try to touch on most of the activities we did by way of kind of a trip report but for the most part I’ve pared it down to what I consider to be some of my best shots. I had some focus issues especially with night shots and really should have taken my tripod but was trying to travel light with two lenses and my Rebel. Some of the shots are with our SD600 point and shoot because it was much easier to carry in some situations.
The trip was eight days, two of those ‘flying days’ so it was very compressed but we got a lot in. We began and ended in San Jose and then had two nights each in La Fortuna (Volcano Arenal), Santa Elena (Monteverde Cloud Forest), and Manuel Antonio (Manuel Antonio National Park)on the Pacific Ocean.
So I hope you enjoy the mini-tour and the break from all the snow from the last few entries.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Windy Peak Hills
A solo early season outing. Mostly a ridgewalk over 5 highpoints on a ridge ending at Windy Peak elev. 2,249m. 9.5 km +-550m elevation. Would have been easier but for the grovelling thru deep snow to attain Windy Peak and then hip deep post-holing out the alternate exit that I took. Looked ok from above. That was a long 2 km.Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Fernie - Easter Break
Bit of a gap there... but it's been rather nuts. A trip to Costa Rica (photos to come, I promise), a really bad flu that I'm just now finally kicking, and lots of work... so a day of perfect snow and bright sunshine was just what I needed. 
Holy cornices!! There has been some melting since I was last in Fernie but especially higher on the mountain there was still some powder... almost spring conditions down low. Best of both worlds.
Michael taking flight. He had one good wipeout that rung his bell a bit. Nobody knows what he was thinking... it was a classic but I guess you had to be there. 
Eric was tougher to catch but he was getting good air all day. Check out the bent pole in this shot... Oaf Brothers collide, but nobody got hurt.
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