The Riches of a Private Preserve

In Costa Rica, there are national parks and reserves, and there are dozens of hotels and eco-lodges that advertise acres of "private preserve," miles of hiking trails, and rainforest or cloud forest flora and fauna.

My friend Ann and I spent three nights at "Valle Escondido Nature Reserve and Farm." Whew. A mouthful. In fact, it was a fairly ordinary hotel with two exceptions: the second-floor restaurant was completely outdoors, with views of the surrounding ridges, and the trails on the hotel's property were representative of the biodiversity for which the country is known. 

As soon as we arrived, we took advantage of the $5 happy hour price for passion fruit margaritas, at the hotel's open-air restaurant. The orange of our drinks reflected the hues of sunset.

By day, the views from the restaurant and from the trails surrounding the hotel are stunning.

In the gardens surrounding the hotel, we encountered coatis...

colorful motmots...

angels' trumpets...

orchids....

and fruiting banana trees.

Deeper in the forest, we discovered trees with protective spikes....

... and leaf-cutter ants, cutting and carrying chopped-up leaves to their nests. There, the leaf pieces become compost to grow fungus that nourishes the Queen, soldiers, and rest of the colony. The march of the anys can be viewed in my video, at: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/aZojVW4VT1I

As always in rainforests, the hotel's private preserve encompasses some beautiful cascades. 

Day turned to night, and we retraced our steps, this time with a guide to help us find the elusive denizens of the dark.

We tiptoed past sleeping birds, with their heads tucked under a wing...

...and an owl butterfly (notice the "eye" markings).

We stumbled over roots and rocks, examining clusters of leaves and shining flashlights in the treetops, looking for monkeys and sloths. 

Once again (as in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve), our guide failed to find a big cat such as an ocelot or puma.

Nevertheless, we were satisfied that the hotel's private preserve harbored an abundance of flora and fauna and that we had nicely sampled what the cloud forest had to offer.

Chasm Between Climates: From Black Sand to Misty Cloud

For a small Central American country, Costa Rica has a lot of micro-climates. 

The Osa Peninsula, on the Pacific coast just 20 miles from Panama, boasts pristine black sand beaches and myriad plants and animals of the rainforest. The climate is hot and humid.

Go north along the coast toward Nicaragua, and you find more black sand beaches and rainforest. Still hot and humid. Head inland, however, and you climb. Climb toward the clouds and the rims of ancient volcanoes forming the eastern edge of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The heat and humidity drop away, and the flora and fauna adapt. 

I also adapted--gladly! The cool breezes of the cloud forest suited me much better than the sticky skin, damp towels, and biting sand flies of Osa, where I practiced yoga for a week (see previous blog post). 

National Geographic calls Monteverde "the jewel in the crown" of cloud forest reserves, where astounding numbers of plant and animal species are protected.

With an experienced guide, you can see (and hear) the Resplendent Quetzal, toucans and tanagers, redstarts, wrens, howler monkeys, white-faced capuchins, sloths, coatis, agoutis, tarantulas and wolf spiders, orchids, shrimp flowers, orange and yellow birds of paradise, ferns, mosses, towering avocado trees covered in epiphytes, and strangling ficus vines.

To name a few. 

I saw those and more in only one morning inside the reserve. The photos below are a small sample of the awesome abundance. If you go, I recommend my enthusiastic guide, Dennis Fernandez of Geo Expeditions.

I have but one complaint. Alas. My guide, Dennis, failed to find me a big cat (ocelots and pumas have been seen in the reserve). For that, I will have to return at night!

The Resplendent Quetzal is the most popular -- and elusive -- bird in the cloud forest. I got lucky! The guides communicate with each other constantly, sharing the locations of their sightings.

A separate photo of the quetzal's glorious tail.

Monkey tail fern. 

This tree fern (or fern tree) is about 10 feet across and 50 or 60 feet tall. I was looking down on it from a hanging bridge (see below).

Hanging bridge, my favorite place in the reserve. From up here you can see epiphytes and flowers growing near the tops of trees, where they get more sun. 

The thick overgrowth and intertwining makes it difficult to identify individual plants and trees, especially in the treetops.

Epiphytes are plants that live on trees but don't feed off them, i.e. not parasitic. They include bromeliads, orchids, ferns. Trees in the reserve, including this towering avocado tree, are covered with epiphytes.

Two close-ups of some epiphytes.

There is no shortage of pretty flowers in the cloud forest. What I found more interesting, though, are clusters of "berries" such as these, related to blueberries, and....

....these, on red stems, known as mountain corn.

Anole, a type of lizard. Close-up photo taken through my guide's zoom lens. 

This is an orchid! Growing on a leaf, way up in the treetops. There were more conventional orchids, too.

Slate-throated redstart.

Last but not least, every rainforest and cloud forest has to have a waterfall. And some visitors to enjoy it.

Pretty Little Birds

What makes a "good" vacation?

Today I rested. Looked at some pretty little birds, walked in the forest, hung out at the pool. Except for the bugs (no-see-ums, aka viciously biting sand flies), it was a pretty idyllic interlude.

And how long had that lasted? For the six days previous, I practiced yoga under the guidance of Suzie Hurley, a popular teacher of the Iyengar and Anusara yoga traditions. Stretched and strained, worked out kinks and instigated some new ones.

Suzie's students, many of whom had practiced together for decades, welcomed me into their community. We meditated, dined, hiked, and did Trikonasana (triangle pose) together.

The yoga venue was an outdoor pavilion at Iguana Lodge, a beach resort on the Osa Peninsula, on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. Temperature: 89F. Humidity: 77%, though it felt like 99%. Sweat saturated my clothes and dripped from my chin. Hot yoga? You bet. Come to Costa Rica.

Lessons were accompanied by the shrieks of macaws and barks of howler monkeys in the tall trees. An occasional black frigatebird dropped by our class.

Colorful macaws travel in pairs

The surroundings were bucolic, the physical work challenging. My torn knee shrieked as loud as the macaws, at least in my head. Arthritis in my cuneiforms (forefoot) forced me to try Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward-facing dog, an inverted V) on one foot. 

So it was sort of a working vacation. Another one of the yoga practitioners was "working" on her doctoral thesis after class. Relaxing? Hmm. Balanced, maybe.

After morning and afternoon yoga, I swam in the ocean. Especially exciting was floating on my back under pink-hued clouds as the sun dropped behind the trees. One morning, I swam toward a rainbow. I kept my body parts underwater to defeat the bugs (though the "golden threads" jellyfish got me).

We had plenty of time for field trips. Guide fees, taxis, tips, commissions added up. Why? Because--oh my goodness--the options were endless! Dolphin watching, kayaking in search of bioluminescence, bird-watching, zip-lining, rappelling from a tall tree. I hired guides three times to explore the rain forest and find toucans and tanagers, crocodiles and troops of spider monkeys. I spent a morning (5:30 am) among the tangled vines of Corcovado National Park and another morning (5:30 am) on jungle paths near my resort.

The guides carried scopes with powerful zoom lenses. The best guides spotted wildlife instantly and frequently, even when as far away as treetops. Within four or five seconds, they set up their scopes on tripods and invited us to see close-ups of ostentatiously decorated birds, lazy hanging sloths, and elusive iguanas. I saw my first tapir, my first agouti, my first caiman.

Mama spider monkey hanging upside down with baby clinging to her back

Another guide shepherded two of us to a Pacific beach in the Matapalo area and then along precarious cliffside trails to a refreshing swimming hole beneath King Luis waterfall.

Bountiful and beautiful. Strenuous, nevertheless. After six days of sweat and exertion, I needed a massage and a leisurely stroll in nature, with nothing to distract me but the occasional goddess or butterfly.

A languorous day of leisurely strolls and bright woven hammocks did wonders for winding down from the energetic week. A sun hat, some DEET to ward off no-see-ums, and a good nonfiction book (appropriately, "Hold the Enlightenment" by adventure writer Tim Cahill). Tonight, I pack up my damp t-shirts and prepare for departure.

Just another day in "paradise," surrounded by pretty little birds.