Day 4, Hanging Bridges cont

We saw a sloth, parrots, and a poisonous eyelash viper!! They are small, but deadly!
We saw a sloth, parrots, and a poisonous eyelash viper!! They are small, but deadly!
We visited the Mistico hanging bridges park and spent 2 hours hiking through the rainforest and crossing high over the forest floor. The first bridge was scary, but after that I was mostly worried I would drop my phone!! Sorry you can't see the video, it makes me nervous just looking at it!Read more
In Fortuna, under the view of the Arenal volcano, we visited the Baldi hotel and spa. Different level pools run down the mountain. The hottest water comes from the top "waterfall" and cools as it moves down. There are also cold spas where you can sit to cool off before heading back to the hot water.
This water has a high concentration of minerals and is naturally heated by the nearby volcano. Our skin felt very soft when we were done. Look at those big smiles!Read more
Further up the river here is Nicaragua. Tommy got a text from Verizon welcoming him to another country. Had to log it here also, just to make it official!! We didn't travel as far as this map says, just about 1 boat length across, then back.
Pics of the Rio Frio, border signs, bumbs on a log (pygmy bats), tiny van next to TJ.Read more
Stopping in Los Chiles near border of Nicaragua for a boat trip on the Rio Frio. We can cross over the border without papers, but can't go far.
Saw a beautiful kingfisher bird, lots of snake birds, iguanas, and howler monkeys.Read more
We stopped in a small town in the mountains called Zarcero. The town is named after the Sassparilla root that is grown and exported for root beer.
There is a beautiful church here and famous topiaries. The guys decided to play a wuick game of ping pong before we left. You can see the 3 shadows of us girls watching.Read more
The coffee fruit is removed and used for compost. There are 1 to 3 beans in each fruit. If there is only 1 bean in a pod it is called a peaberry. For the peaberry, all the genetic flavor profiles normally shared by 2 or 3 beans are concentrated into the single bean and it produces a soother, sweeter flavor.
Pic of coffee beans fermenting, the house where they are processed, druing the beans, a view of the Poas volcano above coffee fields, cool pattern in walkway, and TJ in front of bus (mom and Vienne in window)Read more
Doka coffee tour.
Seedlings sprout after 2 months. They are called "little soldiers" because they have a bean on top that looks like a helmet. After 1 year they are planted and after 4 years you can begin to harvest the beans.
Costa Rica has 8 coffee regions that produce different varieties of flavor and strength, but all coffee is the Arabica variety.Read more
Animal rescue, zooave
A sloth! But not very close. And yes, that spider is real, not an exhibit *shivers*
We are about 10 degrees North of Equator in tropic of cancer. Costa Rica is smaller than Lake Michigan.
Today is 98 degrees, just past summer solstice so sun is directly above us. San Jose is situated between the Sierra and Cordillera ranges, Sierra is the "younger" range, still over 7,000 years.Read more
Animal rescue, zooave
We are about 10 degrees North of Equator in tropic of cancer. Costa Rica is smaller than Lake Michigan.
Today is 98 degrees, just past summer solstice so sun is directly above us. San Jose is situated between the Sierra and Cordillera ranges, Sierra is younger range.
This is the first stop, Zooave. Can you see the dragonfly on the crocodile?! Oops, I switched out the photo before posting. This pic doesn't have the dragonfly. Sorry!Read more