Costa Rica (February, 2017)

Welcome to Costa Rica, northern Pacific side

First view of Lake Arenal

View of the volcano from our hotel balcony

Arenal sends up a steady stream of steam.

An amazing place for a first experience with zip-lining

Zip-lining over the forest canopy to the waterfall

From zip-lining to white water rafting – thank goodness for a professional guide

Local farmer lets his sheep greet us for watermelon rinds.

Shuttle van to boat transport to shuttle van for our next stage of our journey

Majestic Arenal towers over Lake Arenal, which is man-made

Our tree house hotel room

On the path to our room

Another native flower on the path to our tree house

Costa Rica boasts numerous types of hummingbirds

Sunset over the Cloud Forest from the balcony of Hidden Canopy

A night tour of the rain forest

A plain grasshopper looks so much more spectacular at night in the rain forest.

A sleeping collared trogon

This beautiful baby is really no bigger than a pencil.

Katydid

A day tour of the rain forest

Tropical parula, I think

Lucky to see a quetzal

And his mate

Fig trees grow on the canopy of a host tree. Roots grown down from there and eventually kill off the host tree.

Fig trees are some of the largest trees in the rain forest.

A green toucan – didn’t see the more known toco toucan

Blue crowned motmot – what a great name for a bird!

Lunch stop in Monteverde – a quaint little town

Lunch at a wonderful little cafe with amazing bird feeders – blue gray tanager

Clay colored thrush is the Costa Rican national bird because it is a harbinger of planting season.

Scrub euphonia – a common little finch

On to the butterfly garden of Monteverde

Not sure what this pretty guy is

We had the wonderful opportunity to release newly hatched butterflies.

Glasswings feeding on fruit

Milkweed for their monarch caterpillars

On to Playa Langosta, the beach of the lobster

A beautiful way to end the day

Pelicans patrolling the beach

Iguanas help out as well.

Don’t forget the howler monkeys.

Learning how cashews are grown

Beautiful bird of paradise flower outside our hotel room

An evening at a labyrinth designed to harness the good energy of the earth

Heading to a wildlife refuge for a river cruise

Never knew that loufas grew on trees

A caracara, a Costa Rican bird of prey, with a lizard for lunch

Fortunate to see two pairs of macaws in a tree

Watching their mating dance

Little blue heron on the river side

White faced capuchin monkey

Can’t remember the name of the tree but it is special to the area.

Monkeys pull the seeds from the pods.

Tree swallows

Bats sleep in a line to fool predators into thinking they are a snake.

Iguanas love to pose for pictures!

This gator is looking for breakfast!

While the monkey is avoiding being breakfast!

Monkeys quickly dip their tails into the water

And then suck the water from their tail to drink. Hopefully this avoids the gators.

Just chill’n on a branch

Watch for gator slides in the mud.

A hawk looks for breakfast.

Learning to milk a cow on our private tour of a local farm

He got much more milk than I did.

As in Israel, you plant a tree – we planted cashew trees.

Learning to make coarse wrapping paper from recycled paper

Making cheese from the milk I milked

Her cheese wasn’t as lumpy as mine!

Hermit crab on the beach

Sand crab peeking out

Howler monkey just hanging out

Mom and baby take a rest.