Boo & Rats Costa Rica Adventure: Day 6 - Costa Rica

Bad sleep night due to the croupy cough keeping me awake. Heard our little rooster friend this morning at 3:30 am sharp. Then the Howler Monkeys started up. One group would give warning, then another group warns back. There were 3 different groups that we could hear giving their warnings of their territories. One group really close to us, just across the street, so Kevin went out to video them.

Then we went to go shoot a creative looking rock down the coast a bit from the house. Made it just after the sun came up so need to go back again earlier than 5:30 to catch the golden hour and the different phases of light that brings.

From there we made our way towards Panama via beach, crossed some dead coral reef and I found a line of fresh snake dung. The only way I knew what it was was because I saw some from a Bushmaster at the Jaguar Rescue yesterday and learned there what it looked like. That set me on high alert as this line of dung was right next to a hollow log that tilted up into the jungle. Thankfully we didn't run across the snake that left the mark.

The jungle is beautiful in the morning with the fog and mist and the sun coming through the trees and vegetation. I took a very small video of a crab "throwing" sand out of the hole he was making. Will see if I can post that on the blog. If not, there will be a photo of him. Also caught a Streakheaded Woodpecker tapping into a tree. Along with spiders and flowers of course.

Back to the house where Kevin made scrambled eggs while I cut up the fresh pineapple and papaya. Yummy breakfast! Then off to whatever next adventure we could find, which entailed heading north in search of t-shirts, tank tops, and shorts, going to the grocery store for a few kitchen essentials, heading west to Bribri, where we could drive a loop taking a road back to the Caribbean side via over the mountain. We saw all kinds of banana plantations, road side stores and Sodas, and a beautiful flower that I noticed yesterday which hangs from banana plants via a vine, along with some interesting birds, one with a long tail that I was able to get a photo of just as it flew off some type of Motmot). We did see a tree with monkeys but they were a good distance away and this road was 1 lane and with lots of curves so we didn't want to block the road. And it was surprising how many vehicles we did pass.

Next on to forage for food. After several attempts to find a suitable restaurant that was open, Kevin pulled into a local Soda north of Manzanilli, where we were not disappointed! While sitting there I noticed hundreds of Vultures flying above us. Then it dawned on me that I had seen 100's of them while we were up on the mountain road. I went out from under the grass hut roof to look, and there were literally thousands of Vultures flying our way - as far as the eye could see. We were at the Soda almost 2 hours and the line of Vultures never stopped. We learned at the ARA Project that they were migrating, which upsets the Parakeet population. However, I never knew that Turkey Vultures migrated as we have them year round at home, but yep, they do. (Kevin googled the type of Vulture, and yes, Turkey Vultures).

Next stop, the chocolate place! Where they make the real chocolate from the Cocoa Pods/Seeds. Walked away with some treats for later since our Soda meal filled us both up.

It was another beautiful and sunny day here in Costa Rica with the love of my life. Thanks for joining us!

Stephanie