Day 2 vacation

Today we travelled to the Sarapiqui River on the Caribbean slope. We drove through coffee country to the north of San Jose, and stopped at Poas Volcano, hoping to see the huge, active crater. Alas, it was shrouded in fog, at about 9,000 feet.

At Sarapiqui, we boarded another riverboat for a wildlife viewing excursion. More caymans, and several families of howler monkeys playing in the trees. The usual herons and egrets were everywhere, as well as the iguana, and we saw many toucans, at least two different varieties.

We disembarked downriver and enjoyed a nice lunch in an open air, thatched roof type lodge. A strung up bunch of ripe bananas provided a roost for the many different birds and toucans to display themselves on as they gorged on fruit. Snake and amphibian exhibits were also set up at the lodge, but a heavy downpour arrived, and we had to leave a little earlier than we wanted to.

Day 3 We went to my house in Turrialba for a barbeque with the neighbor, and enjoying the nice weather. We toured the botanical gardens here at CATIE the following day, and visited a local serpentarium.

CATIE is a prestigious graduate school program that follows research in areas of tropical forest and crop management. For example, their 2,500 acre botanical garden gives home to the most important coffee and cacao collections in Latin America, with more than 1000, and 175 different varieties of each, respectively. These crops are not grown for harvest, but simply to maintain the genetic diversity for future hybridization. There is a cryo-seedbank for seeds which can be frozen, and there are many other types of tropical plants displayed in the gardens, like tea, guavas, macadamias, palms, mangosteen fruits (delicious !), annatto, and many many others.

The local snake expert has 43 years of experience studying snakes, and gave an informative talk about snakes, and especially pit vipers, of which there are many types in Costa Rica, such as the famous bushmaster, and the much feared, aggressive, fer-de-lance viper. One particular fer-de-lance in his serpentarium has been featured in 9 documentary films, such as by National Geographic, and holds the world record for most venom in its glands. Untreated, a bite from the fer-de-lance will destroy the kidneys in 30 hours. Fascinating stuff.