Affordable Costa Rica Day 7
Affordable Costa Rica
DAY 7 - March 20, 2005
Nature Viewing on Río Frío/Explore Caño Negro
There was no volcano alert call in the night and it was still very overcast this morning. There was a long line at breakfast today, so it was interesting winding our way through the other groups, one was a youth missionary group for the Mormon Church and they were very hungry! While Gennie stood in line, I sent the journal from yesterday, we had a nice breakfast, and there was still time for us to look around a bit and take a few photos of the lodge. But none of Arenal again today!
Today we traveled north through Fortuna, a little town close to our hotel. While we rode, Eddie gave us an educational talk on the Social Security System of CR. What a change from our own, with the magic word to success here being WORK, a four letter word to some in the USA. Our first spontaneous stop was on a bridge in a small village where we were able to photograph huge green iguanas sunning themselves in the trees. This is the mating season so the males are attracting the females from the surrounding areas.
This area is very prosperous with acres and acres of sugar cane, pineapple, and citrus trees. Eddie continued our discussion of the social security/welfare and pension systems. It sounds like a dream too good to be true, therefore it is difficult to become a CR citizen.
Costa Rica's remote northern border was a drive of about two hours, near the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge on the Rio Frio. This reserve is home and habitat to hundreds of species of wildlife, and is an important stopping point for many migrating species of birds. From a riverside dock near Los Chiles, we met Franklin, our boat driver, who took us south with many stops to see unbelievable specimens of various kinds of wildlife.
WE SAW: Jesus Christ Lizards, Sangribe; a small duck, Green Back Herons, Green Iguanas; a main source of protein for Ticos in the country side, tortoise, long nosed bats, caimans, green kingfishers, snake birds, grey necked woodrails, mangrove swallows, the American pigmy kingfisher; which is very rare as it is difficult to see.
We also saw cormorants, little blue herons, pale billed woodpeckers, black cheeked woodpeckers, Amazon king fishers, ring kingfishers, parakeets, the great egret or royal egret, boat billed herons, greater kiskadees, cattle egrets, limpkins, tiger herons, and a troop of howler monkeys.
We did not see any large mammals, as they are rarely spotted. The only mammals we saw were the Ticos and Nicaraguan families enjoying the warm Sunday by the river, swimming, picnicking, having a good time.
Under a cool cannonball tree, we stopped the boat to enjoy a lunch while on the river. We had a choice of beverage, salad, rice and chicken casserole, and tortilla chips with fresh pineapple for dessert.
We went back, north, on the river thinking we were finished for the day but in surprise treat, Franklin and Eddie took us on a new discovery all the way into Nicaragua. On the way we saw another big troop of howler monkeys with a young albino female that was a very bright metallic orange color. Not more than a mile into Nicaragua, we had another surprise, a young white faced monkey, the first we have seen on this trip! What a fantastic trip on the Rio Frio, and a wonderful day of exploring the river environment.
About 2:30 we arrived back a Los Chilles and boarded the bus. Mario is a magician with the A/C, always ready for us when we board. We began the drive southward with Eddie giving us some quiet time and some of us got a little shut-eye. We made a 30 minute stop at Fortuna where we were able to use the ATM machine; some of the group got ice cream, and we took a few pictures of the Costa Rican families enjoying Palm Sunday in the village plaza. We got back on board the bus and returned to our lodge.
We had about one hour to shower and write the journal before our dinner at the hotel at 7:00. One of the nice things about such a group is that we sit with different people every night. Tonight was no different, but I had the pleasure to have our driver Mario sit by me. His English is limited so I had the opportunity to speak to him in Spanish and do some translating for the people nearby. He tried to speak English and improve himself with us. He did mention that he drove continuously during the high season and at least once a month at other times. Difficult when one is married, has two children 9 and 1.5 years old.
Accommodations: Volcano Lodge Meals: B, L, D
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