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Published: March 1st 2007
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A Local Lizard
We found him whilst we wandered around the hills near Santa Elena We left the Rainsong Wildlife Sanctuary in the making to continue on a quest to see more of Costa Rica’s celebrated wildlife and less of its ex-pats. Santa Elena was our destination - a small town at the end of a beautiful bus ride up into the highlands. We arrived just as the sun was setting behind the hills and we headed straight to our hostel of choice - Pension Santa Elena - where we hoped to meet up again with Joe, who had left Rainsong only a few days before us. As fate would have it Joe was sat just inside the door as we walked into the packed hostel. Even though initially the receptionist said all the beds were full, she kindly worked something out for us so we could stay and we headed straight for dinner with Joe.
After dinner we got acquainted with some ‘Black Cock’ whisky and the other hostel guests. The ‘Black Cock’ went down well so Kev was sent out to get another bottle but as the supermarket was shut we had to make do with another cheap brand. A little tipsy we waddled up the road with our new group of friends
Newborn Butterfly
We each released a newborn butterfly on our way round the gardens. in search of a supposed live Mexican ‘Ambient Rock’ gig. Arriving at the gig at 10pm we thought we had timed it perfectly only to find the group had finished and the bar/restaurant was closing!
The band was grateful for our support nonetheless, apologized for the early finish (stupid bar closing hours) and we headed off to dance drunkenly at the local nightclub. Unfortunately there was more ragaton music than salsa but we still enjoyed ourselves. Joe departed the following day but we will track him down again in New Zealand.
The local butterfly gardens and insect museum had been recommended to us and we ended up spending most of first day there and we ended up coming back with hundreds of photos. We obviously saw loads of butterflies and other live insects: Our tour guide bravely took creatures such as huge cockroaches, tarantulas and scorpions out of the boxes for us to see up close. We all declined the offer of holding the giant cockroach!
In between the enclosed butterfly gardens we also came across some creatures, wild in the woods. First we discovered a whole gang of scurrying, digging coatis. We soon discovered they liked
our plantain crisps and Kev found himself surrounded by beggars. Then we saw an agouti (basically a super-sized gerbil!). We eventually decided we had enough photos and we tried for a second time to see the Mexican band, who we playing another gig at the same venue.
This time we were prepared and promised the band (who was staying at our hostel) that we’d be there for the start at 8pm. Barbi, an aussie girl we met in the hostel kitchen, came with us, along with some other people from the previous night. This time we had front row seats and saw the whole gig. The band were actually really good, although more ‘metal rock’, than ‘ambient rock’! We didn’t actually ‘rock’ to the band as the seated restaurant environment did not really have the room. Not having eaten in order to make sure we made the gig on time and realizing the hostel kitchen was now shut for the night, we turned to the local fried chicken shop to satisfy our appetites before bed - fried chicken places are very popular hangouts with the locals, seen all over Costa Rica.
It was raining when we woke up
on our second day, so we stayed in bed for a bit to wait it out and then went off on a bit of a wander and the hostel had some free tickets to go to the Frog Pond Musuem so we thought we may as well head up there later in the day. We went to the Frog Pond Museum just after dark as frogs sleep during the day and only really get active at night. We were given torches and had fun trying hunt out the waking frogs who could be found on and under leaves, in ponds and in rock crevasses. We also found a tarantula hanging out near one of the footpaths - not in a cage but wild!!!
On our third day we planned on getting an early start to the nearby nature reserve at Monteverde with Barbi. However, we woke up again to be greeted by rain and wind - the rainy season appeared to have caught up with us in Costa Rica. We sat it out in the hostal and headed out an hour or so later when it cleared up. At the Nature Reserve we opted to guide ourselves seeing as
No mirrors needed!
Of course this shot only took one attempt! all the trails in the cloud forest are really clearly marked. We wandered around for a few hours and saw some nice views but unfortunately no animals - I reckon they were all hiding form the rain and wind too! We did see one more coati just outside the park which tried to attack Kev for his sandwich!
There was a hummingbird gallery next to the reserve which is an art gallery plus tourist shop and café with lots of hummingbird feeders outside. There were hummingbirds every flitting from one feeder to another swooping super close to our heads and we watched in amazement. They were all very beautiful and colourful. We also had a look in the art gallery that had some stunning examples of Costa Rican woodwork - beautiful hand-carved and hand-turned wooden bowls made from salvaged native woods such as rosewood. Unfortunately (or fortunately for our parents who are kindly storing our purchases) we didn’t buy a bowl, thinking we’d have more choice in the capital, which it turned out we did not.
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Gem
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Loving the Coatis!!
They are sooooo cute!!! Not when they're fighting you for your sandwich though i guess!!! The pics of the butterflies are really good, my fav is the glasswing one, that's pretty amazing!!