"Buenos Nachos" Costa Rica

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Awesome country. Infrastructure was well beyond what we expected but shouldn´t have been a surprise for a country that´s a tourist/retirement/tax haven for the US. It has no army and a greater number of teachers than police, so it has attracted a lot of peace-loving folk from its neighbours, including a fair number of US Quakers. Like Panama (who are running their Canal more efficiently and safely in the decade since they secured their property back from the Americans) they haven´t picked up too many bad habits from the Yanks and some very special national characteristics we saw through out the country included... oversized bed sheets that they never stayed on, undersized ´spray-on´clothes worn by women, young and old, presumably so that they never stayed on. And while the food was fantastic it was somewhat limited, ailses in supermarkets were each dedicated to nachos, empenadas, burritos, etc, etc with one more for booze and a last for detergents!

However it was the wildlife that we primarily came to the tiny country on the thin tropical strip of land that divides the North and South Americas and Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The cloud and rainforests are crammed full of animals, most of whom are migrating. Add into the mix a highly competitive father in law for a couple of weeks and you have the ingredients for the ultimate game of nature points. It doesn´t sound out there and crazy and it isn´t, but it is fun. The gist is the more unusual the spot, the better. So a snake is better than a pigeon. A well hidden snake eating a pigeon up a tree is better than one in the middle of a path when you turn a corner...


{b}Top Five Costa Rican Nature Points{/b}

1. Long tailed Manakins in courtship dance. Spotted 40ft away in the remote Children's Rainforest in Monteverde, we watched the display/dance of flashing electric blue and red between two males before the lucky winner got the female. To be fair we didn't know what we'd come across until we spoke to the ranger two hours later who said they hadn't been sighted in the forest for over two years and to witness the dance was incredibly rare, going as far to say some locals have spent all their lives trying and have yet to. Googled it comes up as a often watched David Attenborough clip. Guy 1, John 0.

2. Howler monkey baby, just a day or so old, survived falling to the jungle floor then attempted to climb up a small plant stem before its mother came down to collect it. All of this was confirmed and put in context by Tortuguerro's local biologist of 15 years who John brought back (hammered on white rum) who also witnessed the "absolutely incredible" event. It's only kept off top spot as it was later revealed that two random girls actually saw the baby Howler fall, John and the biologist just walked round a corner and there in the middle of the path... Guy 1, John 1.

3. Canoeing at 6am on the Tortuguero waterways we (John and I) spotted a deer leave one shore about 150m upriver and make a mercy swim across 100m of water to the other side. As these waters were home to both 4/5m crocs and bull sharks we spent a confused two mins caught between willing it across safely and hoping we'd witness an ferocious attack. Guy 2, John 2.

4. Canoeing at 6pm (Hel and I), monkeys were spotted port side. On closer inspection we realised that within the travelling troupe of spider monkeys was a small white faced capuchin moneky, stopping to eat when they did, etc. An authoratitive local(!) told us that this hadn't been seen before and only when we checked the photos did we realise that the Capuchin had been serverely injured, probably attacked within his own troupe, outcast and then been accepted/tollerated by a rival species. It was at this point that John and the biologist returned with their Howler of a story. Still, Guy 3, John 2.

5. On a half day's trek through the Santa Elena Reserve we (Hel and I) spent ten mins watching and following a small troupe of Capuchin Monkeys eat, wee and chat in the branches 10ft above our heads after we'd spotted them twenty mins earlier and got quietly into a position we thought would be in their path. Sometimes you make your own luck in nature points. Yes I really have just typed that. Guy 4, John 2.


Well it looks like I win this one. I know I should probably deduct at least a point off myself for being in the country for nearly twice as long as John, who I know would also argue that his Quetzal should count (...but it was in the car park where we were told it would be). But at the end of the day it wasn't me who, straight out of a Peter Kay sketch, spoke the imortal words "Buenos Nachos". So buenos nachos nature points and buenos nachos Costa Rica!

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