Way Too Hot!

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Hola.

Uvita is a small town on the Pacific coast that boasts some fine beaches and prime wildlife habitat. We stayed in a permaculture retreat on the side of a hill a couple of kilometres from town and enjoyed the sounds of the jungle as we melted in the heat. The retreat was set in a gorgeous tract of rainforest and all around us was lush green wilderness. There were nearby waterfalls with nice swimming holes to cool us off and a background chorus of insects and birds.

Interestingly, the guy who ran the retreat was from Spain and was a native speaker of Euskara (Basque), one of the oldest remaining European languages! What an awesome sounding language - totally peculiar!

The Marino Ballena National Park was gorgeous, with golden-sand beaches thickly lined with palms and mangroves rich in birdlife. However, the heat was super intense! Without any doubt, this is the hottest region we´ve experienced in many years - it is notoriously hot at the best of times, but during our brief visit it was almost unbearable. The nights did cool down quite a bit though and our lodge was half way up a hill, so it made for a comfortable night. We found time to do some stream-splashes in the evenings, hiking up small streams donning our rubber boots and headlamps searching for reptiles and amphibians... It was very special...

On our morning of departure we were woken up by the beautiful and haunting sound of the gray-necked woodrail (whoop-WHOOP whoop-WHOOP whoop woop-woop-woo). One of our favourite bird calls! We would really appreciate it if all of our blog readers at this exact moment tried to imitate the call of the woodrail using the above sound-prop...!

Having explored a bit of Costa Rica's Pacific coast, we have came to the conclusion that sea level, March and Latitude 10N are not collectively compatible with comfortable travel... We proceded to seek out cool mountain air and shade under forest canopies... And with a bit of luck - get rained on...

We are always amazed at human mentality when it comes to hot countries - people go to a hot country and spend all day seeking shade and air conditioning - curious?

Hace mucho calor, salimos ahorita...

Los viajeros, T y D

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Photos

Red-eyed frog
Agalychnis callidryas

Another Red-eyed Frog
The second one of the evening.

Cat-eyed Snake
(Leptodeira septentrionalis)

Fun with the kittens
At Cascada Verde Lodge

Two kitties at the hostel
in Uvita, Costa Rica.

Second floor of the Ecolodge
Cascada Verde Ecolodge, Uvita, Costa Rica. In the corner, Theresa plays with the 2 kitties.

Howler Monkeys
At the Ecolodge

Howlers
At the Ecolodge

National Park
Beaches and coastal rainforest in Uvita

Trek across the hot beach
The sweaty hiker, Theresa. A nice cool coconut water (agua de coco) was our saviour that day, straight from the coconut.

Uvita Beach
Marino Ballena National Park.

By the stream
On our night walk, the eight legged creatures come out to prey.

Poison Dart
Not the greatest of pictures. But this was the only poison dart frog we found... It´s name eludes us right now.

A bromiliad plant
aka Pineapple

Magnificent creatures
Black Vultures in the garbage. Such adaptable birds.

Comments

[cuz]

way too hot?
We are having a snow storm! Too hot? NAAAHHHH..........impossible!

[Pammie]

Froggies
Glad to hear with all that heat that you guys didn't croak...lol...

[Bob A.]

Great stuff!
Beware the american crocodile in those swimming holes! I'm doing the Whoop Whoop now, and my co-workers are looking at me funny, is that normal? Keep up the posts, us armchair travelers are reveling in you albeit hot adventures! I believe you're not farm from one of the big banana research areas from the 40's, 50's, 60's...