Costa Rica...in search of the red eyed tree frog

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I must admit that of all the Central American countries Costa Rica was the one I was most looking forward to and which didn't disappoint...well almost!
After our brush with the Nicaraguan criminal element we were glad to be moving on into Costa Rica. La Fortuna was to be my only stop in Costa Rica because four of us (myself, Andy, Simon and Jackie) were leaving early to go to the Galapgos Islands prior to the two week break whilst the truck was being shipped to Colombia.
La Fortuna is the town from which you can do a number of activities and also is next door (literally) to Arenal Volcano which is still active.
The 5 star Arenal backpackers hostal was very luxurious (if every hostal was like this I would'nt need to stay in a hotel ever again) with swimming pool, restaurant, airconditioned fan, good ensuite bathrooms and free internet. What was really cool, was the fact that you could sit in a hammock and watch the Volcano glow at night.
Me, Sue and Proffesor Nigel took a couple of nightly trips out to the other side of the Volcano which suprisingly enough was more active than the side we could see from our hostal. I don't actually think I have ever seen anything quite like it...It was awesome!!!!! Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture any of it on camera...so if you want to see it you will have to come yourself.
OK - In all the pictures you see of the Costa Rican wildlife there is a picture of a green tree frog with red eyes. I was on a mission to find and photograph one of these creatures. Unfortunately what they don't tell you and what you fail to realise is that this tree frog is only 1cm in length!!!!! You need a magnifying glass to find them!!!! I went to the frog and butterfly place...no joy. I went on a boat trip into the Costa Rican jungle....still no joy. I think that they must have died out long ago and they don't really exist - it's just a gimmick to get crazy tourists like me to go searching for them.
I decided to break away from the group for a day and take a boat trip, which was excellent. I got to see heaps of wildlife, including the elusive three toed sloth, who only comes out of his tree once a week to go to the toilet!!!!! We visited a pineapple farm and star fruit orchard.
Next the 'Team Galapagos' took a local bus to San Jose for our flight to Quito, Ecuador. The bus took a long time, the suspension had gone and everyone and his goat got onboard. On arrival into San Jose we realised why it wasn't on the itinerary (I will only say politely that it is not very picturesque) it was raining cats and dogs, thundering and lightening a side effect from hurricane Ike.....go home Tina's not here!!!! We stayed in the sister hostal of Arenal Backpackers, which was in no way the same standard and felt like being in prison behind all the security gates. I guess they must need them......nevermind it was for one night and then we would be on our way to 5 star luxuary in the Galapagos.........

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