La Paz Waterfall Garden

Well, we are off to see some of the beautiful country side. We are headed to Grecia where we have booked 3 nights stay in a bed and breakfast. When we arrived we were met by Ronaldo, the owner of the B & B and luckily he spoke very good English. The B & B was set in a very beautiful, private setting and breakfast every morning was to be outside in the warm air.

Gary was delighted with the place as there was a swimming pool and he enjoys a good swim. Me, I need the water to be at least 80 degrees before I would even think about sticking my toe in! We changed into our swim suits and headed down to the pool. I let Gary go in first so that he could tell me the temperature of the water. He shivered when he got in and that was enough for me to know I was not going into the pool.

As you can see, the pool was not what Gary was expecting. We guestimated it to be 9 feet across and 

approx 9 feet long not including the area where you entered the pool. So laps were out so Gary just floated backwards and forwards.

Saturday, we decided to visit La Paz Waterfall Gardens which was about 50 kilometers from the B & B. The gardens were near to the Paos Volcano which unfortunately have been closed to the public since last year due to an eruption.

We left Garcia in bright sunshine and drove into the rain forest and it was as good as its name, it rained all day which was a shame because the waterfalls could have been quite picturesque in the sunshine. Gary was dressed in short sleeve shirt and shorts and I had on jeans and a short sleeved top. Luckily, I had taken a hooded jacket with me as Gary had to buy a poncho to keep himself dry.

In the reception area to the falls was a beautiful live flower arrangement.

At the entrance to the gardens was a lovely wood carving of various animals native to Costs Rica.

Before touring the gardens I decided to visit the lady's room. It was the loveliest restroom room I have ever visited and I just had to take a photo of the fresh flowers decorating the sinks. The "ball" to the right of the sink is the faucet and you twisted it to turn on the water that came down the shute and into the bowl.

 Gary said the men's room was equally as nice.

The Waterfall gardens had several attractions in addition to the waterfalls. There was a butterfly garden with some lovely plants for the butterflies to feed on.

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There also was an area where the pupae were kept and there were several emerging butterflies.

The garden also had a big cat exhibit.

To get to the big cat exhibit you had to walk through the hummingbird garden. There were many hummingbirds but they were difficult to photograph because of the speed at which they fly. I took my best photos while they were feeding.

There was also an orchid garden to be visited but unfortunately most of the flowers were not in bloom.  There was one orchid that I liked.

Before taking the trail to the waterfall we decided to visit the tree frog exhibition. They had various types of frogs including the poisonous dart frog so called because at one time the poison was used on the tips of arrows.

 After lunch we had to make the decision whether or not to take the trail down to the waterfalls as it was still raining and I was beginning to get wet because my jacket was not waterproof. We decided we had to do the trail as we would probably not be back in the area again.

Well, so ends a rainy but exciting day at the La Paz Waterfall Gardens.

Beach

Today was an interesting day. We decided to go to the beach on the Pacific Coast to a place called Playa Don Ana. It was approximately 50 kilometres from San Ramon along windy roads overloaded with big 18 wheeler trucks and buses. At one point the road had subsided into the hillside making room for one way traffic only. It took us nearly 90 minutes to drive the 50 kilometres.
Now, you are probably asking why did we choose this black sanded beach when we could have gone to beaches with beautiful white sand. Well, the answer is this beach had white cheeked monkeys roaming around that liked to interact with humans by stealing their food and I wanted to photograph them. When we got there there wasn't a monkey in sight. We spoke to a lady who was familiar with the monkeys and she said it was most unusual there were no monkeys to be seen. She said they may appear later on in the day.

The beach as I have mentioned before had fine black sand that was very hot to walk on as the temperature was, I would guess, about 90 degrees. The ocean had very large swells and strong riptides making it very difficult to swim in. I decided I would wet my toes and sit down on the sand to let the water wash over my lower body. Gary, on the other hand tried to get beyond the big surf to do some swimming.

Well, I paddled out until the water was at my knees when a big wave hit. As the wave receded it knocked me off my feet and I landed on my bottom with a thump. Luckily, there was not a big wave following the one that knocked me over. I decided I would stay sitting down as it was safer when another big wave came along and as it sped past me it turned me sideways to the beach (I was looking forward into the ocean). I now had black sand in places I do not want to mention!! Gary continued to attempt to swim but reported that it was even difficult for him to walk in the waves.
By now the tide was coming in and the waves were crashing against some rocks to the right of the beach. It made for a pretty photo.

I decided to give up my "safe" sitting position and go back onto drier land. The lady we had met before came over to me and pointed out a monkey in a tree. She went and got it small piece of banana and gave it to me so that I could feed the monkey.

The monkey took the banana without any hesitation. By now, there were several monkeys swinging through the trees. I noticed one of them go to the picnic area next to where I was standing and steal an orange off the table. As quick as you could say "Jimminy Cricket" he was up a nearby tree and attempting to peel the orange. Along came two more moneys and now there was a squabble over the orange. I never did see who won. Someone else had put pieces of banana on a picnic table in the hopes of bringing the monkeys down from the trees when along came a monkey who tried to pick up as many pieces as he could.

He had a piece in his mouth and two pieces in his "hands". He did not share the banana with any of the other monkeys. By now, people were gathering to watch the monkey show. Someone put out a bowl of water on the picnic table and along came three monkeys to drink from the bowl. This time, they did share the water amongst themselves.

We made the journey back to San Ramon safely in a shorter time than it took us to get to the beach. I promptly took a shower to wash the sand off and got ready to go out to dinner. I found a place on the web and we decided we would try that. It took us about 15 mins to get to the restaurant and we chose to eat by an open window overlooking some pretty scenery. I ordered pasta primavera and Gary ordered fish and we both enjoyed the meal we each had chosen.
Tomorrow, we have an early morning as we are off to the Nectandra Cloud Forest Reserve where we have a guide to talk us through the flora and fauna of the cloud forest. I am hoping to see some birds and to be told the names of some of the plants I have already seen since arriving in Costa Rica.
Wednesday, 14th February - Happy Valentine's Day to you all.
Today, we travelled about 35 kilometres to the Nectandra Cloud Forest Reserve. Luckily, the roads were paved all the way so the journey only took us about 45 minutes. The Reserve relies on money from visitors to fund the project and is managed by only 5 people. Evelyne, one of the founders was away so we did not get to meet her but we were met by Arturo, who was to be our own personal guide. Arturo was exceedingly knowledgeable about the flora of the cloud forest. I must mention at this time, the cloud forest was missing one main ingredient - you have guessed it - the clouds. We had a cloudless sky making for a very pleasant visit.
The cloud forest was very well paved most of the way making it safe for us golden oldies.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY.
Today, we are off to the Nectandra Cloud Forest Preserve where we will meet our personal guide, Arturo, who will share his knowledge of the flora and fauna of the cloud forest.
The 35 kilometer drive to Nectandra was without incidence due to the road being paved all the way. All we had to do was miss the people walking at the side of the road, the illegally parked vehicles and the many loose dogs that seemed to have the right of way.
Arturo was waiting for us upon our arrival. He spoke excellent English so we were able to both converse with him and understand him. At the end of the tour we would have lunch on the reserve.
The cloud forest sits at approx 1700 meters and gets 150" of rain a year. We are in the dry season at the moment and Arturo said it had been two weeks since the reserve had received any rain.
The first thing I saw upon entering the forest was a beautifully paved path making walking much easier for us golden oldies.

I spotted a butterfly which landed on a leaf to the side of where I was standing. I was able to take its photo as it was opening its wings to reveal a lovely blue color. Arturo told us the name of the butterfly which went straight in one of my ears and out the next so I do not remember its name. I know it was not a blue morph butterfly.

The path we followed wound through the reserve as Arturo pointed out different vegetation to us. There were many different types of fern, bromeliads and orchids most of which were not in bloom. I did manage to get a few photos of flowers, some of which I share with you.

The above orchid was covered in bugs that were attracted by its color, perfume and nectar.

The path took us past a small waterfall which had guppies in the water. They were too small to get a photo of but I did take one of the waterfall.

The stream led away from the waterfall and into the forest.

Halfway through the tour we hit a clearing which gave us a wonderful view of the country side.

Continuing on with our walk we came across an orchid with the smallest of flowers I have ever seen. I took a photo of the flower along with Gary's finger to give you an idea of how small the flower was.

Arturo explained that some plants had leaves that were red on the underside in order to attract hummingbirds. I would never have thought of looking at the underside of leaves but we found one that was worth a photograph.

I have two more photos to show you that I like.

After the tour we had a lunch that was just prepared for the three of us. It comprised of the Costa Rican staple - rice and beans plus chicken, vegetables that comprised of broccoli and a type of squash, a fresh salad including mango, and a lovely drink made from a local fruit of which I cannot remember its name. Following the main course was a lovely homemade banana cake and ice cream. I tried everything with the exception of the beans, of which I am not too fond.
So ends two very exciting days. We have a day off tomorrow for me to do laundry and then on Friday we are of to La Paz Waterfall Gardens for the weekend. See you then.
Adios!

Settled in

Well, we are finally settled into our cabin in San Ramon, So far, we have not had any rain and the temperature hovers around high 70s during the day and middle 60s for the night. We heard an interesting fact about Costa Rica today and that was it is 1/3 the size of Scotland so it is not a large country.
Yesterday, we braved the roads to go to a botanical garden displaying a variety of orchids. I find the roads quite scary as there are a lot of motor bikes and people walking alongside of the road. You also have to take into account the deep gullies at the side of the roads. I presume they are to keep the rain off the road and from going into the houses in the rainy season. The Costa Ricans or Ticans as they liked to be called take no notice of speed limits and stop signs so when you get to an intersection you have to stop to make sure nothing is coming through an opposing stop sign. Gary has done really well with the driving, I am proud of him.
The orchid center we went to yesterday gave some information on how orchids grow. Apparently, the adult orchid produces a pod and from the pod the seeds are expelled. The seeds then have to find a particular tree to adhere to from whence they will in several years (about 5) become flower bearing orchid plants.
I have had no success growing orchids at home and now I think I know why - I over water them. The orchids at the gardens were growing out of trees, plant pots and on wires hanging in the air with no soil.

There was one spectacular orchid by which I just had to have my photo taken. How many orchids made up this plant, I do not know.

The garden also had lots of giant sized bamboo. I stood next to it to give you some perspective of the height.

We came across some banana plants which have always fascinated me because the bananas grow upwards not downwards as you would expect.

We have decided to eat breakfast and then eat an early dinner (around 4:30pm) to make sure we get home before it is dark as we do not want to be driving in the dark. So, after the Orchid Garden we went to a local mall because we knew we would find something to eat there. We did - McDonald's, KFC, Taco Bell and a Chinese Restaurant. Gary went for the Chinese, I went for KFC!!
Today was Gary's turn to choose where we were going to visit and he chose the Else Kientzler Botanical Garden which was about 45 kilometers from San Ramon. The garden covered quite a few acres and took us about 2 hours to get around on the uneven paths. The gardens were quite extensive and had many different types of tropical plants along with some I knew the name of.

The garden also had a very nice succulent garden.

The trash cans were interesting. They were raised off the ground underneath tiled roofs that had plants growing on top of them.

That was much nicer that looking at plastic trash cans.
The garden did not have a lot of wildlife. We did see a bird we did not recognize and a squirrel with a very long tail. However, we did see two butterflies we did not know the name of.

Now I look at the photos of the butterflies I think they may be the same type but with different shading because they do look similar, don't they.
There was a nice view of the distant hills from the garden.

Unfortunately, the hills did not show up well in the photo.
On the way back to San Ramon we stopped at a roadside restaurant. The menu was written in Spanish so we had to get some help from a waitress who spoke very little English. Gary ordered cerviche with octopus. Ceviche is a seafood dish popular in the coastal regions of Latin America and the Caribbean. Though the origin of ceviche is hotly debated, the dish is most closely associated with Peru. It is typically made from fresh raw fish cured in citrus juices, such as lemon or lime, and spiced with ají or chili peppers. I chose something less adventurous - spaghetti bolognese.  
So ends day number two of touring.
Just before settling down for the night Gary came and told me there was a big bug on our patio. Well, of course I had to go out and photograph it. Unfortunately, the large bug was laying on its back so I tried to turn it over and it clung to my finger with very sticky legs. I screamed and flung the bug down on the floor. Luckily it landed right way up and I took my photograph.

Oh my gosh, it has been a long time since I have blogged anything so my fingers are a little rusty.
Less than two weeks ago we were in Florida visiting Disney World. I was unlucky enough to get a intestinal bug which kept me away from the parks for a couple of days. When I was feeling better we were able to visit all four parks and see the sights. We saw several of the Disney characters including Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, Pinocchio etc etc..

If you have followed my blog previously you know that I like to take photos of reflections so here I go.

The gardens at the Disney Parks are very well maintained. Even the ducks approved of them. They were feeding on the violas and were quite content.

Unfortunately, I have lost all the photos from Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios so I cannot bore you with more Disney pictures. I did want to share the Kilimanjaro Safari photos at the Animal Kingdom as we got to see quite a few wild animals in a very natural environment. I wonder where they went, the photos not the animals.
With just a two day hiatus at home with just enough time to do my laundry, we were on the road again, this time to Costa Rica. We have rented a two bedroom bungalow overlooking the hills outside of San Jose. After 3 flights and two delays we arrived in San Jose at 12 midnight after two very bumpy flights. We decided to stay the night in a hotel rather than try to negotiate the poor roads. It took us approx 45 mins to find the hotel which was only 4 kilometers from the airport. The streets are not well marked and we did not have a GPS/SatNav to help us find our way.
The hotel, unfortunately was at the end of the runway so we went to sleep with the sounds of jets flying over the hotel. Next morning, we had a buffet breakfast in the hotel dining room and had our first sampling of Costa Rican cuisine. Breakfast comprised of scrambled eggs, rice and beans, fresh fruit, toast and yogurt served by a very pleasant hotel employee who kindly taught me how to ask for coffee with cream in Spanish. I know very little Spanish so have bought a phrase book to help me speak their language. When in Rome.... The hotel was surrounded by a very nice garden which, if we had stayed longer would have been quite relaxing.

The  photo below shows orchids growing wild on one of the trees surrounding the hotel. I have tried to grow orchids several times and have failed miserably so to see them in the "wild" was a delight.

After exiting the hotel we found our way to a Walmart to pick up some groceries for our stay in San Ramon, a town about 45 minutes north of San Jose. Boy, oh boy, what an experience in Walmart. The store was huge and all the aisles were in Spanish. I could guess the names of some of the produce but most of the names were quite foreign to me. So, what should have taken 15 mins to get my groceries took me nearly an hour.
After completing our trip to get groceries we were off to San Ramon where we had rented a "cabin".
This time we used the GPS to get us there. San Ramon is approx 50 kilometers from San Jose and it took us over an hour to get there. The roads were full of potholes with deeps ruts to the side of the road. If you fell in one of the ruts, goodness knows how you would get yourself out. We followed the instructions from the GPS, made several wrong turns and faced fast moving traffic, motorbikes and roads that merged with very little warning. On top of that, Gary was driving a stick-shift car so had to remember to change his gears. After bypassing San Ramon to get to our bungalow, the paved road ended and we were on a dirt road full of holes, stones and bumps. We decided there and then that we should have rented a four wheel drive as it would make these back roads a lot more passable and pleasant.
We finally arrived at the bungalow and were very pleasantly surprised with its location overlooking some hills and a valley.

The bungalow itself is really nice inside. It has two bedrooms, a kitchen plus family area, and a very functional bathroom with walk in shower. The view from the windows facing the hills is very nice.

After unpacking we decided to go into San Ramon for supper. Again, we had to use an unpaved road to get into the city. We found a restaurant where no English was spoken and the menu was in Spanish so it was pot luck for us. I ordered a hamburger (I thought that was safe enough) and Gary ordered chicken fajitas. Well, my burger arrived on a normal looking bun and looked like a regular hamburger but what it was I do not know. It did not look like ground beef but was stringy with orange and green bits in it along with onions (I could recognise those). Now, unfortunately for me or fortunately, I have lost my sense of smell and taste so I could not taste or smell the burger. Gary said it was ok but did not recognise the main ingredient. So ends our first day in Costa Rica.