Costa Rica - Ribbit in the rainforest

July 30-31

Hello everyone!

Costa Rica sits within the tropics, just under ten degrees north of the equator. This can result in some rather sticky weather, which is perfect for little critters like these…

Red eyed tree frog: fun!

Strawberry poison frog: dangerous!

The red eyed tree frog seen above lives in rainforests across Costa Rica, with this one residing in an area of moisture-laden, vivid vegetation called Sarapiquí. It is home to many species of flora and fauna, resulting in a sensory riot when you sit still. Until the howler monkey roars, which slightly spoils the moment. Be lucky I didn’t get that cacophony on video.

Pink banana, it can't be eaten by humans
due to the number of seeds inside 

Many things grow in the rainforest. One thing that certainly doesn’t is coffee. Don’t fret, there are plenty of other places in the country that help to produce your morning brew! We visited one such cooperative, called Mi Cafecito, on our journey from the volcano to the rainforest.

Coffee was Costa Rica's key export in the nineteenth century

The tour shows their processing methods

We were given an interesting tour of this place, which groups together over a hundred coffee-making families and helps them to sell their beans. Coffee here is classed and separated by machinery into three ‘qualities’. The top is sold as ‘high quality’ and the ‘second quality’ is dispatched to international companies such as Nestle and Nescafe, who otherwise wouldn’t have enough coffee to sell worldwide.

Coffee trees will produce quality beans for up to 30 years

Our guide was 20 years old - her grandfather
has a coffee farm with the cooperative

One concern they will need to address is the fact that their youngest coffee farmer is 68 years old. Young people don’t see it as their game. Maybe if they switch the focus to selling the coffee liqueur we tasted, they might bring in more youthful help…

Tasting just like Tia Maria, this is made
using the goo that surround the coffee seed

This is a medium roast coffee - 50% caffeine, 50% flavour.
I didn't know until this tour that light roasted coffee has the most caffeine.

Soon after this we descended into the rainforest. Not jungle - apparently they’re slightly different. Sarapiquí is an example of an ecosystem which is teeming with wildlife. Over half of the earth’s known living things are found in tropical rainforests across the world. They are colourful, dense…and heavy.

Sarapiqui's protected reserve is about 700 acres 

There was often cloud cover to increase the mugginess

Humidity can’t go above 100%, though I feel that Sarapiquí could have put that to the test. Humidity is the amount of water vapour in the air. At 100%, no more water can be absorbed by the air. It meant that paper and playing cards became flimsy, and probably explains why the clothes I used for white water rafting seemed just as wet 24 hours later. 

The river is a tributary of the San Juan river,
which flows into the Caribbean Sea in Nicaragua

White water rafting is the reason that Sarapiquí isn’t quite as off-the-beaten-track as it could be. Once again, money came into the decision-making process - I chose to spend $68 to raft on class 2 and 3 rapids, rather than blow over $100 on adding a class 4 rapid. To ask for almost half of that again - $30 - for photos seemed insane. The rapids were fun, generally gentle enough to enjoy but with a few spins, drops and dips to satisfy an adrenaline need.

We were regularly soaked by our guide and also spent
time floating down the river next to the raft

The river is filled regularly by intense rain. Rainforests often receive over five metres of rain each year. It is this wetness that allows some weird and wonderful animals to call this area their home.

Northern cat-eyed snake

A moth which landed on our trip leader's face

A long-legged spider, not sure on the species

The pair of frogs in the second photo below were very interesting. Camouflaged on a leaf, there was actually a bit of discussion as to exactly which species they were as they looked similar to so many. Eventually it was decreed by our guide the following morning, after perusing his book, that it was in fact a pair of reticulated glass frogs. Whatever it is, the fact that you can see the eggs through the translucent skin is absolutely fascinating. Imagine if that happened with mammals!

Ghost glass frog

The yellow spots aren't the eggs - they're hidden from view here

One of Costa Rica’s icons is the red eyed tree frog. It has many other colours as well, as you’ll see from the pictures. The first one we saw on a night walk decided to show off a bit…

It has blue legs!

Another Costa Rican celebrity is the toucan. After spotting these on a run near Arenal volcano, our group was regularly visited by a variety of toucans. These funky-looking birds, which are in reality cold-blooded assassins who sometimes eat the eggs of other toucans, were often perched proudly on branches higher up in the canopy.

The keel-billed toucan, also known as 'Froot
Loop' as it was the basis for the cereal's mascot

Waaaay over there is an aracari, a different-styled toucan

An internet picture of the collared aracari

There are other symbols of Costa Rica found outside the dense rainforest. Next time I’ll tell you about what I found at the beach. For now, whilst it’s a shame to leave behind such beautiful frogs and birds, I’ll be glad when my clothes finally dry!

Bull frog

Very inappropriately dressed for a night walk!

Hasta luego, my colourful froggy friend

Love you all,

Matt