#97 - COSTA RICA 2015

Hello again,

I have just returned from an amazing holiday in Costa Rica with my bonus dad Joel. I fell in love with Costa Rica, its people and the pura vida lifestyle during my 2006 field trip there and returned telling anyone and everyone that I would be moving there within a few years. Obviously, that hasn't happened. When my marriage ended I took on a job in Seattle and stayed there for five years until the tragic loss of my beloved mother. I can tell you that this past two week's stay in Costa Rica has rekindled my desire to retire there, but I am now looking at doing it when the time is right, not just spontaneously pick up and leave now.

The key word in the first sentence is "holiday". The Brits I normally travel with on field trips are understandably looking to travel on a budget. We are spider hunters. Jungle trekkers. We don't require fancy accommodations. That said, I am appalled by some of the quarters they are willing to stay in. This trip to Costa Rica was all about holiday and zero about field trip. Joel and I travel in luxury. We are hedonistic and make no apologies for staying in five or six star resorts and living the dream.

My field trip mates like to say "this is a field trip, not a holiday". Well, I thoroughly enjoyed being able to say this is a holiday, not a field trip. We stayed in fine suites with flower petals on our bedding and jacuzzi tubs surrounded my amazing stonework. We ate fine cuisine and enjoyed local flavor and live music. We were comfortable. The trip was not about spiders. It was about showing Joel the majesty of Costa Rica's natural world. We hiked to the top of Poás Volcano. We trekked the Monteverde Cloud forest. We took day and night hikes in the lowland rainforests of Sarapiquí where we stayed in cabins right along the river. We found zero tarantulas and I couldn't have been happier for it. One tarantula and the holiday would have been tainted as part field trip. I wanted to enjoy the fauna of Costa Rica, but without any considerable effort. Those of you who have (or will) check in on my Instagram account (http://www.instagram.com/exoticfauna/) will see many of the spectacular creatures we saw. There are over 160 images from our trip that also show our beautiful hotels and the wonderful food we ate.

For reptiles I saw no snakes, but instead saw caimans and amazing lizards like the emerald basilisk, brown basilisk, spiny-tailed iguana, yellow-headed gecko, myriad house geckos and anoles. For amphibians I got great photos of the "blue jeans" or strawberry dart frog, the green and black dart frog and a few other frogs and toads. I saw many fascinating insects like dobsonflies, blue morpho butterflies, extraordinary katydids, moths and more. The birds were spectacular. Costa Rica is home to 52 species of hummingbird and 30 live in the Monteverde Cloud Forest. I captured amazing images of some. One avian highlight was the aracari (pronounced ahr-uh-SAHR-ee), which I was able to capture with my camera on two occasions, but saw countless others speeding through the rainforest. I even was fortunate enough to lay eyes for the first time on a male Resplendent Quetzal in Monteverde. However, before I could photograph he was gone in a colorful flash of blue and red. Another incredible sighting was scarlet macaws. Each time they were soaring above the trees and eluded my camera. Once again I struck out on seeing a sloth. But I did enjoy other mammals like a nine-banded armadillo on a night hike and some roadside coatis. There is a video of me following a male coati (pronounced kwah-TEE) down the path in the Monteverde Cloud Forest on my Instagram as well. I got a nice image of a two-lined bat, and saw and shot images of other mammals. The primates were a special treat. Near Cañas we encountered a large troop of mantled howler monkeys. As I began photographing them I noticed that one was a white-faced capuchin. It was obvious that the howlers had adopted the capuchin and made it part of the family. During our last breakfast in CR just before heading to the airport a group of capuchins descended from the trees and invaded our resort's open air breakfast area. We learned that they weren't after fruit (the squirrel monkeys go for that), but rather the sweetener packets on our tables. The staff quickly rounded up all of the sugar and then tossed one cheeky monkey a mango that he then focused his attention on.

A trip to Costa Rica without one tarantula or one snake. If it had been a field trip this would be a major disappointment. But, as it was a posh holiday, what we were able to see was nothing short of incredible. My 73-year old bonus dad, who has a bad hip, was a trooper doing the hikes that we did enjoy. But the trip was about chilling and I spent more time in the pool or on the beach than I ever have on any vacation. It was paradise. Joel also caught his first sailfish and I was overjoyed for that.

Did I look at all for tarantulas? Yes. I returned to a roadside in Cañas where we had found many A. seemanni in 2006. Nine years later most of the embankment was eroded and the vegetation had been allowed to overtake the roadside. I found one burrow and went back at nightfall, but had no luck. Three times I visited an area where we had found many M. mesomelas in 2006. The area was under construction and the road bank had been stripped. The soda (little shop/restaurant) that was next to our "honey hole" had been demolished. I also stood right where Paul Carpenter had found our first Sphaerobothria hoffmanni. I searched that embankment and found nothing. I gave it a cursory effort before returning to holiday mode and enjoying a fine Costa Rican coffee on a sun porch while watching darting hummingbirds and various tanagers.

Pura vida, MJ