Costa Rica (3/12/09) - Photo summary of the trip thus far

I'm happy to say that my very first activity in Costa Rica was to go to the beach! While the water was quite cold and the sand was blowing all over the place, we did get to see this really cool owl, which was sleeping away in a palm tree.

Here is where a bunch of us went right after arriving!

Palo Verde

This biological station has a gorgeous wetland.  One morning we took a walk out to learn about the wetland and observe some birds and crocodiles.

Can you tell it's the dry season? Here are the folks at the wetland.

Here's the group on the wetlands of Palo Verde.

We did an afternoon of research using several different instruments. We were studying the difference in tree density and growth between two plots: one with cattle grazing and one without.  JC makes it look so easy!

Here is Lisanne learning from JC how to take a tree core at Palo Verde.

Right outside our cabin at Palo Verde was a mother howler monkey (<em>Alouatta caraya</em>) and her baby.

Here is a shot of the Coati's (Nasua narica) teeth! We saw him outside our cabin at Palo Verde.

White-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) we saw just outside our cabins at Palo Verde!

There's a great dock at Palo Verde that allows people to walk farther out into the wetlands.  Here some of the gang is sitting and enjoying the sunset.

Here's part of the gang at sunset on the wetlands at Palo Verde.

Palo Arenal and Fortuna

The day we arrived it was rainy and wet.  Some folks went ziplining and horseback riding. Others just went straight to the hot springs for a nice hot soak in the misty rain.

Here are the birds we attracted by some fruit at our hotel, Faro Arenal.

Here is the group on our volcano tour at Palo Arenal.

La Selva

As others have mentioned, our group went to an organic pineapple plantation near La Selva. These are apparently the pineapples that are distributed to Whole Foods.   Here is an ornamental pineapple that was part of the landscaped gardens.

An ornamental pineapple that I spotted during our pinapple plantation tour near La Selva. All organic pineapples!

Here I (Amelia) am holding two baby pineapples.

At La Selva it is pretty easy to spot sloths. I have seen 4-5 so far!

Here is a sloth that was hanging out near La Selva's suspension bridge.