Day 8 : Puntarenas - Costa Rica

Another new country for both of us. Yay! Our latest port of call was Puntarenas on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. The Ticos and Ticas (as they nickname themselves) are a very eco-conscious country, so the excursion today involved an aerial tram through the forest, a horticultural and butterfly display, and many, many crocodiles.

But - back to CR. The major businesses and exports of the country are medical devices (they bring in the parts and export finished supplies and devices) and consumables like coffee and bananas. Plus of course, tourism with a specialty in ecotours and surfing! The government, a number of decades ago, decided not to have a military. Instead, they invest the money they would spend into infrastructure and the people. There are heavy grants for anyone who grows coffee or lets their land "jungle over." Those grants are like an extra pension for many families.

The first stop was the Tarcoles River Bridge. Translated, that means "River Of Many Crocodiles". As you can see - that is a very accurate description. The crocs just hang out by the bridge and wait for any dumbass tourists to fall into the river. Two drunken guys actually became croc food on New Year's Eve a little further up the river when they capsized a kayak. 

The aerial tram, although it showed some awesome scenary, was rather disappointing in terms of wildlife - as in, basically zero if you exclude a few birds. There was an interesting rope bridge option that looked rather dodgy. The horticultural garden and the butterfly cage were way more exciting. My favourite was the bird of paradise flower, which looks (to me) just like a hummingbird is feeding on the flower. We also saw bats hanging out, literally, underneath some of the larger tree leaves. Finally, there was a massive ant trail of over 100 yards (see video) where the ants were stripping a tree of foliage and taking it back to the nest for food. Mother nature.

Final part of the trip was a short sail up and down the river. This was really enjoyable as we saw the crocs in their native state (rather than posing for tourists), including a very large 12ft+ fella. On the other end of the scale, we saw a baby croc hanging out with two large and carefree cows. There were plenty of birds, including egrets and a black hawk.

The egret says hi.

Overall - a great experience in Costa Rica, and some fine coffee to boot. Next up, we have a sea day, and then Guatemala. 

And here are those ants ..