Toucan Wild Boars

Costa Rica

Costa Rica is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world; Costa Rica boasts only 0.03% of the earth's total land mass. It is home to more than 500,000 animal species, which represent an incredible 4% of the world's total.
In comparison to their neighbours, they are not poor, illiterate or beleaguered by political instability. They enjoy the highest standard of living of the Central American countries. Primary education is free and compulsory, and a nationwide system provides free health care. Like all free healthcare systems, it is overburdened.
Costa Rica’s National Park system began in the 1960’s and today there are 35 parks covering 15% of the country.
Costa Rica used to be known principally as a producer of bananas and coffee. Even though coffee, bananas, pineapples, sugar, wood products and beef are still important exports, in recent times electronics, pharmaceuticals, financial outsourcing, software development, and ecotourism have become the prime industries in Costa Rica's economy.
We left Playa del Coco and steered Genesis to Marina Papagayo so we could begin a tour inland.
We rented a car and off we went to see waterfalls, fumaroles, tepid springs, steaming mud pits, and volcanoes in Parque Nacional Rincon de la Vieja.
The park is reached by poor roads and we managed to take the backside road. This however proved to be an education opportunity. The road looked like we were traveling through a natural limestone area. We later found out that this area was actually the result of a volcano explosion in Nicaragua 1000’s of years ago and we were actually traveling on volcanic ash. The area around was not fertile and looked like a bomb had hit.
We arrived at the east end of the park which was not where we wanted to be and the road that cut through the park has now been closed by the owner, changing our plans drastically. We decided to have lunch at the Rinconcito Lodge. www.rinconcitolodge.com
Rinconcito Lodge is set in the middle of beautifully landscapes grounds, close to rainforests and mountainous terrain. Rinconcito Lodge, once lush farm land, is now an ecotourism site. The cabins are attractive and rustic. The scenery awesome. Some farm activities still take place at

the Lodge and the animals are part of the adventure

at this venue. The staff bent over backwards to make our stay memorable.
After lunch we were off on a 6 km. hike to the hot springs which was very refreshing. We wandered along to see a waterfall but chose not to climb down under it as it could be an accident waiting to happen with me sometimes being a klutz. The hike overall was quite enjoyable as we had not done any hiking in quite sometime. It was not a difficult hike, fairly flat. What became the biggest thrill was a herd of Wild Boars that had come to the river to drink. We managed to get a few pictures before they were scared off. Luckily they ran away not towards us. The guide said that it was the first time he had seen the boars.
Our next thrill was to see a Toucan. He is living in the wild but at a home. He had been injured and fixed up by this family and when released decided he wanted to stay. He stays his distance but does not fly away when you want to take his picture.
The following day we headed towards Parque Nacional Volcan Poas. This took us through the central valley and highlands. The country is trying to go green with its energy wind farms appearing in the very windy mountains. We went higher and higher into the mountain range. Costa Rica has six active volcanoes and over 100 volcanic craters scattered throughout the country. Volcan Poas is one of the active volcanoes and it is reached by travelling 37km on a very winding road. The views were remarkable. Unfortunately it was late in the afternoon when we finally reached our destination and the cloud coverage would not allow us to see anything, so down the hill we went to get a hotel room close to the airport. This adventure will have to be made on a different day.
The following morning before we took Janet and Gerry to the airport we visited The Butterfly Farm.
This one hour informative tour was extremely interesting. Costa Rica has over 13,000 species of butterflies and moths. We were informed that each species has its own host tree and vegetation that it uses to provide it with the necessities of its life.
We went through the stages of a butterfly. Witnessing butterflies taking their first steps. I would recommend that if you are ever near a butterfly farm go and see what happens at these farms. Costa Rica exports its butterflies all over the world.
Well we said goodbye to Janet and Gerry, and today will pick up our next guests The Bowers from Vancouver.

The Hot Springs