Day 37 - San Antonio de Belen, Costa Rica

February 16, 2010
Brian Fearon and Chris Crema – Rig #2
Day 37 – San Antonio de Belen

Today we had an early adventure that took us far from our ‘homes’… we traveled from Belen Trailer Park near San Jose, Costa Rica to the Caribbean Coast (Carib Mar). We departed at the early hour of 6:30 am (well at least we are going to stop for breakfast) to begin our trek (via THE GREEN MONSTER TOUR BUS) through the rainforest.

We bypassed the city traffic by going through San Isidro (a suburb of San Jose – actually where Bernardo, our tour guide, lives) - we stopped to photograph a beautiful church - stunningly white amongst the colorful community filled with rich colors of reds, blues, and greens. We soon began our climb upward toward the rainforest. The canopy was high above as we entered the amazing National Park of Braulio Carrillo (the first Rainforest National Park of Costa Rica). This park was first protected in 1972 (only 38 years ago) and has been on the mend back to a more pristine state ever since – truly an amazing accomplishment and tribute to the Costa Ricans awareness efforts. This is home to over five hundred thousand insects and more than 138 species of SNAKES… only 24 of them are poisonous, and a forest rich with hardwoods (tempting to the furniture industry, but now illegal to harvest).

After exiting the park, but still in the rain forest, we stopped for a local (Tipico) breakfast at a popular tour-bus location. If you didn’t try the tasty sauce (yellow green in color) on your “rice–n–beans with eggs” – it was a lot like a tomatillo sauce (not spicy) and it is called LIZANA SAUCE… it was very good (Chris picked up a bottle at the market).

We then headed through the Banana Groves (for both Chiquita and Del Monte cooperatives) – when we came to a sudden stop to see the Annatto Berry (the Lip Stick Tree) – which looked a lot like a Lichie nut to me. The berry/seeds inside turned out to be a decorative tool that the indigenous people used to paint their faces… Bob (our fearless leader) tested the berries – they really did make a brilliant orange/red stain on his face.

Soon we arrived at the river boat departure site and traveled with our river guides. Along the way we stopped to see a harem of Howler Monkeys, a few birds (including a leopard spotted heron), and a CROCODILE!!! The boat adventure thru the canals of Tortuguera brought us face to face with a lot the rain forest has to offer, especially since it was a beautiful sunny day – very rare here as they get around 250 inches of rain per year ! What a way to enjoy the fresh air and open space.

Upon our arrival for LUNCH at Mawamba Lodge, we were greeted with a refreshing GUAVA drink decorated with STAR FRUIT and all enjoyed an amazing spread of salads and entree’s – enough to fill the hardiest of appetites… the mushroom sauce was delicious. We then took a quick tour to the Caribe Mar (Caribbean Sea) to have a look at the Tortuguera National Park that is one of the most important nesting grounds of the Green Turtle (and recently the Leather-Back Turtle too). Here you can find over 300 species of birds, monkeys, frogs, tapirs, caimans and so much more… and not to be un-noticed are the beautiful Butterflies.

After our tour of the grounds we departed (via boat) for a 2 hour trip back to the “Green Monster” – but along the way we spotted a “rose colored spoon-billed crane” – a “Jesus Lizard” (it walks on water), and of course the “little soldiers” – sorry, I’m not much of a birder?!?! (But I am sure someone is impressed)

The highlights for sure were – Bob painting his face to resemble a jungle warrior of the “AVC Tribe”, two great meals, a gloriously beautiful boat ride and especially for me…seeing the crocodile!!! We truly had a great adventure.