One creature you’re bound to see in Costa Rica is an iguana. They look so primitive - surely they’re related to the creature from the black lagoon. Iguanas are big, too - up to 6 feet long!
The thing that most surprised me was seeing iguanas high up in the canopy of the Costa Rica rainforest, sunning themselves on upper branches. I’m not sure why I expected them to be earthbound — I guess I was used to lizards here in the desert. The claws in the photo look good for tree climbing, and indeed iguanas love to be 40 or 50 feet up in a tree. They’re reported to survive a fall to the ground from that height, or they can jump into the water and swim away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We do Costa Rica wildlife tours every year, and they’re always a big hit! Our adventurous wenches see iguanas, monkeys, sloths, macaws, toucans, and much more. Costa Rica is an amazing place!
The former Costa Rican president, Miguel Angel Rodriguez (1998-2002) is being investigated on corruption charges. Now his bank accounts, 4 properties and 2 cars have been embargoed by the courts, and there’s a lien on his salary.
Rodriguez appears to be a shady character. He was involved in a questionable deal that granted cell phone contracts to French company Alcatel. Now he’s also suspected of involvement with a Panamanian company, which supposedly paid out $2.1M to Rodriguez and other officials.
Costa Rica is a relatively small country, a bit smaller than West Virginia. Now imagine putting 250 volcanoes in West Virginia!
The 250th volcano in Costa Rica was just confirmed by scientists. It’s over 7500 ft high, and has a crater about 650 ft in diameter. How did something this large escape detection until now?
It’s been hidden in the virgin forest of one of Costa Rica’s national parks. In 2006, a NASA airplane took infrared photos of the mountain, which looked like there was a hole or crater at the top. Scientists decided to investigate in person, and sure enough, this March they confirmed it is indeed another volcano.
250 of them - wow! I wonder how many more are still undiscovered…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We do women’s adventures to Costa Rica every year, and this year the group got quite a treat, with Arenal (the most active volcano in the country) putting on a show for them during a lunar eclipse. It may be quite some time before a spectacle like this is repeated, but it’s always a fascinating country, and a delight to visit.
First it was the Norwegians, then AID, the World Bank, Canadians, Taiwanese, Dutch, Swedes and Germans. They’re all pulling funding from Costa Rica.
Costa Rica is a victim of its own success. Donations from abroad are drying up, as foreign countries decide that Costa Rica doesn’t need the aid money as much as less fortunate countries do. Costa Rica has a reputation as having “graduated” from underdevelopment, and is now seen as a “middle class” country.
We’ll be heading south for another women’s trip to Costa Rica next month. I’m always on the lookout for relevant items of interest, and post in our Costa Rica category.
Satellite imagery meshed with video-game technology allows University of Colorado at Boulder and NASA researchers to virtually “fly” along footpaths used by Central Americans 2,000 years ago on spiritual pilgrimages to ancestral cemeteries.
Researchers can trace the movements of ancient people in the Arenal region of present-day Costa Rica, who used single-file paths to navigate rugged terrain. The same processional routes were used for more than 1,000 years, in spite of periodic abandonment of villages due to violent eruptions of nearby Arenal Volcano.
This repeated use resulted in narrow trenches in the landscape up to 10 feet deep. This enabled new technology to see them, in spite of the fact that they were covered by multiple layers of ash from eruptions, and are now covered with thick vegetation. The footpaths — some virtually invisible to observers on the ground — collect water that stimulates increased root growth in the vegetation, and this appears as red lines on satellite infrared photography.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Costa Rica trips for women always travel to the Arenal Volcano area. Still an active volcano today, it is frequently erupting. Now as you tour the region, you can think of those ancient footpaths — 2000 years old, lost in the jungle, and rediscovered from space. Wow.
I’m down in Tucson, Arizona for a very special occasion. Our Costa Rica Adventurous Wenches (aka the CRAWs) from our 2005 trip got together here for a reunion. It was a great occasion!
We had people fly in from New York, California, Canada, and more. Delores (the Tucson local) handled all the arrangements, and kept us enticed during the months of waiting with glorious desert photos. It seemed like we all just picked up from where we left off — not like 2.5 years had gone by since the last time we were together. What a wonderful group of women!
What about toucans? A couple of people sprang surprises… Lynne created a stained glass masterpiece using tiles she purchased in Costa Rica, and presented it to me to hang at Adventurous Wench. She brought a special suitcase all the way from Canada with this VERY carefully packed. Susan had gifts for everyone — Christmas ornaments commemorating our reunion. How sweet is that? You’ll notice that both of these feature toucans, which is also the trip design for our Costa Rica trips.
We had a great time reminiscing about Costa Rica, catching up on each other’s lives, and exploring the desert. And of course plenty of fine food and drink!
As one of the CRAWs who couldn’t make it said, “Adventurous Wenches, Awesome Women”. How true!
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On our Costa Rica women’s adventures, you’re bound to see colorful toucans, along with a myriad of other tropical wildlife. Maybe you’ll meet some awesome CRAWs too!
One of the many unusual animals that you can see in Costa Rica is the basilisk lizard, also known as the Jesus Christ Lizard. Check out this National Geographic video and you’ll see why it got this name!
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On our Jungle Wildlife Adventures in Costa Rica, you’re likely to see basilisk lizards, and much more! I’m always looking for items of interest for Costa Rica travelers, and will post them in the Costa Rica category.
(click for larger image)
The former Costa Rican president, Miguel Angel Rodriguez (1998-2002) is being investigated on corruption charges. Now his bank accounts, 4 properties and 2 cars have been embargoed by the courts, and there’s a lien on his salary.
from our 2005 trip got together here for a reunion. It was a great occasion!
