Caiman eyes watching

.

They hide pretty well, don't they?

Caimans (click for larger image) are smaller relatives of crocodiles, and often they're hard to spot.  They can be sitting perfectly still in the water, almost submerged except for their eyes.  Look back under the trees, or hidden among the floating vegetation, and you just might spot one.

Of course, the reliable way to see one is to listen to your guide! Seriously, the guides in Costa Rica point out a TON of wildlife that you'd never see on your own.  I'm sure I would have walked / boated right past 99% of the wildlife we saw if I didn't have somebody with sharp, experienced eyes to point it all out!

But back to the caimans...  They're actually beneficiaries of our taste for fashionable handbags.

How does that work?  The large crocodiles that used to live here were hunted until they almost vanished, for those lustrous patterned skins of theirs.  As the dominant crocodiles were removed by humans, it left more room for their smaller cousins, the caimans.  But the real thing that's saved them?  Their skins just aren't so good for tanning.  Caiman-skin just doesn't work as well as crocodile-skin.  Lucky devils!

And the cutest thing we saw when I was in Costa Rica?  The baby caimans! Our guide knew just where to go, and how to get their attention, waggling his fingers in the water.  We all waited quietly on the boat, wondering what on earth he was doing.  Our patience and his knowledge paid off, and soon a bunch of baby caimans were swimming over, all less than a foot long.  Awwwwww... 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We just wrapped up our Costa Rica wildlife adventure last month, and the wenches reported having a great time.  Tortuguero (over on the Caribbean coast side of Costa Rica) is often people's favorite part of the trip.  We'll be back there in Feb 2010, to spot more hidden caimans!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

1. Costa Rica - Turtle eggs and Viagra
2. Costa Rica finds volcano 250
3. Photo: Iguana watching from a tree

Now this is an interesting business approach...  Costa Rica is widely known for its superior coffee, and now their coffee producers could help bail out Starbucks during this downturn. Costa Rica Pages reports:

After a difficult year of sales, Starbucks is looking to widen its sphere of coffee associates within Central and South America... The idea would be to sell shares of the company to the local growers, so that they can have a share in the final profits produced by their own product.

Coffee, in its pre-cup phase!

Starbucks share prices have dropped dramatically during 2008, from $20.45 to $7.17.  It's easy to understand why.  With consumers in the US and elsewhere feeling an economic pinch, they're apt to cut back on pricey lattes.  Like the Planet Money podcast has been reporting, it's one of the small choices consumers make that have a big effect.

Some Costa Rican coffee producers already sell beans to Starbucks, but arrangements like this could possibly increase the number of producers or their quantities.  It wasn't explained in the article, but it seems that since Starbucks' total coffee purchases would go down with demand, this would mean giving preference to suppliers who buy into the system with purchases of Starbucks stock.

For Costa Rican producers (or those in many other countries), buying stock and thereby protecting or increasing their sales could seem like a good solution.  Assuming that Starbucks' fortunes turn around with the economy, they'd be protecting their sales channel while also buying an investment that could make them a profit.

This could be a great solution that benefits all parties involved in the long run, and really bails Starbucks out in the short term. The producers would have a new distribution channel and get shares at a low price and Starbucks will receive a mini bailout, adding more value to the company.

It sounds like an innovative plan that could provide a lot of benefits.  The only thing I'm not sure of is how this would work for smaller growers.  Is it going to benefit mostly the large producers with enough capital to invest?  Or could smaller growers also participate, even though they might have little in the way of investment funds?

I'll be interested to see how it works.  For more, see
Costa Rica Pages: Coffee Producers Could Join Starbucks Brand

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We've just announced a special deal on our women's trip to Costa Rica -- book by Jan 14 and get an extra night free in San Jose.  And if you're going to Costa Rica, could you bring me back a pound of coffee?  Pretty please?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

1. Costa Rica ex-president and corruption charges
2. Costa Rica graduates to middle class
3. Costa Rica finds volcano 250

Getting ready for our zip line adventure!

.
On our Costa Rica trips, many people's favorite part is the zip line adventure.  It's very cool!

You get fitted out in a climbing harness, and given a little instruction on what to do. Then you climb up to the highest of a series of platforms.  They hook you onto a cable that runs between the platforms, then you fly along the cable to the next stop.  As you let go of the security of the first platform, there's bound to be a little apprehension, but by the end of the final "zip", you're wishing you could go again!

There's not much to it, really, and no physical strength required.  Gravity does all the work of getting you from platform to platform.  You just fly through the air, and enjoy the ride! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our next Costa Rica tour for women is coming up in February.  If you want to get away to the tropics that time of year, Costa Rica is a beautiful destination -- and be sure to try the zip line!

Related posts:

1. Photo: Iguana watching from a tree
2. So there we were... with toucans in Tucson
3. Costa Rica graduates to middle class

Please, try the blue pill instead!

.
This is hilarious! Or sad, depending on how you look at it...
.
The photo is from Tortuguero, on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. This is an area where green sea turtles come to breed every year. It used to be that people killed them by the thousands, decimating the population -- mostly for the turtle soup export market. Now a national park has been established to protect the turtles, and the population is making a comeback.

So what's this turtle complaining about? It seems that some people still think that turtle eggs act as a certain kind of masculine aid.

My eggs are not the solution"
(as she holds up a Viagra pill)

Come on guys, get with the times, and give the turtles a break. And if you don't know where to get Viagra, I've got a few hundred sources I can refer you to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We visit Costa Rica every year on our Jungle Wildlife Adventure for women. Tortuguero is frequently mentioned as people's favorite part of the trip. It's an isolated, roadless part of the country, accessible only by boat or plane. Very cool!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

1. Costa Rica - Caiman eyes at Tortuguero
2. Costa Rica graduates to middle class
3. Costa Rica ex-president and corruption charges

(click for larger image)

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!

Related posts:

1. Photo: Sailing away in the BVI
2. Photo: Napa Valley, vine-covered winery
3. Photo: The miraculous Santuario de Chimayo

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 Blogs: Ex-president’s Holdings Embargoed by Courts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seems I just wrote about a corrupt leader in Ireland, and now it's Costa Rica! But that won't stop our women's travel to Costa Rica. We go there every year, and people love it!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

1. Costa Rica graduates to middle class
2. Costa Rica finds volcano 250
3. Costa Rica coffee growers bail out Starbucks?

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...

Costa Rica pages: Existence of Costa Rica’s 250th Volcano Confirmed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

1. Costa Rica graduates to middle class
2. Costa Rica - Jesus Christ Lizard
3. Costa Rica ex-president and corruption charges

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.

Costa Rica blogs: Financial gifts from abroad drying up

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

1. Costa Rica ex-president and corruption charges
2. Costa Rica - Jesus Christ Lizard
3. Costa Rica finds volcano 250

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.

Spaceflight Now: Movements of ancient Central Americans tracked by satellites

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

1. Costa Rica finds volcano 250
2. Ancient Anasazi motel maps?
3. Ancient Irish motels?

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!
.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

1. Photo: Iguana watching from a tree
2. Costa Rica - Jesus Christ Lizard
3. Costa Rica finds volcano 250