Mariposa

We went to see butterflies while we were at Arenal. Soon after we entered the netted area, the butterflies started to land on Léah. I immediately thought of the scene in the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when the forest animals gather around Snow White.

Léah provided some tips to Naimah on how to stay still enough so that she too could play Snow White.

The Blue Morpho Butterflies seemed to favour Léah while the Great Owl Butterflies (pictured below) seemed to prefer Naimah.

Emerald Basilisk

This emerald basilisk crossed our path when we were at Arenal. He can run on water too just like his cousin that we saw on the coast at Manuel Antonio.

Blue Jeans Poison Dart Frog

The poison dart frog’s stunning colors are a warning to possible predators that they are toxic. Their skin is poisonous, not because of any poison cells in the skin layers, but because of the toxins in the ants and mites that they eat.

The frog below is really tiny but Gabriel still spotted it relaxing in the leaves.

Beetlemania

It appears to be beetle season here. There are beetles everywhere both inside and outside the house. The kids collected this quantity of beetles from the pool.

Oxcart Parade

One of the highlights of the annual Climate Festival in Atenas is the oxcart parade.

Excerpt from History of the Costa Rican Oxcart:

The oxcart integrated Costa Rica into international commerce by becoming the main means of export transportation after 1840. The first shipment of coffee to London was transported from the coffee plantations to Costa Rica’s main ports by oxcart in 1843. Oxcarts transported coffee to Puntarenas on a small road between 1844 and 1846.  After World War II, the oxcart became obsolete due to new inventions. It has been used since then as an ornamental object although some farmers still use it during the coffee harvest season to carry coffee to processing plants in rural areas.  Painting oxcarts developed into a form of original Costa Rican art in the early 20th century.  Cowherds decided to add life to oxcarts by hand-painting them with bright colors and geometrical figures.  There are never two oxcarts painted the same.  All of them contain changes in color tones and figures.  This art has been passed from generation to generation up to the present time.  The painted oxcart has become a Costa Rican symbol throughout the world and has promoted economic development through the production of handicrafts in the Costa Rican cities of Sarchí and Puriscal.

Dancing in the rain

Léah`s dance troupe had been preparing for months to dance at the annual Feria del Clima (Climate Festival) in Atenas. All of the festivities are outdoors and unfortunately, heavy rains rolled in first thing in the morning. Nonetheless, the girls were committed rain or shine.

They danced to the song "Holding Out for a Hero" in Wonder Woman costumes that were made specially for the show. The dance was super-b! (I couldn’t resist the pun.)

Bark scorpion

We have found around 20 scorpions in our house so far. The uncomfortable reality is that nearly all of the scorpions have been alive.

This bark scorpion had been camping out on my shorts for at least a half hour while I was preparing breakfast for the kids. Mélanie spotted it before it had a chance to sting me.

Scorpions seem to like my bathing suits and shorts. Maybe I should start wearing pants?

Volcán Arenal

The volcano was asleep for hundreds of years… In 1968 it had an eruption and destroyed the small town of Tabacón… Arenal is considered Costa Rica's most active volcano

Wikipedia

We visited Arenal last year around this time and we had beautiful weather during our stay in the area. I was able to snap some clear, early morning pictures of the smoking crater.

Unfortunately, we returned this year to mostly rain and fog. Some cheap ponchos helped us enjoy the outdoors despite the dreary weather.

On the last day, it did clear up a bit (but not enough to see the volcano) and we enjoyed the hot springs at Los Lagos.

The kids striking a pose in front of the hot springs:

Jesus Christ Lizard

The Common Basilisk (Basiliscus basiliscus) is a lizard found in Central and South American rainforests near rivers and streams… [they] take the nickname the "Jesus Christ Lizard" or "Jesus Lizard" because when fleeing from predators, they gather sufficient momentum to run across the water for a brief distance while holding most of their body out of the water.

Wikipedia

The children spotted this Jesus Christ Lizard off the path to the beach in Manuel Antonio National Park.

Kids Saving the Rainforest

We headed back to the Manuel Antonio National Park with Marie and Sylvain. This time, we stayed close to Quepos at the Blue Banyan Inn. The inn is part of a finca (farm) which encompasses 25 hectares (or 65 acres) of rainforest. To get there, we drove through 3 miles of jungle and for 2.5 miles, questioned if we were lost.

At one point, you do pass a very small village that suggests that you might still be headed the correct way.

The Blue Banyan Inn has a variety of animals roaming the property and the owners are active in the Kids Saving the Rainforest (KSTR) organization.

KSTR purchased 4 acres of rainforest property where they built an animal rehabilitation center in which they care for and release injured and abandoned animals. During breakfast time one morning, our kids got to meet these cute marmosets who have been nursed back to health.

Marmosets and Tamarins, collectively known as "callitrichids" are charming New World monkeys that dwell within the rain forest canopy of Central and South America. They are among the smallest members of the monkey family, usually weighing around 1 pound.

Mamie Marie

The kids got to spend a fantastic 2 weeks with Mamie Marie, Mélanie`s Mom, and “Papie” Sylvain.

Sylvain doesn’t speak English so Naimah spoke to him only in Spanish. We tried to convince her that he didn’t understand Spanish either but she was insistent.

Look before you leap

The route from our house in Atenas to Jacó passes over the Tárcoles River. It is often stifling hot in that part of the country and it might be tempting to go for a little swim in the river until you spot the sunbathers.

 

Many, many crocodiles. (I couldn’t fit them all into the picture without a wider lens.)

If that is not enough of a deterrent to stop you from going for a swim, keep this in mind:

The river is the most contaminated river in Costa Rica, carrying much of the sewage from the central towns and cities. The river's watershed drains approximately 67% of Costa Rica's untreated organic and industrial waste and is considered the most contaminated river basin in the country. It was also affected by a leak of 400 thousand litres of diesel fuel by the state-owned Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery in 2000 which further damaged the ecology of the river and its immediate surroundings.

Wikipedia

Signs

Costa Rican street signs that you don’t see in Canada.

At our children’s school, there is a sign indicating an iguana crossing along the path to the playground. (As if that is going to save the iguanas from being trampled by all those eager little feet headed to the monkey bars.)

Fish Babies

We found Gabriel’s fish motionless at the bottom of the tank last weekend. It was sad to say goodbye to one of our fish but the following day, the kids were so excited to discover 3 baby fishes in the fishbowl. We didn’t even know that Naimah’s fish was a boy.

Here’s a picture of Mummy fish (Léah’s) with one of the babies.

Mangoes

We visited the church in Grecia with Mélanie’s aunt, Michèle, who came to see us in Costa Rica for a week and a half.

Gabriel and Naimah weren’t interested in touring the church so they kept themselves busy collecting mangoes in the park in front of the church. At that age, they can really entertain themselves with anything.

Gabriel scouting for mangoes

(Aside: Gabriel refused to cut his hair for awhile because he liked Zac Efron’s style. When I told him one night that our dove might make a nest in his fluffy hair, he decided to have it cut the next day.)

Naimah collecting as many mangoes as she possibly can in her little arms

Naimah pleased with her harvest

Reviewing the quality of their findings

  

Metal Church

Grecia, which was once named "the cleanest city in Latin America”, is a short drive from Atenas. The city is famous for its church made entirely of pre-fabricated steel plates painted red and imported from Belgium in 1897.

According to an urban legend, the church was donated by some foreign country, and sent to Greece as a gift, but was wrongly shipped to Grecia. However, history records clearly show that order, shipment and construction of the temple were a coordinated effort of Grecia’s population, Catholic Church and Costa Rican government in the Late 19th century.

Corteza Amarilla

During the five months of the dry season, from December to April, most of the trees lose their leaves to conserve their humidity. However, for a brief time, the golden pompons of the corteza amarilla dot the landscape.

White-winged Dove

We started with a cat, then a rooster, then a dog, and then some fish. It feels like we are gathering animals for our very own Noah’s Ark. It is therefore fitting that our latest addition is a dove.

A local nearly ran over this baby white-winged dove while it was crossing the road right in front of our home. He brought it to us so that we can take care of it.

At this young age, the baby dove doesn’t know how to eat or drink on its own. His beak has to be held open to give him water and grains to eat.

We don’t have a real cage so we improvised for now with an upside down garbage bin.

I was thinking we should name the dove “Stevie” for Stevie Nicks but the kids settled on “Snowflake”.

Just like the white winged dove…

Sings a song…

Sounds like she’s singing…

Whoo… whoo… whoo

        - Stevie Nicks (“Edge of Seventeen” lyrics)

Climbing Rooster

Can roosters climb trees? This one-time big city boy didn’t even think they could fly. I discovered that they do fly (at least short distances) which was a relief because when I found our annoying rooster, I thought he had climbed the tree.

Now I can’t chase him away because that tree is hanging over the cliff. Smart.

I was on the phone with someone at work this week who was sitting in the office in downtown Montréal and they asked me if there was a baby crying in the background. “No”, I replied, “just my rooster”.