Here's a very small sample of the hundreds of shots from our July-August '03 trip to Costa Rica. We visited both coasts & spent time in the mountains. It was very hard to decide which shots to post here. It will take forever & a day to load this page--go have a cigarette & come back.
Playa Guiones on the Pacific where we spent 4-5 days with kids.
Forest's one-hour surf lesson paid off!
Falls at Rio de Mala Noche (River of the Bad Night).
We figured the kids would do one of the "Sky Trek" tours at Monteverde where you hurl through the canopy at horrendous speeds for runs of up to nearly 1000 yards, suspended 150 ft. or more above the ground from a pulley on a cable. (Your "brake" is your gloved hand.) I despaired when Shar said she was gonna' do it along with Arlee & Forest--that meant I had to do it too. After two or three runs I decided it was fun.
She enjoys this.
Forest's last run back to the start of Sky Trek, it takes more than 2 hours to do the entire trek. Later we read in the paper a week after we did this that another guy died doing one of these things. The industry is completely unregulated.
Tree fern at Monteverde.
Shar with a friend we made at Cabinas Tropicale where we stayed in Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean.
These guys played calypso, salsa & reggae at Ricky's Bar in Cahuita--the most laid back town I've ever been in--nothing happens fast!
Artesano shop in Bribri Indigenous Reserve selling calabash bowls, wood carvings, weaving and other crafts. There are people living deep in the reserve in a traditional hunter gatherer subsistence manner. Hunting is illegal in all of Costa Rica except for indigenous peoples.
Another shot of the shop.
Crocodile on the Canal de Tortuguero.
Jaguar on the Canal de Tortuguero--a chance in a lifetime. The jaguar got out of the water, ran into the jungle, came back to look at us, ran into the jungle again, & came out to look at us again. I got this shot the first time it returned. The white thing on the left in the photo is the strut holding the tarp over Danny Rankin's (our guide--tremendous guy!) boat. It is amazing the jaguar came back to stare at us twice, most folks don't get to see a jaguar in 20 years down there, but okay there is this thing between me & cats!
Kids playing football (okay we call it "soccer") at Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean.
My favorite swimming hole in the world. The stream with the falls is a bit warm due to volcanic action--just below the falls to the right of the picture there is another stream coming in to the pool from a canyon you can't see in this photo. The water from this second stream is crystal clear & cold. You can try swimming a ways up that canyon, but eventually the current gets too swift. This was in Rincon de la Vieja National Park--amazing place. I could post 50 more pictures here of it's fumaroles, hot springs, flora, fauna, waterfalls etc.
Congreja Falls at Rincon
That toucan at the place we stayed in Puerto Viejo. He was quite a guy: drank beer, bit me on the arm--had a real personality, we got along great!