Pitangus sulphuratus

This cute little bird is the most common bird in Costa Rica. We see and hear them everyday around our house and as you can tell they are quite easy to see because of their bright yellow chest. We have also seen them when we have been on either of the coasts.

The second week we were here, Jim asked at work what the name was of this bright yellow- breasted bird. One of Jim’s co-workers looked at him and said, “I don’t know what you are expecting but we call them yellow-chest.” We have since learned that they are also commonly called Kiskadee.

Where Was That Again?

We have lived here almost 4 months. We have received one piece of mail not counting the water and electricity bills that get slipped under the door. I thought we would receive our second delivery a week or so ago.

My American Express card was set to expire in October. Anticipating a delay in receiving the replacement, I called Amex and asked to have the new card shipped to our house in Costa Rica. They willingly accommodated my request, paying close attention to the strange foreign address. A few days after the expected delivery date, I called Amex again because I had not received it. They confirmed the address and gave me the name of the person who signed for it.

Nancy wandered up to the condo office and guard house to inquire if anyone recognized the name of the signer. Through her vastly improved Spanish, she learned that they did not recognize the name. And that they would have called. Or that they would call. Or that they called. Or that we should call American Express. And that it was their pleasure to serve us.

Being ever paranoid about stolen credit cards (well, since April 17, 2005 anyway) I called Amex yet again to cancel the card and request another replacement. This time I gave them the address of our plant in Alejuela (we have a plant in Heredia too). I had considered work delivery previously, but figured that it was more likely to get lost amongst the 2000 people at the plant rather than in the neighborhood where everybody knows our name. OK, just one of the guards knows our name, but he is here all day every day and very friendly.

So, again I gave Amex careful instruction, which they dutifully read back and gave me the expected delivery date, September 22. On the 21st, the lone administrative assistant at the plant stopped by my office to drop something off. At the end of our conversation, I mentioned that I was expecting a package – and before I could say “tomorrow” she said “oh, someone in HR was just asking what to do with a package – let me go check.” Shortly thereafter she brought it to my office, and sure enough, it was the Amex card. The first one. With most of our home address listed. Yet here it was a work.

What I had failed to anticipate was that because the card was for business, “Boston Scientific” was written above “James Mark Broge” and the rest of the address. Rather than bothering with the written address, DHL knew where BSC was, so they delivered it to the plant. Furthermore, the plant receiving office did not know who “James Mark” was. They know me as Jim Broge, and did not realize that Jim was short for James or that Mark was my middle name rather my father’s last name. They ignored what they thought was my mother’s last name. Thus, the package ended up in HR.

I received the replacement replacement the next day.

Wildlife

A Roseate Spoonbill This funny looking bird uses his large bill to stir up the mud to find shrimp. Eating the shrimp gives it a pinkish color.

A Basilisk Lizard. Also known as a Jesus Christ Lizard because it runs on the water.

Find the wildlife in this picture. It is a Common Potoo, which is also commonly referred to as a "stick bird". This was 100 ft. up in a tree. This is the second one that Jim and I have seen and they always seem to be sleeping.

A Northern Jacana

This bird was walking around on the watercress in the canals.

A chestnut-mandibled Toucan. These birds have a very distinct and loud call. This bird was 100 ft. above us.

A red eye tree frog. We had fun hunting for them just after the dusk.

A Caiman, a relative of an alligator.

National Geographic Live!!

Tortuguero National Park offered us a spectacular glimpse of biodiversity. We traveled there this weekend to see the green sea turtle complete its nesting cycle. We saw that and quite a bit more.

The trip to Tortuguero was turtle like, requiring a four hour bus ride across the eastern volcanic mountain range and through the coastal plain and an hour and a half of boat ride north along the inter coastal waterway of the Caribbean coast. The bus ride followed a gravel road through a massive Del Monte banana orchard, where we were able to view the packaging operation during a break. Despite the long travel time, we were interested to learn that the highway across the mountains did not open until 1986, and Tortuguero did not have electricity until about 1975 when the park opened. Even to this day, there is no road here – and no cars. All transportation is by boat or plane.

We enjoyed seeing a plethora of flora and fauna covering the entire spectrum of the rainbow. Red eyed tree frogs, blue herons, black iguanas, green lizards, roseate spoonbills, white faced monkeys along with trogans, kingfishers, anhingas, jacanas, caimans, spider monkeys and howler monkeys.

The highlight of the weekend was the turtle tour. We saw a giant sea turtle lay hundreds of eggs, cover them up and crawl back to the sea. While echoes of lightning flashed across a backdrop of the Milky Way complete with shooting stars.

We met our guide at 7:40 pm. We were not allowed to take any cameras or other electronics. Then we proceeded to a waiting place just off of the beach. There our eyes adjusted to the darkness and we were treated to a star-filled sky. (This was definitely a treat, since we have only seen the moon and a few stars a total of 5 times in the three months that we have been here.) They don’t allow the spectators to see the turtles digging their holes. Once the turtle starts to lay, we are allowed to view the “ping pong” looking eggs being laid. This was when we first got a glimpse of the size of the turtle. Her shell was 1 meter in diameter and she supposedly weighed about 300 pounds. She lays about 100 eggs in the nest. She then started to cover her eggs with her back flippers. After, the eggs are covered she camouflaged the hole with her front flippers and then crawled back to the sea. It takes her about 10 minutes to make the 30-yard long trip. According to our guide, she will then be greeted by a bunch of male turtles, that are ready to mate and in 14 days she will repeat the process. The following day we visited the beach, where you could see hundreds of turtle tracks.

Odds and Ends

• We had a total of 13 inches of rain for the month of August, with the majority coming in the last ten days. We had a whopping 1.8 inches on the last day of the month and almost all of that fell in one hour. Once again, we had rain coming under our front door. Last week, the Tico Times reported that “La Nina” is affecting Costa Rica’s weather and that we should expect heavier rainfall in the next two months.

• Watching “Cielo Octubre” in Spanish can be quite humorous. Just hearing “amigos” connected with the names like Roy Lee and Homer just made us laugh. There also was no southern accent when they spoke.

• If you order a hamburger, you first need to tell them whether you want “carne” or “pollo” (meat or chicken). Then when it arrives, it will be complete with a slice of ham.

• You know you are living in a Spanish speaking country, if during Bible Study someone replies, “I wonder if the word “you” is usted or ustedes.”

• Sheet sizes are Twin, Matrimonial, Queen and King.

• “Diario de Greg” is the Spanish name for the popular kids book “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”.

Braulio Carrillo National Park

We finally made it to Braulio Carrillo National Park. Well actually, we drove through it and then went to a private park that was adjacent to it. We had tried going there the third weekend that we were here but got stopped because the road was closed due to a landslide. Once we crested the pass and headed down through the eastern mountains, we could see why. The sides of the hills are very steep and loaded with vegetation. While it may seem counterintuitive, the heavy foliage does not prevent landslides – the roots do not go deep enough. I thought the topsoil in a rain forest would be meters thick – but it is only an inch or so. Apparently the sunlight and high humidity is ideal for the microorganisms to be super efficient in digesting all the organic matter that falls from the plants, leaving just the minerals to form clay. Keep in mind that there is no fall here – the leaves fall year round, so the decay process can keep pace.

Costa Rica has a different thought about National Parks. They are not set up to handle lots of tourists or for a variety of activities. Mostly they are there to just preserve the ecosystem.

We chose to do a walking tour and an aerial tram through the rainforest. We met our guide, Max and had only gone a short distance when we saw some howler monkeys in a tree. We had heard but not seen howler monkeys before this. They were camera shy and stayed hidden behind some branches, without making their distinctive call.
As we were being driven to the next spot on our hike, the driver came to a sudden stop and started speaking in Spanish with our guide, both of whom gestured up and down and looked out the front window of the van. We hopped out of the car eager to see some new exotic wild life, but to our untrained eyes, it appeared that some kid had dropped his stuffed animal in the middle of the road. Our guide proclaimed that it was an anteater, which we severely doubted because it was laying flat out in the middle of the road. Nevertheless, as the driver and guide were trying to assess whether it had fallen from a tree, the creature picked up its head and sat up. We must have looked threatening, because it tried to scare us by rearing on its back legs and putting its front arms (or are they legs) up in the air. It struck this “I am big” pose for about a minute, and then must have realized that a) we clearly were not ants; b) we weren’t very aggressive and c) we were way bigger. It was very amusing, since it was only a foot or so tall while sitting on its haunches, with fairly short arms, and it made no sound. So, its threatening pose didn’t really have much of a scare to it. As it sauntered off the road, our guide commented that it was probably upset because we had forced it from its warm spot in the sun.

We had a great walking tour through the rainforest with Max. He was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot. At one point, Nancy noticed a flurry of activity on the edge of the sidewalk. It was many, many Leaf-cutter ants busy collecting the leaves to take back to the hive. We followed the trail for 100 yards and found them going into a hole by the root of a tree. Then 20 feet beyond the tree, the rainforest floor was totally bare. The ants had totally cleared a 10 by 20 foot area. These nests last about 8 years and when the queen dies the whole community dies. Max said the queen was probably about 8 inches long.

We then took an hour long aerial tram ride through the canopy of the rainforest. It was a pleasant ride and as we were talking with Max, we discovered that he had been to many of the places that we have been to in Colorado. We mentioned the Boundary Waters and he said that he had heard about them but had not ever been there. He had heard rumors that if you got lost in the Boundary Waters, that the mosquitoes were so large that they would pick you up and lift you above the treeline so you could find your way out.

He was also impressed with the fact that Americans go out in the wilderness. He kept saying that the rainforests are so safe compared to our wilderness. Keep in mind, that during our walk he kept an eye out for vipers and poison dart frogs. He said that we have so much more to worry about; the weather, the bears, etc.

During our trek through the forest floor and the canopy, it was very pleasant – and no rain. Max even commented during the tram ride that we were supposed to be getting soaked at that point. Once we got off the tram, we decided to eat at their restaurant, and it started to pour. When we finished eating, the rain stopped, so all in all, a great trip to the rainforest.