In calling this beautiful country Costa Rica (the Rich Coast), I've no doubt that the Spanish explorer and plunderer Columbus (although it may have been D'ávila) was referring to golden jewellery worn by the local population. It's perhaps a bit ironic that the riches which form Costa Rica's most famous exports today are still gold or black gold in colour: bananas and coffee.
Our ship docked for a full day at the relatively new cruise port of Puntarenas, on the Pacific coast.
Right away, we could see the rugged mountainous spine of this country which is largely built up from volcanic mountains, some of which are still active.
The 12-hour length of this port call was largely dictated by the time that would be needed to drive from Puntarenas to Costa Rica's capital city, San Jose, or to the two destinations which were incorporated into my tour -- a tour focused on the natural environment. This map of the northern part of the Puntarenas province shows our route.
To reach our first location, inland from the beach town of Jaco, we had to climb up and over a couple of highland regions, getting in the process some eye-catching views of the Rio Grande Tárcoles river valley, which would be our second destination.
Our first stop was at a privately-operated nature sanctuary located some distance up a bumpy gravel road in another mountain valley, inland from Jaco.
This nature park features a lengthy aerial tram ride up the side of a mountain through the tropical rainforest. Wisely, no attempt is made by the management to guarantee wildlife sightings.
Only a couple of wild critters were spotted by anyone on our tram, and both were gone by the time I got my camera pointed. But the forest was full of life all the same, and we could certainly hear it. The tram system was designed with great care to be as quiet as possible, and fortunately the passengers on my tram mostly kept quiet too. That meant that we could hear rustling in the undergrowth below us, a diverse range of bird calls, the endless rippling voice of a small stream running down the hill, the quiet buzz and hum of insects. And that was all. No highway noise, no man-made intrusive sounds. The sheer quietness of the tram ride itself became part of the fascination.
Another part was the endless variety of lush greenery, and this treetop-height ride gives you a good feeling for just how hard it is for sunlight to reach down to the forest floor in such an environment. We also got to see a diverse assortment of parasitic vines which wind and twine themselves around the taller tree trunks to reach the sunlight.
At the head end, there is a small station with a fenced walking path around and below it, but our tour didn't include a stop there -- just the full hour-long ride up and down, all in one go.
Then, on the way back down the mountain, we could see just why the up and down tram cables are always strung at different heights -- so there's always a clear view all around the tram at eye level.
This picture also shows the unusual nine-seat layout of the trams -- four pairs of seats followed by a single seat at the back, often reserved for the bad boy of the group. So naturally....
Back on terra firma, we were taken for a short but very sweaty nature walk around the property. This featured one intriguing encounter with nature's heavy lifters.
Each leaf in the picture is being quickly toted by an ant -- and these little busy workers, we were told, are capable of carrying twenty times their own weight. Let's see some of our Strong Men try to do that! But they don't actually eat the leaves. These are hauled back to the nest, mixed with a sap from a certain kind of tree, and the decomposed mash is then eaten.
After detouring around and over the ants, we walked along some paved paths lined with assorted jungle plants and shrubs.
There was also a small butterfly conservatory, but none of those butterflies were willing to sit still long enough to pose for pictures.
We then assembled under a large, open-sided awning of a building with washrooms, gift shop, and long tables where we were served lunch (included in the tour). The menu was, I suppose, pretty standard fare although far too stodgy for me on a hot, steamy day: beef, chicken, rice, black beans, cooked veggies. It kept me going for the afternoon.
Sidelight on human nature. Eleven o'clock in the morning sounds far too early for lunch until you remember that you had to eat breakfast at 6:00 am because the tour was leaving at 7:00! None of that stopped a person a few ahead of me in the buffet line from saying something to the effect of: "I don't know why they can't serve lunch at a normal hour like noon, but I'm so hungry!" Just like that, all in one sentence. There's nobody stranger than people.
At noon, we boarded our coach again. Anyone who thinks airplanes are crowded, please contemplate this fact. I stand 5 feet 10 inches tall, and when I sat down in this coach, my knees were jammed hard into the back of the seat in front of me. And I had to spend a total of over 4 hours sitting in that seat. Suddenly, the 30-inch seat pitch on most airlines began to seem positively luxurious.
By 1:00 pm we were boarding a couple of boats of the Jungle Crocodile Safari for this crocodile and bird-watching tour of the Rio Grande Tárcoles. Here's what the boat looks like.
And here's what I looked like when I was sitting in it.
As such things go, this is a relatively unspoiled river, and the wildlife here is both diverse and easy to spot. Even a rank amateur like yours truly was able to get some pretty good pics.
Start with the birds. Even with an illustrated pamphlet, I can't identify most of these for certain, so I'll leave that up to any expert birdwatchers.
One other real beauty, which I'm sorry I didn't capture, was the Magnificent Frigatebird which suddenly soared away from us on the other side of the boat.
Now, all the time that this bird watching was taking place, so was the crocodile watching. This was where the naturalist who was our guide for the day really came into his own. He had all kinds of fascinating information about all the different species of birds, about the crocodiles, about their habits and diets. Both he and the boat captain seemed to have eyes in the backs of their heads, as the boat often came to a stop and then reversed when one of them spotted the tell-tale eyes...
...or the protruding back plates.
We spotted at least half a dozen, including a female lurking under the tall grasses of a swampy area, guarding her nest, and several big bull crocodiles about 5 metres long.
This was our most memorable encounter of the day, hands down.
The scariest moment of the day too, when that big bruiser turned and started swimming slowly towards the boat.
At that point, our captain very sensibly activated his engines!
As we were motoring away, our guide explained that when a croc opens its mouth wide, it's not an aggressive gesture. The beast is actually trying to get in some fresh air to cool off the body because, of course, crocodiles are cold-blooded. The gist of his comments was that, if a crocodile is planning to attack you, it will try to stay invisible for as long as possible, and certainly won't give away its presence by gaping its mouth wide open until the moment when it actually strikes.
After we finally got back to the ship, just before 4:00 pm, I had this last memory of Costa Rica from my balcony: a group of three stilt dancers in colourful costumes welcoming passengers back to the ship while a local band played traditional dance music in the background.
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