Minutes for Meeting of 1-13-1999

I arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica, and then left for the Caribean coast. I was at Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, which is about 10km from the border with Panama. It was raining quite hard there, but I still did a hike along the coast. I went north to Puerto Limon, where I took a boat to go inside el Parque Nacional de Tortuguero. The wildlife, such as the birds, the monkeys, reptiles, and plants were very interesting, reminding me of my trip to the Amazon. I saw 3 species of monkeys: Howler monkey, White Face monkey, and Spider monkey. I also saw turtles and crocodiles. As we left el Parque Nacional de Tortuguero, we crossed into Nicaragua, going upstream on el Rio de San Jose, which flows from el Lago de Nicaragua. Then we were back inside Costa Rica, on the Sarapiqui River (a tributary of el Rio de San Jose), going upstream, where we disembarked the boat to go to Rara Avis. On Christmas day, I hiked many trails inside Rara Avis, where I observed more wildlifes, such as a family of 7 Coatimundi, an Anteater, birds, and the Leaf-cutter Ants. After leaving Rara Avis, I went white water river rafting down the Rio de Toro Amarillo, which is a trubutary of the Sarapiqui River. That same day we refreshed ourselves in the hot springs. I also saw another creature, called a sloth, on one of the Secropia trees. We then went to Fortuna, which is near Volcan Arenal. There I went hiking, such as to some waterfalls, and saw the lava flows of Volcan Arenal. Then we were at el Lago de Arenal, where we went on horses to the town of Monte Verde, where there was another nature preserve. It was higher in altitude, about 2000m, where it was cooler. This forest was a cloud rain forest, with fantastic hiking, birdwatching, interesting plants, and dense jungle. I saw this rare species of a beautiful bird called the Quetzal. In fact, I saw 3 of them, 2 males and 1 female. I had a guide, who showed it to me, and it is a bird with blue, green and red feathers, which have a metallic luster. The males have the long colorful tail. This was one of the highlights of the trip. From there we went to the Pacific coast, to el Golfo de Nicoya, Puntarenas, and Quepos. Near Quepos, on New Years eve, I went swimming in the warm Pacific waters. On New Years day, I woke up very early, and was the very 1st person to enter the national park, el Parque Nacional de Manuel Antonio, where I had the pleasant surprise of seeing other interesting wildlife, such as the Agouti, another species of monkey, iguanas, and lots of Hermit Crabs on the rocks. Then I was also inside this cave, but I had to get out of there as the tide was comming in. I was then back in San Jose, where I visited el Museo de Oro, which was an interesting collection of pre-colombian Indian ornaments and artifacts, made of alloys of gold and copper, and the downtown, before leaving Costa Rica.