(Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica)
The sun sets early in Costa Rica, so the day’s earlier combination of sun, heat and humidity had largely abated by 5:30 p.m. It was still raining but that only added to the overgrown green lushness of the nighttime rainforest. Yes, I was going on a reptile walk…at night.
In retrospect, it sounds kind of crazy. I normally wouldn’t pay for the “privilege” of walking through a dark reptile-infested rainforest with no equipment other than a flashlight and a camera. However, the previous night walk was so much fun that I had to give it a try. When would I have such an opportunity again?
As with all of our tour leaders, this guy really knew what he was talking about. He also was fearless: he didn’t bother with frills like a rain jacket, nor did he hesitate to grab snakes from trees and show them to us. The extent of his comfort with the rainforest was proven beyond a doubt when he started telling us about termites.
If you are ever stuck in a rainforest with no food, you should immediately seek out a termite nest. Our guide said that termites are good for you and will help you survive. They apparently taste like carrots…and yes, he was speaking from experience. There is one important thing to remember, though. You should kill the termites before eating them because they will feast on your tongue if they are still alive. Good to know!
He told us a lot about the various tree frogs that we encountered, such as the very small “plant frog” that you see at the top of this post. However, I think his comments about the termites made such an impression on me that I didn’t catch too many of the frog details. To summarize: there are lots of frogs everywhere, not just on the ground. There are also very large toads on the ground. And then there are the snakes…
Most people can handle the idea of snakes on the ground, even though they would rather not deal with snakes at all. However, a lot of people get extremely spooked by snakes that don’t live on the ground. I have received a lot of comments already about the tree-dwelling green viper photograph that I posted from the previous night walk. Here, there were lots of snakes in both plants and trees.
At the end of the walk, we saw some crocodiles, caimans and tortoises…but these were in captivity. After having seen these very large creatures in the wild, it didn’t feel right seeing them in enclosures.
After drying off a little bit, it was time for dinner. We went to a bar/restaurant called “El Avion” (“The Airplane”). It has this name because the bar is literally inside an airplane. And it is not just any airplane: it apparently is one of the 2 American airplanes that ended up in Central America during the scandalous “Iran-Contra Affair” of the 1980s. While the other one was shot down in Nicaragua, this one never left the San José airport and eventually was unloaded for the princely sum of $3,000.00. An entrepreneur saw an opportunity and the bar/restaurant was an immediate success. The idea has legs: we saw another nearby restaurant fashioned from a railway car. Costa Ricans have a fun (and quirky) sense of humour.
Up next: Will I make it through a daytime walk in the beautiful but scorching Manuel Antonio National Park?