Greetings from Costa Rica (Brian Shipp),
Well, here I am sitting in the dining room at Tarimbina Research Station. What a trip it’s been so far. Since leaving London, Ontario yesterday, it’s been a non-stop trek to get here. The thirteen hour trip to get to Costa Rica was well worth it. We stayed at Hotel Cacts last night and it was beautiful. The view from the rooftop was just amazing and kind of surreal. When we left the hotel this morning we had a very scenic drive to the research centre. Everything I have seen so far has been new and exciting. We hiked down to the river today and went for a swim to cool off from the heat and humidity. I’ve already seen some cool lizards, birds, fish, insects, and we haven’t even explored that much yet! Tonight we are heading out for a night hike to see what kind of creatures we can find; I expect to see some pretty awesome stuff. Tomorrow my research team and I are heading out at 7:30am to conduct reptile/amphibian surveys for the research centre. I can’t even describe how amazing this place is. The natural beauty hear is just indescribable and our accommodations here at the came have far exceeded my expectations. I am having the time of my life and I haven’t even been here more than a day! I am not going to want to leave. That’s it for now, puar vida!
Buenas Noches (Radek Odolczyk),
So we have just finished another fabulously delicious meal courtesy our lovely and friendly chef Laura. I got to say that I love rice and beans, served with a side of fresh salad. Oh, I forgot to mention that we are here in Tirimbina Rainforest Center in La Virgen, Costa Rica, N, NE of the capital San Jose. We arrived in San Jose last night around 9 pm after a long but rewarding day of travel. The realization that I was coming here had not sunk in until I stepped out of the airport and was hit by the warm air of the tropics. We then ventured to Hotel Cacts via taxi (glad I sat in the back and could not see the road) where we spent our first night and got some well-deserved rest. There is nothing in the world that tastes as sweet as tropical fruits that have been ripened in their natural conditions as opposed to a shipping crate, and this is how today began. After breaking the fast with the fruit of the gods, we continued the adventure to get here on a little bus that took us through a beautiful national park where we took in views of rainforested mountains, beautiful rivers and streams and overall breathtaking views. We also got to see some of the agricultural region where I discovered how pineapples are grown, in the ground. Once we got here at last I was blown away by our accomodations. This place is paradise and I began to regret that I had not forked over a few hundrew dollars to get a camera for this trip. Oh well, the memories will live on in my mind I guess, until I begin losing it. We have had a great time here since, going swimming in the river near-by and checking out some neat critters such as: 2 types of praying mantis’, some sort of camouflaged leaf grasshpper type thing (don’’t remember the name), and too many types of plants to keep track of. The highlight so far has been the amount of flowers I have seen varying in colours from gold, greenish yellow, purple and orange and the list goes on. I gotta run so make it in time for our reptile and amphibian night hike! As they say in Costa Rica, Pura Vida!
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