This morning brought steel gray skies, with scant patches of blue. Once again, we feared that our streak of good luck had reached an end. We hiked up to the restaurant and as soon as we sat down for breakfast we spied a pair of toucans in a tree. They are beautiful and have a very distant call. Chris debated for a moment and then decided he would go back for his camera. He did, and once he returned the toucans had flown away. Oh well. Light rain fell throughout breakfast, but fortunately, dried up as we finished and prepared for our morning guided-hike.
This was amazing hike, called the ridge trail. Right at the start, we spotted more toucans in the trees and Chris finally got his shots. We walked a bit up the lodge access road before turning off on the trail. From the road we saw howler monkeys, more white-faced capuchin monkeys and then Natalie spied a really cool white caterpillar. Just before turning off the road we saw yet another coati, nosing around. We turned onto the ridge, so it was mostly flat trail, but the jungle was dense around us, so new views to be had until we reached the view-point. Along the way we spotted many indigenous plants and animal. The walking palm in an amazing tree which our guide said was talking over the jungle. It has the ability to “walk” by sending out stalks in the direction of light, something the other trees can’t do. Near the very end of the hike we came upon a troop of spider monkeys. We first spotted two adults who were embracing each other perched on a tree limb. When they moved apart, we realized the one of the monkey was a female and had a baby hanging on her tummy. We heard lots of movement in the trees and we loitered for about 15 minutes surrounded by a troop of at least a dozen monkeys. Chris spotted a rare Gulfo Dulce dart frog (black with orange stripes), the only dart frog indigenous to the Osa Peninsula.
Our hike ended at the beach. Gerardo headed back up the lodge and we stayed to play in the creek and ocean for a while. Natalie and Chris busied themselves building a dam and I decided to capture some alone-time in the jungle. I hiked back up the hill, intending to hang out for a while and watch the spider monkeys and eat a small package of cookies. Just as I sat down on a rock and started to eat one cookie a coati popped out, about 10 feet away. I freaked and started back down the trail, stopping every few feet or so to find him following me. I made it back down to the beach (finishing the cookies along the way!) with the coati still in hot pursuit. The coati stood and watched us, sniffing the air for a while, but with the cookies gone he soon lost interest and disappeared back into the trees. The lesson here? No picnicking in the jungle.
A long hot trudge back up the hill to our cabin, a shower later and we were finally seated for lunch, a fantastic ham and veggie pizza. We decided we were all hiked-out for the day and retreated to hang out at the cabin. Just minutes after we settled in to read and relax we heard some rustling in the leaves. It was capuchin monkeys in the trees behind our cabin, so we raced downstairs with camera in-hand to watch the troop work its way past. Two very small monkeys were quite cute, surrounded by presumably older bigger monkeys. Once again, we found ourselves at the center of a troop of at least 15 monkeys swinging and eating, and most interesting, vocalizing to each other with high-pitched squeaks. Fantastic!
While outside the cabin we noticed that 4 proboscis bats had taken up residence on the outside of the window/rain tarps. We could get to within a few feet of them before they would flutter to the other side of the cabin. Cute little critters. We finished out our just hanging out, enjoying the magnificent view. After another wonderful dinner we dozed off to the rhythmic sounds of the jungle.
The Next Day: Costa Rica: El Golfo Dulce
The Whole Trip: Costa Rica: The Summary