I took one for the team with the no-toilet-paper policy. It was foul. But I was helping the environment, so that shouldn’t have been too bad. I stepped into the shower, which had enough pressure to strip paint. Environmentally friendly? I think some priorities could use some reworking.
In any case, by 8:30, we were in a van, headed to Selvatura Park for some high-altitude adventures, starting with the zip-line tour. The zip line tour consisted of eighteen zip lines stretching across the jungle, some over two hundred feet up and half a mile long. Fortunately, we were all very securely strapped into place with leather-enforced gloves for braking. The view of the cloudy canopy from above was exhilarating, and flying through it at such a quick pace brought forth all sorts of wonder. Though the animals were lacking, save a few swallow-tailed kites flying by, the zip lines gave us all sorts of opportunities to appreciate the abundant greenery of the rainforest, which, when you’ve been in it, starts to seem all the more deserving of saving. Though we joked about pteranodons swooping out of the mist to pick off unsuspecting zippers, everyone made it through safe and sound.
Following the zip line, we funneled into line for the Tarzan swing, which, at over fifty feet, looked a little daunting from the ground. However, on reaching the top and plummeting from it, the adrenaline rush only lasted a little while before turning into an all-out awesome experience. I think holding the rope helped keep my wits about me, though it was also an excellent exercise in trust. Trust, however, did not prevent Mom from screaming like a banshee on her way down, which will hopefully one day be on Youtube for the world to see.
We switched over to a nice nature walk along the sky walkways. In short, we were sky walkers. Unfortunately, the force was not with us. Though we heard some howler monkeys, the animals were long into hiding, either because of the approaching rain or because two UCLA students were ahead of us on the trail. It might have been better to switch the sky walk with the zip line, but we weren’t going to complain… at least, not on an empty stomach. We received a three-course meal near the welcome center, included in the whole package, and after onion soup and grilled corvina, they came out with the most fantastic banana cake I have had before in my life. I wish I knew the recipe.
While eating, the deluge returned to the Earth, though we still had three more destinations on our itinerary. We started with the hummingbird garden, and though it was a trick to balance the cameras and the umbrella, still managed to get some decent pictures. From there, we were on to the Butterfly Garden to see what they had hatching in there. We became familiarized with the eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults, as well as the host plants where the latter prefer to hide their offspring. I keep forgetting how utterly fascinating the process of metamorphosis is. These tiny eggs grow into enormous caterpillars, which fashion much smaller cocoons, which hatch into completely different creatures. The guide even picked one up to show how it was still moving, as a living thing. It was wild.
Running out of time before the last shuttle of the day, we went on a whirlwind tour of the remaining facilities, including the Jewels of the Rainforest exhibit, which featured thousands of specimens from nearly every land-dwelling arthropod family known to science. It was exciting to see physical specimens of many of the species I’d only heard about, though I would have preferred to see them live, minus the ticks and Brazilian wandering spiders, of course. The section on blood-suckers was, needless to say, unnerving.
Finally, we stopped off at the reptile and amphibian exhibit to see some of the most venomous snakes in Costa Rica. I’d forgotten the general rules for distinguishing venomous from non-venomous snakes, but I will record them here. Non-venomous snakes tend to have large eyes with round pupils and larger scales on the head, while venomous snakes have small eyes with slit pupils and uniformly sized scales across their bodies. In any case, I am in no hurry to meet a fer-de-lance anywhere outside of a cage. Not only does its bite kill a person in four hours, but it’s also very aggressive. I’m glad I’m not a banana farmer.
We caught the last shuttle back to the hotel and decided on a whim to hit another night walk, thinking we would have better luck this time. We didn’t see any mammals at all, though my brother did point out a tree frog for all to see. It was also the night of the great termite hatch, where thousands of queens and drones took to the air for their courtship flight. Plenty landed all over us, and interestingly enough, as soon as they did, their wings began to slough off. I felt sadistic just letting them slough off, but as the guide said, of the thousands in the air at any given time, only two or three will actually survive.
In any case, by 8:30, we were in a van, headed to Selvatura Park for some high-altitude adventures, starting with the zip-line tour. The zip line tour consisted of eighteen zip lines stretching across the jungle, some over two hundred feet up and half a mile long. Fortunately, we were all very securely strapped into place with leather-enforced gloves for braking. The view of the cloudy canopy from above was exhilarating, and flying through it at such a quick pace brought forth all sorts of wonder. Though the animals were lacking, save a few swallow-tailed kites flying by, the zip lines gave us all sorts of opportunities to appreciate the abundant greenery of the rainforest, which, when you’ve been in it, starts to seem all the more deserving of saving. Though we joked about pteranodons swooping out of the mist to pick off unsuspecting zippers, everyone made it through safe and sound.
Following the zip line, we funneled into line for the Tarzan swing, which, at over fifty feet, looked a little daunting from the ground. However, on reaching the top and plummeting from it, the adrenaline rush only lasted a little while before turning into an all-out awesome experience. I think holding the rope helped keep my wits about me, though it was also an excellent exercise in trust. Trust, however, did not prevent Mom from screaming like a banshee on her way down, which will hopefully one day be on Youtube for the world to see.
We switched over to a nice nature walk along the sky walkways. In short, we were sky walkers. Unfortunately, the force was not with us. Though we heard some howler monkeys, the animals were long into hiding, either because of the approaching rain or because two UCLA students were ahead of us on the trail. It might have been better to switch the sky walk with the zip line, but we weren’t going to complain… at least, not on an empty stomach. We received a three-course meal near the welcome center, included in the whole package, and after onion soup and grilled corvina, they came out with the most fantastic banana cake I have had before in my life. I wish I knew the recipe.
While eating, the deluge returned to the Earth, though we still had three more destinations on our itinerary. We started with the hummingbird garden, and though it was a trick to balance the cameras and the umbrella, still managed to get some decent pictures. From there, we were on to the Butterfly Garden to see what they had hatching in there. We became familiarized with the eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults, as well as the host plants where the latter prefer to hide their offspring. I keep forgetting how utterly fascinating the process of metamorphosis is. These tiny eggs grow into enormous caterpillars, which fashion much smaller cocoons, which hatch into completely different creatures. The guide even picked one up to show how it was still moving, as a living thing. It was wild.
Running out of time before the last shuttle of the day, we went on a whirlwind tour of the remaining facilities, including the Jewels of the Rainforest exhibit, which featured thousands of specimens from nearly every land-dwelling arthropod family known to science. It was exciting to see physical specimens of many of the species I’d only heard about, though I would have preferred to see them live, minus the ticks and Brazilian wandering spiders, of course. The section on blood-suckers was, needless to say, unnerving.
Finally, we stopped off at the reptile and amphibian exhibit to see some of the most venomous snakes in Costa Rica. I’d forgotten the general rules for distinguishing venomous from non-venomous snakes, but I will record them here. Non-venomous snakes tend to have large eyes with round pupils and larger scales on the head, while venomous snakes have small eyes with slit pupils and uniformly sized scales across their bodies. In any case, I am in no hurry to meet a fer-de-lance anywhere outside of a cage. Not only does its bite kill a person in four hours, but it’s also very aggressive. I’m glad I’m not a banana farmer.
We caught the last shuttle back to the hotel and decided on a whim to hit another night walk, thinking we would have better luck this time. We didn’t see any mammals at all, though my brother did point out a tree frog for all to see. It was also the night of the great termite hatch, where thousands of queens and drones took to the air for their courtship flight. Plenty landed all over us, and interestingly enough, as soon as they did, their wings began to slough off. I felt sadistic just letting them slough off, but as the guide said, of the thousands in the air at any given time, only two or three will actually survive.
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