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	Feb 12th, Andrea Cristina B&B:What would a jungle be without a hammock at every stop. This is our first hammock, on the veranda at the Andrea Cristina B&B. A good place to sit and write at 10pm when I couldn't get to sleep our first night in the country.
	A tree full of plants in the middle of a field in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui. It still looked like the trees in the jungle, but gave us a chance to see an isolated tree.
	Who knows what this was. It was perched on this leaf the day we left for Rara Avis, and was still there, a half inch further down, 4 days later. No sign of having eaten the leaf or done much at all. We weren't even sure which side was up.
	Heliconia blooms in the andrea Cristina B&B garden.
	Feb 13th:The "Golden Swallow" was our boat to tour the Sarapiqui River. We took a 3 hour tour our first morning in Costa Rica, and saw more animals in that time than anywhere else. Howler monkeys jumping from branch to brach high up in the canopy, a sloth sleeping up in a tree, iguanas sunning themselves (and occasionally falling into the water from 40 ft. above - that was funny), crocodiles, swallows, bats, poison frogs, etc. This is the place to see wildlife, and if we go back, I'd choose to do a few night stay in Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast, where you have to go down this river to get there. A 4 hour trip each way.
	Irena sits watching the morning river pass by.
	Audra and the Golondrina De Oro captain. He really new where to stop for animals, and could spot them from 50 ft., when it took me being 10ft. away to see them. A quiet, but funny man, who still laughed at the iguanas falling asleep and into the water, having to swim back to shore.
	Getting out of the boat for a short walk, our guide pointed out these bats hanging in the folds of a huge tree.
	One of the many heron-type birds we saw sunning themselves on dead branches in the river.
	A large crocodile on the bank of the Sarapiqui River. Maybe 6-8 ft. long.
	While we look at the bats, the guide went off into the forest to look for something. He came back shaking his cupped hands, as if ready to roll dice. He opened them to reveal slightly disoriented poison frogs. In about 30 sec. they regained their senses and jumped off into the forest.
	More of our gorgeous morning on the Sarapiqui River.
	Feb. 14th-17th, Rara Avis:Irena near all our stuff (for the 2 of us) and our soon to be favorite gear - rubber boots. We borrowed them at the Rara Avis office for our stay. Other parks we visited also had them for rent.
	The infamous tractor-pulled cart ride up to Rara Avis - 3 hours of gruelling bumping, shaking, swaying. We half-stood or kneeled most of the way to keep from getting a jolt every time the cart would bounce hard.
	Jungles leading to Rara Avis. When we got off the tractor transport with an hour to walk or and hour to ride, we all opted the walk. My head was about to fall off, and my legs couldn't take it anymore. And this was our first real walk in the jungle!
	The Rara Avis waterfalls, from the lookout point. After our 3 hour hell ride up, and 1 hour walk through the jungle, we put our stuff away and went for a short walk to see this before dinner.
	Roughing it at Rara Avis. The sink outside our room. Rustic, simple, outside. Nice vine decoration, though. I have to admit that going to the toilet in the dark of night was a bit nerve-wracking - you didn't really want the door open for fear of night intruders, but you didn't really want it closed for fear of those that had already set up camp inside.
	Next to the outdoor sink was our toilet and shower. Like I said, rustic.
	Tree bromeliad close-up.
	Jungle flower.
	Arnulfo, our guide at Rara Avis. He'd take us out for an hour's walk after breakfast each day, and then for another adventure after a nap after lunch. His spanish was a bit hard to understand at first - it felt like a few letters were left off the end of each word. But, with some english and spanish mized together, we communicated just fine. He taught us about all sorts of wonders in the jungle, and we taught him the term ugly american (literally, not by our behavior).
	Irena sits on a large root, at the base of a tree platform used by researchers. Both she and Audra were in top shape by the end of their 3 days in Rara Avis - lots of walking, and scrambling up and down steep steps helped. So did waking up at 5:30am for "bird time" and going to sleep by 8:30pm because there was no light and it had been a long day.
	A small lizard scampered alongside the catwalk from the Waterfall Lodge to the dining hall.
	Mushrooms in the jungle. Although Irena was interested in finding as many varieties as possible, most of the guides didn't seem to know much about them. There really weren't any in the local cuisine, so perhaps that explains it.
	The dining room at Rara Avis. Everyone had to leave their messy, muddy rubber boots at the door, which meant the wooden floor was really clean. The whole dining room was - even the sugar for coffee was in a jar in a dish filled with water to keep the ants away. This place managed to be more free of insects than a house in the city. Although, we were told that a huge boa constrictor had once graced one of the corners. Meals were simple, but plentiful and delicious, and repeated every 3 days or so.
	Outside the dining room at Rara Avis, where you leave your muddy boots.
	A bamboo grove in the jungle, covered in moss.
	One of the waterfalls at Rara Avis close-up. The water was just cold enough that it was only at midday you'd want to go swimming here. We never did, but some Costa Rican guests came down to swim and the one who decided to walk barefoot got a really nasty bite from an inch-long ant. His foot was in pretty serious pain for the rest of the day and he was limping the next morning. But it was beautiful - the waterfall was frequented by tadpoles and various jewel-colored butterfiles absentmindedly flying along it.
	Our cook Adelio(?). He made 3 great meals a day, out of fresh fruit and vegetables, rice, beans, fish. The first time I'd had a green bean omelet, and it was good. Our last morning there I came down around 5:30am to tell him we wouldn't need lunch for the trip, that we were hiking out after lunch, and we both got to see the tapir, contentedly munching away on a bush just outside the dining room door.
	Lots of black, juicy caterpillars.
	Tropical flowers on a wet plant.
	A strangler fig (thick, outer covering) almost done with its job on some host tree. You can still see the original tree through the gaps.
	One of the specially variegated plants. They do this to play sick (mimic some nutrient deficiency) or to attract insects to smaller, dull colored flowers near the stem. This one is only red when looking from below.
	Like stained glass. It is a surprise this one hasn't made it to the US for Valentine's Day. (Shhh. You didn't hear that suggestion.)
	Another strangler fig.
	These ferns were everywhere, and they looked like Costa Rican jungles were furnished by the K-Mart fake plant dept. They had a bluish-green color and looked just like bad plastic plants. So which came first?
	Guiselle, our housekeeper, who could take both my mother's and my packs and other stuff and scamper off in flip flops across slippery wood steps without a second thought. Grace and strength, and a mischievous sense of humor. She saw a photo of me with long hair and couldn't figure out why I'd want to cut it.
	Our last night was spent here, at the Waterfall Hotel. Worth the upgrade in price. We even got a visit from the illustrious climbing rat of Costa Rica. He left some "presents" on the sheets.
	Jungle mushrooms. The guides didn't seem very interested in them but we kept finding new varieties
	View of the waterfall at Rara Avis on a cloudy day.
	Audra and the leaf-cutter anthill. The ledge at shoulder height was busy with ants carrying garbage to the edge, and dumping it off the side. (In his boredom at little artistic freedom with the photos, Tom has added a little of his own artwork. See if you can guess what part.)
	Irena and a particularly dense collection of roots.
	Walking palm roots. Apparently, these palms can move up to 1 meter from where they've started in search of a more sunny spot near the jungle floor.

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