Costa Rica Journal - July 28, 2001 23:28 Local Time

Another early morning start took us to the airport, where we took a twin-engine prop plane (just the four of us and the pilot) to Tortuguero, the swamp-lands on Costa Rica, adjacent to the Caribean Ocean. When we arrived, we had to usher out a little lizard, (2) (3) (4) which I then spent a while photographing. It's amazing what a difference the ring light makes. (Without light) (With light) After that, I got a quick shot of a pretty orange flowers.

After breakfast, we walked along a path by the lodge, past the powerlines and saw a bunch of strawberry tree frogs, (2) (3) (4) (5) (6: mid-jump) a dragonfly, a big green grasshopper, and a big funky colored bug. On the way back, the first time, we found a really cool spider and a unique flower. Since the path was soooo muddy, we headed back for some boots, then headed right back out again. This time, we saw another strawberry tree frog.

Back at the lodge, we had lunch of beef and rice, then headed out on a boat ride. We saw a three-toed sloth (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8), Green Heron, an brown iguana, and some Howler monkeys (2) (3) (4) (5). Finally, we saw what I think is the adult Blue Heron.

In the evening, we went over to the beach to watch a giant sea turtle lay her eggs and bury them. Unfortunately, government regulations wouldn't let me bring my camera, but it was a cool experience.



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