Brooke's Blog

Wow, so much to say. We have only been in the country for close to a week but it feels like much longer because the days are so jampacked. Costa Rica is such a beautiful, happy, laid back place. I have never been so immersed in wildlife before and every day is full of new exciting animal sightings. So far we have visited the University of Georgia in Monteverde where we saw white faced capuchin monkeys, agoutis, and other forms of wildlife. The campus was very beautiful and the guided hike was very informative. Visiting the Monteverde National Park was also exciting, our group was lucky enough to spot a quetzal, one of the endangered birds of Costa Rica, and it was truly the most beautiful bird I’ve ever seen. Its feathers are very shiny, almost luminescent and the hues of its body are so diverse and powerful. Our group was also lucky enough to have our guide allow us to go off schedule and take a quick trip over to the continental divide, which had breathtaking views. Yesterday was a very fun, exciting and eventful day. On the tranopy over the jungle we spotted 2 two-toed sloths, a toucan, bats, and golden orb spiders. The ziplining was absolutely amazing, it is the closest feeling to flying I have ever felt, I did not ever want it to end. We also were take on a serpentarium tour and learned a lot about the various snakes of Costa Rica which was extremely interesting. All of the guides we have had have been extremely knowledgable and I have learned a lot from them. The people of Costa Rica have all been so friendly and welcoming, they even gave us salsa lessons which was a real treat and very fun. Last night we visited a nearby club that seemed like it did not see too many gringos, but they were all very nice and the drinks were shockingly cheap! Transitioning into the Carara station has been an interesting experience, but after 4 days it is beginning to feel a little bit more like home. We have discovered an interesting roommate living in the girls room, a large fuzzy tarantula that lives in a duct taped hole in the wall. On the first day Louis discovered a tarantula in the boys room and when confronted it put its front legs in the air in an attack position, it was very strange to see a spider act in that manner and definitely gave me the heebie jeebies. Its really fun having lizards, toads and frogs as occasional roommates as well and they can often be seen crawling up the walls or making kissy noises at you when you sleep. The diversity of the wildlife here is so broad and often confronting you with every turn, already today from the station we have seen monkeys and macaws. I am very interested and excited to see all the new wildlife and experiences we will have on the rest of the trip. It was has been absolutely amazing so far and I know there a lot of good more times ahead.