Hi Guys-
Costa Rica was great!!! We were there for 10 days and we got to see quite a bit but not everything. We started off driving to the coast the night we got there and stayed at Playa Hermosa in a nice little cabina overlooking the ocean. Next day we headed down to Manuel Antonio which is a popular tourist destination where we stayed a great place nestled up to the jungle. We hit a serpentarium that really sucked. It was overpriced and the animals weren't healthy and there wasn't too many of them.
Next we hit Puerto Jimenez which is located next to Corcovado State Park. We stayed the night down there but didn't really dig the scene to much and bailed the next day up the coast staying at a killer place overlooking the ocean. Down below our hotel room were Green Iguanas and Spiny Tail. Sunset was phenomenal!!!
The next day we hit a serpentarium that was mentioned by the hotel proprietor and it was awesome. The people there were named Quetzal and Monica and we ended up staying there and chatting with them for 2 hours. Their displays and their and were top notch and they even gave us a tour of their Pearl Island Boas and their hatchery. They were some of the nicest folks. Definitely my favorite serpentarium of the trip.
We then hit the north up to Volcan Arenal. On our way we hit up World of Snakes another serpentarium. It was a large numbered display, but after visiting with Quetzal and Monica it wasn't as great of an experience. We stayed at a pretty nice resort at the base of the Volcano and at night the top of it glowed. They had a Crocodile exhibit and Frog exhibit and there was another serpentarium around the volcano. The serpentarium was very well kept, the animals were healthy and the guide was very cool taking out animals and opening cages so I could snap some photos.
We ended the trip with a stay in Monteverde. A mountain town at about 4200 ft elevation. We went on a hike through the cloud forest and saw some monkeys, I saw what appeared to be a Cribo slithering away and a tarantula but not much else. The forest is wet and pretty amazing at how much stuff actually is growing everywhere. The whole two days it was raining on and off. There was a serpentarium there and it was clean but there were hardly any animals there.
The country is beautiful and I would recommend going there. If your Spanish sucks it's ok, for the most part everyone speaks English. I wish I had done a little more herping but on the way out we did see some DOR's a false coral and a Tree Boa. Next time I do go it will be specifically to go herping...After all it was my honeymoon and she did have to put up with all the Serpentariums.
I have a lot more pictures that I will be putting into photobucket so you can check them out but here is a sample for now.
Quetzal and Monica from Reptilandia holding Cribos
Playa Las Ventanas......There were caves that went through to the other side of the hill and water would gush in.
Eyelash Vipers.....Awesome!!
Volcan Arenal
Bushmaster
Sunset in Ojachal
Frog
Croc
Me and a horse at Ojochal
