July 9, 2009

July 9,2009
Rain Forest Walk


Andrew and I woke up Thrusday morning and went to the restaurant for some typical Costa Rican breakfast food!! We started off with a plate of fruit (as we did every morning), then had Gallo Pinto, tortillas, eggs, juice, and coffee!!! YUM!

We went on our Rain Forest walk tour in the morning. We were picked up by the company and then dropped off at one of the inlets of the forest. In our minds we thought we were going to be with a tour group! Oh no! It was Andrew and I and our own private English speaking tour guide!!

It was AWESOME!!!! We learned SO SO much that we wouldn't have been able to read in a book or manuel!

This is a planet that grows in these two stages. It takes only about 2 weeks for it to go from the little one to the big one!

This is the tree where they get the rubber in bubble gum from!! That is where all the cuts in the tree come from. He didn't allow us to do the same as it is not good for the tree.

This is a monkey brush! He told us that the monkeys come down from the trees and brush each other's fur!! Smart little monkeys!!


In this video:
1) He explains the monkey brush
2) He shows us a leaf that some people smoke or women boil to lose weight
3) He shows us a Heart of Palm Tree
4) He is explaining the different groupings of monkeys in the forest!


Andrew and I can't really remember what bird - but there is this bird and when they are in mating season, the male makes a nest. The female birds go from nest to nest until they find a nest that they like and then will mate with the male! BUT- if she doesn't like it- she'll destory it!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!! I thought that was funny!!!

Follow the camera - this is a branch!

In this video:
1) He talks about the alpha male howler monkey
2) The "little coconuts" in the tree
3) Waves all of the HUNDREDS of flies away in his hair!!!! I think they liked his gel/grease whatever it was!!



In this video:
Our guide, is calling to the howler monkeys. And even though we didn't see one (here) this is how little they are!! But boy oh boy! I think it sounds like someone barfing and Andrew thinks that it is a dog barking! I can see that too!

You can hear cicadas in the background. He told us that some years that don't have them and some years they do. Apparently this is due to the fact that they bury themselves underground for 17 years!!!