Fruit Snacks

The area we visit in Costa Rica is full of iguanas. We often see them sunbathing on the lawn behind the condo where we stay. There were plenty around the estuary when we took our ride.

The boatmen always have a quartered pineapple in a cooler. During the trip they slice it into bite-sized pieces, providing the passengers with a tasty snack. Our pilot threw the rinds to the iguanas. They were pretty interested.           

My Pal

Never let it be said that this town is a boring speck in flyover country. We have plenty of eccentrics. There is an annual event called the Pagan Picnic in Tower Grove Park. It's been going of for 20-odd years and has been seen on these pages before. It's where our local druids, earth-worshipers, tarot readers, soul travelers and crystal gazers show up to play together.

Lots of people bring the whole family. Many dogs and, to the best of my knowledge, one iguana.     

There are more pictures from New York but I'll post them on Flickr and move on. We'll be back the first week of July, anyway.   

Playa Grande

Playa Grande - Big Beach - is across the estuary from Tamarindo. Despite its proximity it is not easy to reach. You have to go quite a bit inland and then circle back toward the shore, maybe a half hour drive. Much of the area is a national park because leatherback sea turtles use it as a mass nesting area. So not much development and no crowds. Surfers' paradise, Central American style.

As you can see, almost everybody has fun, even the iguana who hangs out by the taco stand.   

Other Locals

Any readers out there, at least Americans, remember Marlin Perkins' Wild Kingdom television show ages ago? Perkins was director of the St. Louis Zoo way back when and had this show about amazing animals around the world. You sort of walk into that when you get out of town in Costa Rica.

While boating on the estuary we came across a group of five iguanas along the shore. I had never seen more than one at a time. Do they have packs or family groups? What with movement of the boat and the underbrush this was the best shot I could get.

The second one was technically difficult with the back lighting. If you look carefully, though, you can see at least three monkeys, all napping in the afternoon heat. (Mad dogs and American tourists go out in the midday sun.) Easy to see the one main face but just to the right of the mouth there is an ear, the head facing left and face concealed. There is a baby all stretched out vertically on the lower right whose fur is a lighter brown.

The bottom two photos are of an identical boat to ours on the estuary and the entrance to the boatmen's cooperative.

I've been really bad about getting back to my colleagues' blogs. It's a week from hell at work to punish me for going away and I have to get pictures of Chef Jujo edited. He's the most interesting person we met down there and I promised him I'd do it.                                

I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General

I have loose associations, as the psychologists say, thoughts that don't directly relate to the stimulus. That's a good thing for being creative if you don't reach the point that they bring in the psychiatrists. 

That Gilbert & Sullivan number was the first thing I thought of when I finished editing these pictures. Adult male iguanas do have a certain haughty bearing and pomposity, clearly the most important and learned creatures in the neighborhood. This guy looks like he could calculate the square of the hypotenuse. 

Shot on the Tempisque River in El Viejo Wetlands.                      

Bite Me

They got crocodiles in the river here!

Actually, not quite a river. There is an estuary between Tamarindo and Playa Grande that goes a couple of miles inland. Playa Grande is a national wildlife preserve. This is the beach where leatherback turtles come to lay their eggs. You can take a boat tour, which we did yesterday. The lower reaches are salt water, a perfect hangout for crocodiles. 

There is lots of other wildlife, particularly birds. I think that's a snowy egret in the second photo. Beneath that, the cute iguana is a much less menacing cousin of the croc. We don't know the birds in the bottom photo. Any insights?