Greentracks trip to Esquinas Lodge, Costa Rica.
September 20 - 28, 2002
Frogs	Snakes	Lizards	Inverts	Scenes	Esquinas Lodge	Humans	Other Animals	Gallery	Trip Diary
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Buenos dias! This is the digital diary of my recent trek to the Costa Rica rainforest, which was organized by Greentracks and led by the fearless Bill Lamar.  Below is a summary of each day's activity, followed by a list of animals we saw.

Click the pictures above for links to more detailed pages and pictures.  I've tried to include the genus and species for most animals pictured, but am not an expert - so please contact me if I got it wrong or otherwise omitted anything.   Except where noted, all photographs were taken by me with either a Canon AE-1 Program or Nikon Coolpix 995.  The Coolpix is responsible for the extreme close-ups.  Please contact me for copies of prints or high-res jpeg files if you're interested.

Thanks for visiting, and enjoy!

Shawn:

Last updated 9/25/03

Trip Diary:

This eco-trip was organized by GreenTracks, a Colorado-based outfit specializing in Central and South American wildlife and nature tours.  This particular tour was a "herp" tour - one that focused on reptiles and amphibians.  A special thanks to George Ledvina at Greentracks for making this a most enjoyable experience, from start to finish.  If anyone is interested in this type of adventure, please check them out!

Day 1: Leaving on Friday 8/20 at 18:30, I flew from San Francisco to San Jose, stopping in L.A. and Guatemala City.  The plane out of L.A. broke on the way to the runway, creating a two-hour delay while we found another plane to use.  Nevertheless, both me and my luggage arrived in San Jose only an hour late on 9/21, landing at 08:30.  Not too bad, all things considered.....

Day 2: A pre-arranged taxi picked me up at the airport and I was taken to Hotel Don Carlos in downtown San Jose.  Hotel Don Carlos is a quaint and nice place to stay.  After napping for a bit I met my first travelling companion and roommate for the trip, Lance McAllister.  Lance also happens to be a fellow Syracusan!  We went to Alejandro's (more on him later) Serpentarium, then hit the "Monkey Bar" next door for several hours of drinking and pool, where I was thoroughly trounced by Lance.  I'm sure the "cervezas" didn't help!   Upon returning to the hotel, we met one of the other two couples we are travelling with - Danny and Sharon Brower from Arizona.  Soon afterwards we met the second couple, Peter Lawrence and Birgitta Haraldson (visiting all the way from England).  Our group was complete!  We had dinner together, got to know each other a bit,  and retired for the night - big day tomorrow!

Day 3: The day began with breakfast (Costa Rican coffee - yum!) at the hotel and few minutes to check out the souvenir shop before we meet Bill Lamar and Alejandro Solorzano, our guides for the week.    Both are expert naturalists and extremely familiar with Costa Rica. I don't think we could have asked for better leaders.  After introductions, we pile into the van and off we go for a lengthy trip south to Esquinas Lodge.  Halfway there we stop at a 12,000' mountain pass for some stretching and quick herping, where I find the first herp of the trip - a highland alligator lizard!  I thought to myself that it was exactly a week earlier when I caught his northern relative, Gerrhonotus coeruleus, while hiking at Point Reyes.  The rest of trip included roadkill sights of a dead boa and sloth, and then.....a yearling fer-de-lance - one of the deadliest and most feared snakes in Central America!  It was alive and crossing the road: we stopped, Bill jumped out and managed to grab it somehow using his sandals, and avoiding a huge tour bus that came roaring by in the process.  Our first snake and it's a doozy!  We popped it into a safe and secure container for later photo-shoots, and continued on.  The adventure has begun!  Later, after bribing our way through a police roadblock (one of three we would encounter), we arrived at the lodge - what a beautiful place!  Exactly what you'd imagine a tropical rainforest to be like, and the lodge right in the middle of it.   After getting settled we went out on a night hike, saw two more fer-de-lances and lots of frogs, including a red-eye leaf frog.  We captured what we could (and left the fdl's alone!).  After the hike we hung out at the bar, re-hydrating with some cervezas and getting to know each other a bit more.  I once again reflected on how lucky I was to be in the company of Bill, who was not only so willing to share all he knew about the plants and creatures of the forest, but also about photography and quite a few other things as well!

Day 4: The day began with a forest hike in the morning, and included the capture of a few more photography "models".  It is HOT!  You sweat a gallon an hour it seems down there, but if you know me I'd rather have that than snow!  There is a pool at the lodge however that is fed by the cool jungle stream flowing through the lodge area.  How refreshing to jump in there after a long sweaty hike!  After lunch we took a few photos, drank and siesta'd, then went out on another night hike.   The hike was delayed for a bit because we wore Bill out so much he fell asleep.  This was hereafter to be referred to as the "Great Wait"!  With advice from Bill, I was able to catch a basilisk (and redeem myself after missing one earlier in the day) - one of the highlights for me.   We saw yet another fer-de-lance that night, one of seven we'd see that week.

Day 5: The routine all set, out we went on another morning hike, herping and "bugging" with our entomologically-tilted group.   The lodge has over 10 miles of trails that lead from it, so we had plenty to explore!  The afternoon brought a heavy rain, dampening our activities - or at least those that didn't involve sleeping or drinking.  After another amazing dinner (all meals at the lodge were INCREDIBLE - some of the best food I've ever eaten, with native dishes and locally grown fruits and vegetables) we went road herping, but unfortunately only found naught more than a squashed snake, which was unusual.  Despite today's rain, it has not been as wet as it normally would be this time of year, which may have contributed to fewer animals scurrying about.

Day 6: Prior to our morning hike we did a photo shoot and then set out on the waterfall trail.  The afternoon was spent doing some more photography, and in the evening we went on another night hike.  One of the more exciting events happened to me on this hike.  At one point towards the end of the hike we found a sizable fer-de-lance coiled up at the base of a giant tree.  After the others admired it from a distance and then moved on, Danny stayed for a while to photograph it while I stood sentry making sure it didn't try anything funny.   When he finished I commented how much the "little boy" in me wanted to poke the snake to see what happens.  Danny, being much older and wiser than I, quickly reminded me that we're adults now and this is a VERY dangerous and deadly snake.   He then pointed out that his stick was longer, so we'd poke him with that!  I had my escape route downtrail all set and he'd hightail it uptrail should the snake dart out.  Well, surprise of surprises, the snake DID dart out, and promptly headed (where else?) downtrail!  You should have seen me run!  Anyway, that was my adrenaline rush for the night.

Day 7: Today we took a day-trip in the van to Golfito, and to a very scenic overlook at the top of a mountain there.  We could see the bay and the Osa Peninsula off in the distant.  A beautiful sight.   Upon returning to the lodge, we took a few more pictures and then took a trip to an acquaintance of Alejandro's a couple hours up the coast.   We saw and photographed a few neat snakes that he had, loaded up the van with some animals Alejandro needed to pick up (including a bushmaster), and road herped on the way back to the lodge.   Again, the road herping was unusually unproductive.  Oh well, you never know what Mother nature's going to provide for you.  I was still happy just to be here to have the opportunity.

Day 8: One more final photo shoot, then on the way back to San Jose.  Along the way we got to drive through numerous small towns, and stopped at botanical garden to look around.  After a few more hours on the road we were reminded that the adventure was far from over.  A section of the Pan-American highway (the main north-south route through Costa Rica) had gotten washed away during the week (we had drove over the same spot on the way down).  It was not going to be repaired anytime soon, that was for sure.  So we doubled back and luckily found a detour through a pineapple field.  Even once we got back on the road it wasn't smooth sailing.  The road, which is only two lanes and has no shoulders, climbs uphill for over 50 miles into the mountains.  Cars were passing trucks on blind corners, making the trip a nail biter for what seemed like an eternity, and we did have a couple close calls.  Nevertheless, we survived the trip and arrived in San Jose later that evening, returning to Hotel Don Carlos.  After a final dinner with my travel-mates I went off the bed and Lance did what he does best - went to the bar.   I never did find out from him if that cute waitress was there again......

Day 9: Early the next morning, Danny, Sharon and I shared a taxi to the airport and I departed San Jose around 9:30, arriving in San Francisco about 18:30.  What a long flight.  But I wasn't idle during the trip back - I was already planning my next Greentracks trip - Peru and the Amazon!  I can't wait........

A not-so complete list of animals we saw while in Costa Rica:

* Already in captivity at time of photograph

** Road killed

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