Costa Rica, 2006

I did not like Costa Rica. I didn't care for the condition of the roads, the quality of the rooms booked by the travel agent, and the people who, for the most part, neither wore the welcoming smiles I had encountered on a recent trip to Oaxaca and refused to speak English even though taught by all schools.

My attitude may have been due to this trip coming too close after moving from CA to Texas. Everything appears Blah, when exhausted. Still, I had come to see monkeys, and I saw plenty of them :-)

Happy looking caiman





There is abundant water in Costa Rica, and the country's ecological efforts have preserved abundant wildlife.





Here you see a difficult to spot howler monkey.


We viewed these sunbathing crocodiles safely from up above, standing on a bridge.







Jesus Christ lizards, so called because they walk on water. Yes, really!










Tiny bats, all camouflaged in a row


















Cottage in the mangroves



The "Biggest & Baddest"













To our delight, the monkeys jumped onto the canopy of our boat. We were warned to not put our hands out, and to be careful of our sunglasses.


Mangroves. This is where we saw the largest number of monkeys because the small tourist boat captains feed them with bananas and watermelon.

I have determined that it's possible to get photos of beautiful things no matter where one goes. All one needs to do is isolate
images. Therefore, it's always a mistake to assume one knows the environment from looking at photos. All you really know is the photographer's viewpoint, and possible determination.
The only place where we saw such magical flowers where within our resort on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Perhaps, elsewhere the blossoms were food for the wildlife.