About Me

My photo
I love a lot. I wait a lot. I try to find a lot to laugh at. I don't usually have trouble with that. I pray a lot. I'm not always sure who or what I pray to, but I firmly believe that prayer makes a difference. I try not to panic very often. I try to learn something new every day. I spend a lot of time poking my nose into other peoples' bidness via their blogs. I clean up an awful lot of feathers. You can dress me up, but you can't really take me out. I travel a lot when I can find bird sitters and we take them with us when I can't. I drink, prolly to excess, but I rarely get sick because my body is a hostile environment to germs (or maybe no SELF RESPECTING germ would LIVE in my body?) I collect: gnomes, passport stamps, MONEY-preferably US dollars or Euros, red headed womyn and chicks named Stephanie. My Momma taught me many many years ago that girls don't fart, they foosie. She taught me lots of other chit too. Thanks for stopping by-leave me a comment and let me know you were here, feel free to link to me, or email me at jacquelynn.fortner@gmail.com

Friday, January 30, 2009

Final Day in Jaco

Our final day in Jaco was devoted to the birds and the bees, and the flowers and the trees *hums* and the sta...*whacks self upside the head*  Sorry 'bout that.  Musta been something I...oh, nevermind.  We decided to devote the morning to a little place called NeoFauna, a butterfly farm that also has an indigenous frog and snake collection.  The proceeds from this place go to support a jaguar protection program as the jaguar in Costa Rica are now endangered.  

The guy that gives the tour, Randal, was a charming fellow who spoke fluent English.  He was very knowledgeable about all of the animals in their care, and you could tell that he really loves his work.  He started out by taking us through their collection of frogs and snakes.  The Innocent Bystander was really looking forward to seeing some poison dart frogs, and the first three aquariums held three distinct species of them.




He then showed us his snakes, but they were all in aquariums, so we did not get any good pictures but one.  I can't remember what species this one is, but I do remember thinking I'd like to see some shoes in this pattern. (I know...Shame on me!)

And then there was Mikey.  Mikey is a capuchin monkey that was raised as a pet, but he was being mistreated and was reported to NeoFauna who rescued him.  He was malnourished and in poor health.  He is used to humans, both fortunately (so I got to play with him) and unfortunately (because now he is reliant on them), so once they get him back to health they will have to work on reestablishing him with another group of monkeys who can teach him how to forage and fend for himself before they can release him back into the wild.  He is extremely cute, and his little fingers are just like little baby fingers and so soft.  Randal offered to let me into the enclosure, but I know too much about the little buggers to even consider it.  Also, I thought it was kind of a weird offer if they are trying to ready him to return to the wild, eh?



After we finished with the snakes (which did not take long as neither the IB or I have any interest in them other than knowing that they are behind protective glass) and Mikey, we went into the butterfly enclosure.  Again, we only got good pictures of one species (they just never quit flapping around, damn them!), the owl butterfly which is a beautiful blue on one side and has the face of an owl on the reverse.  The angle we got the owl face at does not do it justice, because when the wings are fully extended it looks just like an owl looking at you.  Really weird.



The last little feller we met was this guy, who is about the most awesome little frog I've ever seen, the red eyed leaf frog.  A picture speaks a thousand words.


All in all, it was a fabulous morning, but then we had an evening cruise on the Jungle Crocodile Safari Tour, a two hour boat ride up the Tarcoles river, where we saw about fifteen crocodiles and between 25-40 species of birds, including Scarlet Macaws, Toucans, Ibis, Amazon Parrots, Kingfishers of several varieties, cranes of about a dozen varieties, and many more that I would have to get my list out to name.  Unfortunately, at that distance you would have to have a telephoto lens to get any pictures worth a flip, so I have nothing *holds out hands plaintively*. We tried, but no point putting up pictures of a bunch of leaves, so go grab your fruit loops box-I saw THAT.  

Well, I've used up naptime, so I'm off to finish the gumbo and make some tater salad, so I guess tomorrow I will tell you about our last day in Costa Rica and my impressions overall.  Pura vida!




10 comments:

darsden said...

The last lil dude frog is my favorite. I would so die there trying to pet everything! Would love to go though especially after knowing how much fun you had.

Unknown said...

I love the pics! The monkey and my gosh that last little frog. Wow. Great pics.

derfina said...

Costa Rica-thanks, if you're a person. ;{~~~ if you are spam.

Dar-No, I definitely would not be petting anything!

Dana-I know-I wanted to bring them both home!

*smooches* to all.

Rassles said...

Sweet Mother, that tree frog is fucking adorable.

Marinka said...

Those pictures are fantastic! I love the frog with its legs wrapped around the stalk. Thanks.

Lisa G said...

Ok, that frog is downright cool.

Anna Lefler said...

That's super-cool! I love all the photos...except the snake. I don't do snakes.

Totally not your fault, of course.

Pura vida right back atcha!

:^) Anna

flutter said...

seriously all of those little froggies made me so happy!

Pseudo said...

I like the owl moth...oh, and the red eyed frog...and the monkey. I don't like snakes. Please pass it on to Anna cos I want to hear what her squeak sounds like.

Amy W said...

That's awesome! My boys would've lost it seeing those frogs... they are mad for poison dart frogs. Me, I would've gotten in the cage with that monkey and it would've been like Night at the Museum Redux. !!! Yikes! :)