Day 13 - La Fortuna Day 1

We couldnt see the volcano this morning as it is very misty.  It rained a bit but then the sun came out and up went the temperature.  This place is stunning and very quiet. 

 
Path to our room

 
The small lake (apparently contains an Alligator)

I went for a walk while Paul was getting ready and saw a lot of different things.  The breakfast area is high up overlooking a lake and again we saw a lot of wildlife from there. All the following photos were taken before 9.30am

 
Rufous Tailed Hummingbird

 
Crested Guan


 
Cattle Egret


 
Iguana

 
Purple Gallinule

 
Scarlet Rumped Tanager - Female 


 
Scarlet Rumped Tanager - Male

 
Great Kiskadee in restaurant



 
Great Kiskadee building nest

 
Great Kiskadee building nest
 

 
Agouti

 
Agouti

 
Buff Throated Saltator

 
Black Pheobe

We went for a swim in the Hot Spring pools which were surprisingly quiet.  The main pool was very busy so I think we made the right choice. While in one of the pools Paul noticed a large iguana heading towards us.  The iguana stopped about 2m away from the edge of the pool and seemed to be watching us for a while.  He then lifted himself onto his front and back feet and did a very long wee, followed by a very big poo.  He finally dropped himself down and left the pool area.  Paul rushed to get a camera.  We realised that we saw hundreds of these creatures in Galapagos and had never seen one do this before.

 
Paul in the thermal pool

 
One of the thermal pools

 
Iguana Poo

 
Butterfly

We were collected early afternoon for an excursion called "Hanging Bridges and Hot Springs".  Actually these were 2 separate tours.  Not too far away is a trail which takes you through the forest and uphill crossing various bridges.  We saw a Pit Viper snake, a lizard and a toad on the way as well as some unusual plants and a few birds.  When we got to the first of the big Hanging Bridges I knew I couldnt go over it.  As per ususal here there were a lot of tourists and the trail was a bit of a production line.  Everyone going over was stopping at regular intervals for photos and the bridge was very high and moving a lot.  I decided to go back but Paul continued.

 
 Arenal Volcano from Hanging Bridges Trail

 
Orchid

 
Toad - down a hole in the bank

 
Unusual flowers from plant related to the Pineapple

 
Pit Viper.  Very difficult to make out but it is horizontal 
with head resting on its body looking left.

 
Wedge-billed Woodcreeper

 
Lizard in tree

I managed to get to the end of the trail which was near another very long and high bridge.  While waiting for the group to appear I watched humming birds and Leaf Cutter Ants.  There was a load noise and I realised that there was a troop of Howler Monkeys in the area.  They were in the trees above the bridge and one of them came onto the bridge and I got some good videos of him.

 
Howler Monkey

 
Howler Monkey

 
Howler Monkey on bridge

 
Hummingbird at work

We went back to the hotel for a very quick change and then went to the Hot Springs which were a series of 5 or 6 thermally heated pools.  One of them was extremely hot and the others were all comfortable.  We made our way around all the pools and took a drink from the bar into the pool.  It was great fun but has made me feel very tired.  We had dinner at the Hot Spring restaurant and then came back to the hotel.








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