Something amusing

[gemfyre]

Somewhere along the line I heard rumours that with a really good guide it was possible to see 400 bird species in a day in Costa Rica. Of course someone else provided the voice of reason and mentioned that seeing that many in a day would mean seeing a new species every few minutes and the subsequent frantic ticking and moving on would completely diminish the experience of observing the birds and wildlife and natural beauty of the place. If I see 100 birds a day it would still be utterly spectacular, and that seems quite a possibility.

So of course Costa Rica settled itself into my "countries to visit ASAP" list (as opposed to my "countries to visit eventually - which pretty much includes all of them).

But the clincher that bumped it to a top priority came in a kinda weird way.

Me being intruged by various exotic and gross diseases was one day Googling "Bot fly". An insect that likes to lay eggs on living tissue and the maggots proceed to feed on the living flesh as a parisite. An image search yielded a photograph of a volcanic cone with glowing lava flowing down it's side. A click of the link produced a tale about some poor sod who managed to get botfly larvae on his testicles in Costa Rica, but also made me aware of Volcan Arenal, one of the world's most active volcanoes which was easily and relatively safely viewed from an observatory in the country.

The chance to view this volcano and it's small but spectacular eruptions AS WELL as hundreds of birds (and the vague possibility of an Ocelot and Jaguar) put Costa Rica on top of the list of countries I need to visit as soon as I can afford it.

Comments

[day-dreamer165.livejournal.com]

... as well as the chance to see someone with their testicles being eaten by maggots, of course!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I have been, and it was quite spectacular. I didn't get a botfly, but a friend did on another trip. To see 200 species in a day you would need a good guide to lead you, and a good driver to take you to a few places. In a week, at a more leisurely pace, you could see 200 species and really enjoy yourself. Another friend of mine went to nearby Panama, stayed in an old American military tower modified for ecotourism, hired a good guide and saw more than 200 species in a week.

When I was in Costa Rica, I was with a group (of non-birders) with a few pretty good guides, and in a week was able to see more than a hundred species. There are something like 900+ documented bird species there (about the same as all of North America!) In a very small country there are big cities, rainforests, cloud forests, volcanoes, and the coasts of two oceans. If I spoke better spanish I'd move there.

[morningglorymlp.livejournal.com]

Costa Rica is up there on my list too. I believe it's one of the biggest eco-tourist countries out there. But don't quote me on that.

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

From all that I've read, you are correct.

However, it also seems that a lot of places are just jumping on the bandwagon and claiming they are "eco" tourism when they are not very eco at all.

Wanna come? Next July is the forecast time. ;)

[morningglorymlp.livejournal.com]

Yea, I get that feeling too about the eco-tourism thing (anywhere) because saving the environment is the cool thing to do now.

I'd really like to go, but I don't know what my money or work situation will be. How far ahead do you have to decide for sure?

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Not 100% sure, but I imagine it'll be a few months.

I'm just starting my research well ahead of time. :)

[morningglorymlp.livejournal.com]

Let me know what you find out. I'm interested, but like I said, I don't know where I'll be money and work wise.

Did you find the birding tour you mentioned online or was it in the book?

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Online, through VENTbird.

http://www.ventbird.com/images/itineraries/itinerary_695.pdf

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

yues, those are the scrotum maggots