Rara Avis

Hi Everyone!

Things are great here in Fern Gully. Last weekend we went to this very rustic hippie retreat up in the mountains- Rara Avis. Rara Avis means rare bird- and this was true there were no birds. This place has no electricity in the "lodge" and was very, very basic as far as ammenities go but so pristine and beautiful.

The journey there begins with a 3 hour tractor ride through these wonderful logging and farming trails. As you can see it was pretty muddy and gnarly.

Of course the most random things happen to us. So we are on this tractor bouncing around to the point of hilarity and what happens? Two butterflys land on Almira's hand and hang out there for about 5 minute. I think I am married to Snow White.

Here is a photo to prove it. I am pretty sure that I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't been there.

Once the tractor ride was finished we then had to hike the rest of the way in- an hour or so. Everyone there is required to where these snazzy rubber boots, for the snakes, mud, and such. We actually ended up buying our own because hey they look cool and everyone wears them. When we went to buy the boots the guy at the hardware store tried to get us to buy the nicer model by saying that "these boots would not be just for you but an heirloom to be passed down to your son and his son (translated from Spanish)" Man do people take their rubber boots seriously- so we of course got the nicer ones. I feel that it was a wise investment, but I will have to wait to see if our grandkids are still wearing them to see if the sales guy was right.

Rara Avis is so cool becuase it is really a scientific research station. The guy who started it was the basis for the movie Medicine Man. The really funny thing is that we actually live here. It is still so weird to us that it is not weird that this is where we are now.



On our hike to Rara Avis' center, ie where the food is, we learned about the walking palm. This little guy to the left. These things have been tracked to move up to two meters a month. They move their crazy branches and roots to find the sun and water and in the process actually move. Very Lord of the Rings I know.




Once we got there, finally, we saw the main reason we came this far, the fabled 4 tiered waterfall! This is the coolest place that I have ever been to. Period. I think that Almira would agree. The water was so clean and pure. We loved it!



This is us in front of the bottom tier of the waterfall. We had quite the slippery hike to get there. But thanks to our auto timer on our camera we were both able to get in the shot. Even these pictures cannot fully express how beautiful this place is. One of our favorite trips to be sure.



And this of course is the random photo of the week. Doesnt this look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book? This was outside our window at Rara Avis.

This place is unreal. We love you all! Drop us a line sometime.

Tirimbina and More Fun w/ Nature

Hello - We hope that everyone is well and enjoying the winter. I read that this winter has seen the most snow cover in the US since the 1960's. I must admit that it is hard to think that it is ever cold anywhere. Wisconsin is going to be a rough adjustment for sure. We are just getting over a pretty nasty illness. It knocked us out for about a week. But I am happy to report that we are both feeling much better.

We have had a few more adventures to report on. We went to La Tirimbina last week. It is a nature preserve and so cool. We hiked all around the park, and spent sometime trying to get un-lost.

We learned that when the sign says "Warning- Do Not Enter Without Guide" There is probably a good reason for that. The trail was washed out on more than a few parts of the trail and sometimes the trail didn't even appear to be a real trail. Always a good time. Always. In our endless journeying we did find and see some cool stuff. Mostly this is because Almira has almost Super Hero Like vision. She can spot the most random and hard to see animals and plants.

For example. Play find the frog. In this picture there is a frog hidden in the leaves. Can you find it? Almira did. Really her vision is pretty amazing. Oh the things you learn while living in the middle of nowhere in Costa Rica.

Also a Cocoa Plant that was growing on one of trees we saw while we were lost on our hike. It looks pretty unreal. It is hard to believe that things grow like that.

On the way in we got to cross this insanely long suspension bridge. It was so high and very shaky. This picture does not really show how long the bridge is. Something to see in person for sure. Any takers?

This was my favorite part of the hike. The strangest prehistoric looking bug. It was so strange looking. Every time I think that I have seen all of the strange things that I will see on this trip another crazy bug shows up. I did not intend to say "strange" so many times. Oops!

We love you all! Drop us a line sometime and let us know how you are doing and fill us in what is going with you.

The Great Almond Tree Chronicles

Hello! Happy Valentine's Day! We hope that everyone is doing great out there so far from the equator. We are loving our time here in the CR. Yesterday we went on a hike to go see the official favorite tree of Costa Rica 2007. Yes they really do have that award here. This tree the Gran El Almendero or Great Mountain Almond Tree is huge and over 600 years old! I do not think that the pictures fully communicate the sheer size of this tree. (Almira wanted me to mention that I chose this photo- I like the blurry- looks very candid.)

It seems to have its own ecosystem, complete with huge cave like holes filled with bats. This part was bigger than I am- no fat jokes please. Just to give you an idea. (The picture to the right)

The hike was great and of course is right near where we work/live. So it was a nice little morning hike with our crew from work. It was rainy fun at its best. Here is a picture of all of the hippies that work at the center. They are Ticas(Costa Ricans), Indian, Hungarian, and good old Americans. It is funny how true the stereotypes are. We are of course the exceptions to most of these (I do however own several pairs of Birkenstocks and Almira and I love the Grateful Dead).

Maybe this shot gives a better view of the giant tree but not really. Truly a site to behold. Come visit and we will take you here....any takers?

We also had a family of howler monkeys move in- permantley- next to our office. They are definitely appropriately named. Those suckers can howl! These guys are around all of the time and we never get tired of watching them.

And of course... the random animal/bug/flower picture of the week... Yurtle the turtle. This little guy was hanging out right in our path during our Almendero Hike.

Until next time...We love and miss you all! Please post your comments we read and sure do love them.

Bugs, Lizards, and Bats Oh My...

Hello everyone. We hope that you are doing well and missing us. Things here in Sarapiqui are great! We are loving the nature and helping the people. We have only been here a few weeks and already seeing the rewards. (Notice: No bugs were harmed in the making of this blog)

One afternoon we happened upon the coolest Leaf Bug. It doesnt look real does it? I was so intrigued with this bug. I took a ton of photos and even played with it a bit. Then...

I got a bit hungry so I decided to take a bite. And no it did not taste like chicken.

This was a find of Almira´s. A very odd and hairy catipillar. This thing was beyond strange. It did not like being distrubed, but we couldn´t help but take a picture or two.

This little guy, lets call him Mr. Bojangles, was just hanging out near our office. He loved Almira, and let her take many pictures up close. Mr. Bojangles did not like me however and took off when I got close.

This grinning fellow is a fruit bat we saw on our nightly walk back to our house. Menacing looking isnt he. Here is a factoid: There are over 154 different types of bats in Costa Rica. Carleigh still want to come visit? They only eat the bugs and some eat fruit. With all of the bugs here we love bats!

And here we are downing a virgin Piña Colada. One of our English students works at an organic pineapple farm, and she made these for us fresh and from scratch. Oh, buddy was it good! People really are that nice, and all of the time. This place is like living in Alice and Wonderland. You never know what is going to happen next but you know that it will be strange and funny. At this rate I would not be totally shocked to meet an iguana wearing a top hat.

We love you all. Please leave comments- we love ém!

Until next time....

Near Electrocution and Other Stories

This is our fun little yard. We live behind the super mercado! It is about the size of an average garage in the states but it does have Kern´s juice and Canada Dry Ginger Ale so it really is super to us.

Things have been good. We are really feeling local of late. When we go into town (Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui) we recognize people and chat with them on the street. Pretty cool.


This is our usual yummy dinner of beans. Made with our very own hot plate. This was sort of rare thing for us to eat. We usually have some sort of sandwich filled with local produce, avocados, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and cheese. Always a good time for dinner at our place.

We came home one night and saw the biggest toad I have ever seen. It was bigger than my foot! We thought it was pretty funny.

This is a flower from a tree right next to where we eat lunch. It was huge! The flowers here look unreal.

This is a picture of one of the many Birds of Paradise plants in our front yard. They are like weeds here.

This is Almira (isnt she adorable?) standing next to our ¨ducha¨ shower. Notice the random wires sticking out of the top? This is how they heat the water here. No water tank just coils that instantly heat the water. That sounds about right doesnt it? Anyway ours broke for about a week- it would short out on us and then once we would turn off the water the coils would activate and give our place a free steam bath. Thankfully we have a new one now. It works great and we are thankful not to have gotten a jolt.

All and all things are great! We are going to be in a local Costa Rican magazine this month- for our English classes. Should be pretty cool! We love you all! Please write we love the comments and the emails! Keep them coming!!!

Love you, Kyle and Almira

A Day in the Life of...

Hey folks! Sorry, the camera's power died...so these are the only pics we've got. Kyle: eating a cucumber and sitting on the "lazy chair" in front of our neon orange house (most people really do just sit outside their houses in plastic or wicker chairs and do nothing). Then there is the creepy picture of the giant grasshopper held by an astonished Almira (we found this live specimen just outside our classroom)...that is all for now. We'll power up the camera for more fun pics to come! Stay tuned for our next blog "Near Electrocution"...sounds promising doesn't it? Love and miss you all!

Long Awaited Fotos

This is us at 4am in the Atlanta airport Sunday morning. Man were we tired...as you can tell.

The view from our Hostel our first night in San Jose.

View from the Center in Sarapiqui

Almira in our office at the Center

Part of our daily walk to work

More of the same.

Awesome tree frog

Once we finally made it to Sarapiqui and the Center they had prepared an amazing chocolate cake for Almira.

Our lovely kitchen-complete with hot plate!