Sparkle Waves, Scaredy Plants, Sea Life, and Surfing, in that order.

Things here seem pretty magical at times.  Macaws all around, monkeys in the trees, and we found out first hand this week, that the waves actually sparkle at night.  There is a bio-luminescent plankton in the water that glows at night if you disturb it.  The beach out our front door has enough waves to make the plankton sparkle on its own, while, further into the gulf, where the water is still, you can wade out on a dark night and see the water twinkle as you splash.  The kids think it is magical. Michael is plotting how he can bottle the water and take it home with him to show his friends.  It is impossible for me to photograph, so you'll just have to use your imagination.  It's similar to the glow of fireflies, and it is just small specks within the water, and on top of it that glow as you splash.  Maybe it is like stars, reflected on the water, but you realize they move and shine with the movement of the waves.  In the still water, they shine stronger as you splash harder.  At our house, the sparkles must be tired from crashing on the beach all night; they are a bit fewer and farther between, but still wonderful to watch. 

One night, we couldn't see the water sparkle because the moon was full.  It lit up the whole beach.  I tried to take pics of the beautiful dark sky, and this is what I came up with.

Then the kids started jumping in and out of my photos, making ghost images as the shutter of my camera stayed open.  Kinda creepy.  Lots o fun. They remind me of Marty McFly's picture in Back to the Future. 

Some of the interesting things we saw this week. 

This butterfly's wingspan was probably 7 or 8 inches.

The iguanas here look like dinosaurs.

Iguana tracks on the beach.

This is the silliest looking chicken I have ever seen. Her little babies have the same crazy naked necks.

This is the rooster.  They were all very small for chickens, about half the size of my chickens back home. The kids thought they were hilarious.

A pink dragonfly.

We found the pink dragonfly next to this green swimming pool.  It is on our street, close to our house, and is "maintained" by the people who own homes here.  The kids loved it, but it is a bit sketchy in my opinion.  With the ocean so close, it seems silly to swim in an algae overgrown little pool. 

I don't know why I liked this little lady so much.  She just seems sweet. 

One of the kids' favorite things about this area are these Scaredy Plants.  They get scared when  you touch them and shrink up their leaves.  We find them along most trails.

We have seen lots of monkeys, and so many of them seem to be carrying babies right now. One man told us that this is a time when a lot of baby animals are born, because it is the beginning of the dry season... like our spring. When we stopped the car to take these first pics of the Spider monkeys, we were pretty close to the mom and baby.  The mother actually screeched at me, I think because we were so close.  Baby was just along for the ride. 

Spider monkeys are really fun to watch as they climb.  They use their tails more than the howlers and Capuchins do.

We've seen quite a few Howlers with babies too. 

Many of the beaches here are very rocky, and a bit hard on your feet.  This is Backwash bay, and the waves were crashing right on the beach, so instead of swimming, they just played stick racing.

There are millions of these hermit crabs on the beaches here. 

We drove to Drake Bay one afternoon to check out the road and spot animals.  It is around an hour and a half from here, and just on the other side (Pacific side) of the Osa Peninsula.  After we leave our Casa Kumbaya, we are spending 2 days in Drake Bay before we head North. We  found these funny monkey bridges, and some really funny White-faced Cappuchins using them. 

I'm fairly certain that this is the creepiest looking monkey in Costa Rica.

He walks like an angry old man. 

The last line says, "Recycling is for our children and grandchildren". Recycling is a pretty big deal here.  

 

We do work sometimes. Here is Chad in his current office.  Depending on the day, he stacks books under his laptop to get an internet signal.  We run on 3G.  It is painfully slow most of the time.  

I learned to make hummus and Pita bread!  It isn't as good as the food we ate at Pita Bonita in Puerto Viejo, but sometimes, it is nice to eat something different.  A lot of the local sodas have pretty similar "casados" that consist of rice and beans and salad and chicken.  Hummus is yummy and different.  Even Ella ate it. 

We decided to do a Dolphin watching tour.  We had heard that there was a pair of Whale Sharks in the Golfo Dulce, and some of the tour boats were lucky enough to see them.  We didn't see the Whale Sharks, but we did find a big pod of Spotted Dolphins playing in the gulf.  They were amazing and we watched them for a long time.  

The tour guides saw these dolphins from a long way off.  It took us a while to see what they were seeing.

The older dolphins have spots and the younger ones don't. 

 

We sat at the front of the boat and watched the dolphins swim right under our feet.  They were playful and fun.  We think there were around 200 of them together in one group. 

As we sped up to drive toward the shore, some of the dolphins jumped and surfed in our wake.

After watching the dolphins for a long time, we went to a small reef and snorkeled for a bit. There was a bit of a current, and the tour didn't provide flippers, so we struggled a bit with all the kids, but it was fun to try.  Michael was able to see a box fish, and the front antennae of a lobster.  There were also parrot fish and King Angel Fish.

After snorkeling we drove through the mangroves.  It is like a river, but it is salt water from the ocean that fluctuates with the tide.  Often the guides see crocodiles and Cayman.  We saw birds and funny trees.

As we left the mangroves, we saw lots of these sting rays.  They would swim away just as the boat reached them, leaving a trail of sand to show where they had been. 

It was a really fun morning on the boat.  The dolphins were the big hit, of course.  It was fun to watch the kids seeing all these things for the first time. 

The tour guides from our dolphin watching trip told us about a great place to see crocodiles.  It is called Parrot Bay, and it is not far from down town Puerto Jimenez.  We walked around on the trails that take you through a swampy area, full of wildlife.  We found 3 types of monkeys, both crocodiles and Cayman, and some cool lizards and birds and bugs.  

Can you find the Basilisk?

White-Faced Capuchins

Howlers

A very grumpy looking bird.

And we were finally able to see Squirrel Monkeys. The locals call them Titi.  They were in a tree right on the main trail, and all the kids were able to see them and watch them for a few minutes.  We even saw a mama monkey with a baby on her back that was almost as big as she was.  These Titi are hard to spot, and I don't think they are very prevalent in other parts of Costa Rica.  We feel pretty lucky to have been able to watch them so close.  They are the smallest of Costa Rica's monkeys, and I believe they are the second smallest monkeys in the world (at least that's what we have been told by the locals).  

Between dolphin watching and Squirrel monkeys and crocodiles, we had an amazingly packed day. We were so lucky to have been able to see all these amazing animals!

I surf. I have the photos to prove it.  

This is my surf instructor Pollo.  After a few minutes of practice surfing on the beach, we headed out on the waves of Pan Dulce.  The more famous beach Matapalo, is just down the coast a bit, but is for much more experienced surfers.  Pan Dulce was just right for me.  With a little push from Pollo, I was standing up on the board on my 3rd wave. I'm pretty proud of myself.

 

As I came in from surfing, Michael congratulated me and said that he didn't think that I was going to be able to do it, but that I did a good job.  High praise, I tell you, coming from my 8 year old.  As I dried off on the beach, beaming my best smile from ear to ear, this Macaw flew right in front of us and let me take my best flying Macaw pictures yet.  

After a morning of surfing, we headed to Bosque del Cabo for lunch.  It is a very swanky Eco Lodge that I would definitely stay at if given the chance.  They have private houses or smaller cabinas, and a beautiful restaurant where you can watch the Toucans as you eat yummy food.  We even saw a Peccary on the lawn as we were eating.  I believe this type of White Lipped Pecary are on the endangered species list, and pretty rare, but this guy has created a wallow near the drain for the resorts pool, and most days, roams around like he owns the place. We spoke to the owner after lunch, and he invited us to hike around on the resorts extensive hiking trails.  We did, and were rewarded with monkeys and a hanging bridge.  The resort sits on a beautiful piece of primary rain forest that has been well protected. 

 

I love tired children.

On Sunday morning, before we had gotten out of bed, Ella had a seizure.  Although we had hoped this wouldn't happen, we came prepared, and were able to stop the seizure with Diazepam after about 12 minutes.  She slept for a couple of hours, and then acted stoned for the rest of the day, so we just took it easy, and stayed close to the house.  Ella seems fine now, and we're not sure what triggered the seizure.  We will meet with the Neurologist when we get home.  

Chad has had a very sore couple of days after he fell out of a coconut tree.  Nothing broke, but he is bruised up a bit.  We decided that it is easier to buy coconuts at the fruit and veggies store. 

There are so many great things about being here ... it is a beautiful place where nature hasn't been beaten into submission, but reigns in full glory.  That said, I miss a few things about home... like pediatricians and neurologists, my own bed, and windows and doors on my house. But I'm not sure if we will have another time when we can pack so much in to one week.  The kids are learning a little bit of spanish, playing together better than ever, and learning about the world around them.  As long as we all survive it, I think it has been good for all of us.