March 19 – A Tram Ride and a Forest Walk

Two tours today.  The first took us to Sky Adventures where we took a tram up to the top of a mountain.

The deck up here had a big sign indicating that it was made from recycled materials, 153,000 plastic bottles and 747,000 plastic bags.  Great way to recycle.

There were great views of Lake Arenal from the deck,

the Arenal Volcano and the surrounding countryside.

One of the main activities here is ziplining.  They had some really long ziplines.  We didn’t participate but watched others for a while.

We then caught a ride back and had lunch at the hotel before heading out again for a forest walk.  The resort here is beautiful so we thought we should take a few photos. 

We saw spider monkeys (the largest monkeys in Costa Rica), we had a hard time getting a view of her (with her baby).

A Keel-Billed Toucan

a Rufus Motmot, a really colorful little bird,

Leaf-Cutter ants,

And a giant ant hill.

Shortly after this Mary dropped out when the loop headed up some pretty steep hills.  Paul saw a lot of other wildlife but didn’t take the best notes.  There were some birds,

bugs,

a Peccary (musk hog),

a wood thrush,

a little lizard,

what we think is a Black-Banded Cat-Eyed snake,

a Jesus Christ Basilisk,

and White-Faced Capuchins.

Here are photos taken throughout the walk. 

While at the waiting area Mary saw a white-nosed coati wandering the area and Paul saw one while on the hike.

Back at the hotel we had a decent sunset this evening.  Even the clouds around the mountain turned rosy.

And the housekeeping staff left us some cute towel art on the bed.