Limon, Costa Rica

Christopher Columbus landed at Limon in 1502, though it was then called Cariari. The area now called Costa Rica he named, mistakenly believing it was filled with precious metals, rich coast. The town picked up the name Limon, meaning lemon, as there was once a lemon tree planted there. Since it was the only one anywhere around, the area became known as the place with the lemon tree, or just plain Limon. The official religion of Costa Rica is Roman Catholic. Costa Rica is proud of its 92% literacy rate and the large variety of birds and butterflies found there. According to our guide, Costa Rica has the largest variety of birds in Central America.

Our tour here consisted of a bus ride through the country side to the jungles. There we boarded a "jitney" for a ride through the rain forest. Though we can't attest to there being a lot of birds, there certainly were a lot of sloth's in the trees and poison frogs on the ground. Our overall impression was that this is still an impoverished country. In the countryside the buildings, in style, color and condition, reminded me of the poorest sections of the Philippines.
 
This was one of the better maintained properties. But the style could be from the Philippines or even Viet Nam.    
     
  This one's not so bad either.    
             
 
   
There he is, inside the red box.
The "outpost" where we change modes of transportation. This was out in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by jungle. They also rent horse for trail rides.

WHERE'S THE SLOTH??
Some of our group searching the trees.
   
And here's their pack mules - 4 wheel drive Massey Ferguson. And there were times we weren't sure it would make it through the mud & up the hill.
Here the intrepid explorers board their jitney on their way into the remote rainforest. What brave warriors they are.        
That's a birds nest and there were dozens of them hanging in the trees. The bird is a relative of the crow and grackle but has a yellow tail.
These little guys are about 1 inch long and love fruit and people fingers.
There had been some heavy rains the day before and the morning of our visit. So the river was high and dirty. And this is the dry season.
   
             
The expressway.
          
                   
           
       
   
You have a choice of green poison frog or red poison frog.
Actually, the poison is emitted from the skin of the frog and generally won't hurt a human unless you have an open sore the the toxic juices can get into. Interestingly, when they are kept in captivity and not fed the ants they usually eat, the toxicity goes away.