Elizabeth's Secret Garden

  The Braulio Carrillo National Park is located in the Central Volcanic Mountain Range in Costa Rica. It is positioned between the Poas and Irazu Volcanoes. The journey through the mountains seemed long and treacherous. We drove up in thick clouds and I watched in amazement as clouds floated right past our car (picture above of my view in the vehicle). We all squinted as we tried to see the position of cars through the thick haze. Every sharp turn along the mountain, I held my breath as I wondered if we would make it along the narrow road and not hit another vehicle. Braulio Carrillo National Park information http://costa-rica-guide.com/Natural/Braulio.html     The habitats of Braulio Carrillo are Cloud Forest and Humid Tropical forest. Now I really understand why it is called a Cloud Forest! The rain forest is very humid and every tree has a fur covering of green moss and clinging vegetation lines the branches of trees. Along the trail marched a procession of Lea...

  Tapanti National Park in Costa Rica is located on the edge of the Talamanca Range, near Cartago. The area in which the park is located, is one of the rainiest areas in all Costa Rica. It receives an annual rainfall of 250 to 300 inches! The heaviest months of rainfall is May and October. If visiting, be prepared to use an umbrella! The rainfall provides water for the 150 rivers located in the area. My mom, dad, and I took the La Pava Trail which proceeds to the Salto and Palmitas Waterfalls. The Salto Falls is a 300-foot high waterfall! The towering falls can be heard from a distance as it’s powerful waters come crashing down the mountain side. I had a sense of  entering the Garden of Eden as I gazed at the forested mountain side which contains the Salto Falls.   Along the interior of Tapanti National Park rushes the white water rapids of the Grande de Orosi river. Various other rivers and streams empty their waters into the Grande de Orosi river. The powerf...

  Our next destination was Tapanti National Park.  To get to the park we had to drive through coffee plantations, sugar cane fields, past a volcano, over mountains, and across old bridges. We daringly crossed the bridge above using great caution. We had to slowly drive on narrow wooden planks to make it across. What an adventure! You can imagine that we were thrilled after surviving the bumpy pot holed gravel roads (4 wheel drive needed) and making it to Tapanti National Park. Information about Tapanti National Park.                              http://www.costarica.com/places-to-see/parks,-reserves-and-protected-areas/tapanti-national-park/   The park was founded on February 1982 and is 12,500 acres. It is located in the Oriosi Valley 90 minutes from San Jose, Costa Rica. The protected rainforest is in the northern Talam...

For my second Costa Rica tour, we traveled to Turrialba, Costa Rica. Our destination was the Turrialtico Lodge and National Park Tapanti. This tour is from March 12 – 15, 2010. It took a whole day flying from Orlando to Costa Rica and driving through the traffic in San Jose, Costa Rica. We took JetBlue which has a direct flight from Orlando to Costa Rica. They were courteous, more leg room and even gave us free snacks and the drink of our choice!! I had a wonderful view from the plane window. Just look at the mountains! Unfortunately you can see the brown area where trees have been cleared. Thankfully, Costa Rica is realizing the deforestation issues and setting boundaries to insure the survival of native species. They have many national parks for preservation. During this tour I will share with you my tours of the Tapanti National Park, Braullio Carillo National Park, and Earth University. The Turrialtico Lodge is in Turrialba, Costa Rica on the Caribean side. The lodge i...

While visiting Jaco, Costa Rica, I got to watch a golden orb-web spider spin it’s delicate, silken web and another spider eat its juicy meal. This particular species above is Nephila clavipes (nickname banana spider). They colonize Central and South America. Their range in the United States is in the Coastal Southwest and then inland from North Carolina to Texas. These large spiders do not wander from their webs to chase after food, but let the food fly to them. The spider above was consuming a meal while I watched it and then accidentally dropped the food! It was funny to watch the spider chase after its lost meal in frustration. It did manage to catch the food, but then dropped it again loosing it for good. The female of this species has a body size of about two to three inches. This does not include the legs! The male is much smaller than the female, which you will see at the end of the video, I created below. This is another Golden orb-web spider I saw in Cost...