Night Tour at Essnece Arenal

 The night tour was put on by the wonderful guide, Aurelio. He lives and works on the bio farm, and is very passionate about the life of Costa Rica. He was very infomative, and I really enjoyed his passion for life and the preservation of Costa Rica. We all shared simillar values of treating the Earth with kindenss, and how improtint it is to value and respect the natural resourses that we have. 

Before hiking, he asked us if ther was anything specific that we wanted to see. I asked for frogs, and maybe some mamals if possible. Justin asked for trantulas, and other insects. 

This is a new species of spider, one with only 6 legs.  The front two legs ave adapted to become anteni. 

Cockroach. Aurelio said that the ones in the wild are very nutrisous, and contain a lot of energy for humans. The same verity found in houses are poluted with trash and bad waste from humans. 

One of the new class of frogs, that only lay 6-8 developed babies. The frogs have done this so they don't have to spend as much time in the polluted water. 

Can you spot the frog?

A small night time butterfly. 

Even though it has fuzzy antenna, it is not a moth. The males of this species have the fuzzy antenna to help attract a mate. 

 More leaf cutter ants

The antenna on the grasshopper is twice as long as he is! 

Lots of spiders! 

Another new class or now school of frog. Aurelio used both terms interchangably.

The leaf points directly two the new frog. 

A river spider, these guys like to hang out near the water to catch linsects. 

These bettles were attraacted to our flashlights, and one nearly scared the pants off of Justin. They suprised me too. Their legs are very hairy, perfect for pollinating. 

Aurelio threw an ant into the web for the spider to catch. 

This spider already caught a grasshooper, and the insect was still kicking, trying to esacpe as it was slowly being turned into a grasshopper smoothie. 

A walking stick. This insect released a small toxin to preditors, that numbs thier face if it tries to eat it. The stick insect gets the toxin from the leaves it eats.

Another grasshopper, with antenne twice as long as its body. 

All of these animals we saw while walking through the hostels permi-forest. They are trying to restore the natrual area to what it once was. 20-25 years ago, the land used to be cow pasture. Now it is a rich jungle, full of life above, and below and of the surface of the earth. After walking through the jungle, we came out to some clearings. This part of the property is where some of the staff live, the garden that provides a lot of food for the guests, and recreational/spa related activites. We approached a pond, where we saw a night heron dissapear into the darkness. Aurelio spotted a spider to show us on a near by plant, but I was immedietly distracted by orange toes peaking out from beneath one of the leaves. It was two tree frogs battling for territory!! I was so excited to see one in the wild, let alone two. They are one of the most commonely recognized frogs, and I have never seen one active at night. They are usually in captivity, and inactive during the day. I was also suprised that I spotted them before Aurelio and Justin. 

Look at that grip strength! A rock climbers dream.

Climbing in action

Look at those eyes! 

So cute!

This is the one we left on the plant, safe and sound.

The spider that ditracted Justin and Aurelio

The clash between warriors that first caught my eye. They are both male.

Big eyes, searching for a place to jump. I got to hold him for a little, and it was so cool watching it as it looked back at me. It kept rasing its body, I think it thought my head looked like a good landing spot. Luckily I didn't let him get that comfortable with me. 

Blurry photo of a fly catcher. 

Lizard!

Red Cardeinal, here for the winter. 

The tour was an amazing experience, and it was only made better as it happend to be private. Aurelio is so full of knowledge, and it was so fun listening to him explain the relationships between animals, and how that fit with humans. While we didn't see any mamals, I was not dissapointed at all. The area we walked through is very wild, so they have no control over the animals that we see. Overall, an amazing experience, and one that I recomened to anyone planning on traveling to Costa Rica. 

Wishing for the best on your adventures, 

Cienna