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Saturday, July 24, 2004 I finally got around to posting some video from our trip to Costa Rica. Comments Thursday, July 22, 2004 Yes, it is true. We live in Cabrini-Green. But what a view!  
Comments Friday, July 16, 2004 This week's Photo Friday theme is Ocean. This one is from our vacation last week. We stayed at the Corcovado Lodge Tent Camp - which is an absolutely amazing place on the south-Pacific coast of Costa Rica. (I am still sorting through all the pictures - if you want a preview of the Corcovado page, click here.) 
Comments (2) Tuesday, July 13, 2004 
Comments Monday, July 12, 2004 We're back! Packing list was pretty much DEAD ON (although we did laundry once). Tilley hats were key in shading from both sun and rain - only problem was that Andy kept laughing when he looked at me because he couldn't get "I'm Brian Fellows" out of his mind (Saturday Night Live reference). The only item I would add is a few garbage bags to isolate the damp and dirty clothes from the dry and clean ones. One thing I didn't note in the packing list was that everything was packed in gallon and sandwich size zip lock bags which were crucial - can't have enough of 'em. In the process of going through the 1.3 gig of images that we shot in nine days - pictures should be up in a few days or so. In the mean time click the image to listen to an audio clip of howler monkeys at 4:30am in Tortuguero. 
Comments (2) Saturday, July 10, 2004 Sloth Sendoff... Our last day in Costa Rica was devoted to sighting at least one sloth. We were rewarded with mas perisosa, which is the phonetic spelling of the Spanish word for sloth. Hired a guide with an awesome swarovski telescope and got some GREAT pictures of this weird looking creature. Also saw a few white faced monkeys and a troop of howler monkeys, and lots of other forest dwellers such as frogs, crabs, birds, and many many insects. Spent the afternoon on the beach and are now back at the sunset bar hoping for a good sunset on our last evening. Can´t wait to get home and check out all the pictures! Comments Friday, July 09, 2004 Buenos Noches a Manuel Antonio! Arrived in Manuel Antonio on the Pacific Coast this afternoon. Spent the afternoon lounging on the beach and am in the middle of watching a spectacular sunset at our hotel, La Mariposa. We enjoyed our short time in Monteverde but are happy to be back at sea level. We took a half day hike in the Monteverde Cloud Forest ' didn´t see too many mammals in the park, but there were severaltroopss of white faced monkeys at the hotel, and even a sloth, although it looked like a wad of hay from where we say it. We also saw an agouti at the hotel. Absolute highlight of Monteverde was going horseback riding with a guide who spoke absolutely no English and took us to someone´s house to get up close an personal with a few white faced monkeys. I kid you not - little guys came out of the trees right onto our heads and shoulders (and no, we were not feeding them). Very very cool! The drive here this am took under 5 hours - our driver made great time and stopped along the way to let us see a troop of howler monkeys, two giant ctenosaurs (look it up), and a river chock full of GIANT crocodiles. Daniel, our driver, spoke little English so the whole trip was like a Spanish lesson, for 4 year olds. Costa Rica es mas verde. Mucho monos y crocodilios. Yo tengo dos gatos. etc. etc. Can´t wait to get back and go through all the pictures. Tomorrow is our last full day and we plan to hire a guide to find the few elusive animals we haven´t seen in Manuel Antonio National Park. The kinkajou is a long shot, but we´ve been told that the sloths are almost a sure thing :) Adios for now - this computer is actually outside so we must retreat out of fear for adding to the many ´´souvenirs´´ we already have (no me gusto mosquitos). Comments Wednesday, July 07, 2004 Hola from Costa Rica! We just arrived in Monetverde after several amazingly awesome days. Plans were not impacted at all by the air traffic control strike. Arrived Saturday and drove 2 hours on a paved road and then another 2 hours on a bumpy road to a canal where we boarded a boat for another 2 hours before arriving in Tortuguero. Saw some good stuff along the way, an otter, some crocodiles, etc. Awoke the next morning at 430 when the howler monkeys got up. WOW. Took a half day tour of the canals and spent the afternoon wandering around taking pictures on monkeys right on the hotel grounds. Highlights of Tortuguero include the howler and white faced monkeys, poison dart frogs aka PDF, lots and lots of birds that birders would be impressed by, and the night walk to see 200 lb turle lay eggs. The next day we flew in a 5 seater plane back to San Jose where we transfered to a 4 seater plane to Carate, where we landed on the gradd air strip and walked an hour up the beach to the Corcovado Lodge. Our tent was about 100 feet from the beach and 200 feet from the forest. Spent the afternoon on a tour of the canopy ' you know, the one where they hoist you up 120 feet to a platform so you are actually in the canopy with the animals. Highlights include toucans, scarlet macaws, flocks of mini parrots, so many troops of spider monkeys, and dozens and dozens of coati as we were hiking back down. Yesterday we took an all day hike into the Corcovado National Park. Highlight in the ' gasp ' 8 mile walk were more spider and howler monkeys than we can count, another encounter with dozens and dozens of coatimundis, a fer de lance snake, an anteater, and flocks and flocks of scarlet macaws. Today we hiked back to the airstip in the am, flew to San Jose, drove 2 hours on the highway, and then 2 hours on a windy bumpy gravel road to reach Monteverde some 5000 feet above where we were yesterday. Weather here is nice and cool, which is quite a change from the past several days. No idea how hot it has been because we have not seen a tv, paper, etc. Let us just say that it is hot enought to sweat a lot, even if you were not doing this ridiculous amount of exercise that we have been doing. Very little rain so far ' just a few showers that did not impact anything. Food has been excellent everywhere, as have been all the people we have met and been traveling with. Have taken hundreds and hundreds of pictures, some actually in focus, and a surprisingly large amount of video to capture the sounds and motion of the forest. All in all, both of us agree that this is about the best vacation we have had, up there with Micronesia and Greece for sure! Gotta run before Andy begins to check his work email. More before we return, hopefully. Comments Friday, July 02, 2004 Experienced a bit of guilt this morning and let the boys go wild in the basket of toys.    And snapped this one with my phone (click the image to see the full size version, or click here to view all the phone pictures) )
Comments In anticipation of leaving for Costa Rica today (or because it was getting light out), we were both awake around 5am and were treated to a great sunrise - looks like it comes up right around North Avenue beach. Headed to Miami tonight and should arrive in San Jose around 7am tomorrow (unless the "work slowdown by Costa Rica air traffic controlers" derails out plans). 
Comments Thursday, July 01, 2004 Costa Rica Packing List Clothing (2) Tilley Hats (2) Shorts (each) (4) TShirts (each) (4) Days worth of socks and undergarments (each) (2) Bathing Suits (each) (1) Teva sandals (each) (1) Anorak (each) (1) Long sleeve tshirt (each) Wearing Travel pants that zip off into shorts T shirt hiking shoes Camera Equipment (1) Nikon Coolpix 5000 (1) Nikon Coolpix 880 (2) Battery Chargers (4) Rechargeable Batteries (6) Single use batteries (2) Zoom lenses (1) Wide angle lens (2) lens adapters (3) Chamois lens cloths (1) 1 Gb microdrive (3) 512 Mb compact flash cards (2) 256 Mb compact flash cards (1) Lightdisk Photo Flex Collapsible Reflector Thingy (1) Slik Snapman Delux Tripod Repelling Products (2) Cutter Outdoorsman Insect Repellent (5 oz. - 21% Deet) (1) Mosquito Coils (package of 10) (1) Repel 100 Insect Repellent (1 oz. - but it's 98.11% Deet so a little goes a long way) (1) Caladryl Calamine Lotion (6oz.) Sunscreen (1) Banana Boat Sport SPF 15 (8 oz.) (1) Banana Boat Sport SPF 30 (8 oz.) (1) Banana Boat Oil Free SPF 8 (4 oz.) (1) Banana Boat Faces SPF 23 (4 oz.) Misc. (1) deck of cards (1) journal (2) Small Flashlights from Rendezvous Bay Hotel (1) Small keychain fan (2) Beach Towels (1) Celestron Monacle (Minimal Toiletries) (passports, travelers checks, etc.) Comments The Chicago Loop via Phone Camera    
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 A picture every few days or so... 
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