Costa Rica

August 31-September 8, 2006

Click on the text within Costa Rica for details.

On Thursday, August 31 Mark took us to the airport early and we headed out for San Jose, Costa Rica. I always find it a reverie to fly over the blue ocean. Here we are out over the Caribbean somewhere and I enjoyed the white puffy clouds over the blue sea. In the center of the shot is another aircraft far below us.

We flew over these small islands on a shallow undersea shelf.

This broad shallow reef area with small islands and an apparent wall dropoff to deep water was also an interesting sight along the way.

The white puffy clouds took a different character over the lighter, more turquoise blue of the shallow reefs. I watched the distinct shadows of the clouds on the water.

We flew over a point of land where a major river empties into the Atlantic. I was surprised to see the extent of the brownish silt from the mouth of the river that flows through the point. It was our first visible evidence of the fact that we were visiting Costa Rica during the rainy or "green" season.

I am guessing that this is a major river in Nicaragua, but it could be the Rio San Juan which forms much of the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It connects with a lake.

As we got closer to San Jose, the first evident population was in houses along dirt roads in pleasant green hills.

As the flaps came down on the final approach, the small fields gave way to clusters of metal-roofed buildings. Agriculture was still in evidence in the greenhouse structures and small patches of green.

We got through customs quickly at the San Jose Aeropuerto and were picked up by a van from the San Jose Palacio where we were staying. Rod's meeting was to be held there. It was a very nice hotel and had a brick walkway through a beautiful garden.

1. Butterflies of Manuel Antonio, Green Hotels of Costa Rica, 2004.
2. Costa Rica Field Guide, Butterflies, Rainforest Publications, Costa Rica, 2001
3. Goode, Mark, An Introduction to Costa Rican Butterflies, ISBN 9977-12-365-9, M. R. Goode, San Jose, 1999.