The trip to Cano Palma took us about 5 hours on bus and boat. We passed through some beautiful mountains with rivers cutting through a cloud forest on the way.
We also passed through the Chiquita banana plantation and I was a bit surprised and upset at how unsustainable the whole process is. The banana bunches have plastic bags over them and are doused with fungicide and pesticide inside and out. We also got to see the tiny airstrip where the plane takes off to distribute more chemicals on top of the plantation.To top it all off, it takes about 10 months for the fruit to develop, and they are picked unripe to be send thousands of kilmoeters around the world. I'm going to think twice about buying bananas from now on.
The boat ride to Cano Palma Biological Station had beautiful flora and fauna along a winding murky canal. I can see why people conside this the "amazon of Costa Rica"
Along the way our boat driver stopped to show us some of the local wildlife. We saw a caiman, a crocodile, a keele billed toucan (?), but my favourite was the mother and baby sloth hanging out on the side of the canal.
Amazing! It sounds like hard work, but totally worth it. I love your pictures, especially the one of the lizard (do you know what it is?).
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy that you haven't seen a turtle yet though. Love the idea of tagging cardboard ones, lol!
-Eleanor
The green lizard is an Emerald Basilisk, they look like little dinosaurs to me! I have another night walk tonight, so maybe I'll finally get to see a turtle. We're finding some tracks of nesting turtles during morning walks, so they are laying their eggs after our night patrol....it's like they're avoiding us on purpose.
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