Cindy Southgate's Travels

February 19

Today we went on a hike in Piedras Blancas National Park. We purchased our pass at the resort’s front desk and were told to bring it with us. We assumed we would have to show our pass at the park’s ranger station.

The trail head was just a short walk up the road. On the way there we noticed these beautiful plants. Orchids can be hard to find because they are primarily an epiphyte and therefore grow high up on trees. They vary greatly in colour, shape and size. The Orchid family is one of the largest plant families in the world. There are over 20,000 varieties, and that doesn’t include hybrids. About 1,400 of them can be found in Costa Rica. Orchids consist of three parts – they all have 3 sepals and 3 petals, but one petal stands out. It may be a different shape, have different colours on it or ripples. They can also have different methods for pollination. Some are pollinated by hummingbirds and others lure insects to them. They try to trick the insects by imitating the smell of other insects, rotten meat or mushrooms and then trap them.

There was a picturesque pond between the resort and the trail, where we saw this frog submerged on a lily pad. (towards the bottom of the picture) I was happy to find a Mot Mot. It is one of my favourite birds because of it’s colouring and interesting tail feather.

We entered Piedras Blancas park via the trail by the large sign. It was a gorgeous day. The trail started off by going up a long, grassy hill. We walked for a while but didn’t see anywhere to check in. We wondered if there was a building at the other end of the trail. In retrospect, we should have studied the map better beforehand. I was pretty sure it was a 4 km loop from what I had seen on the map but I didn’t bring one with me.

The picture on the left shows a colony of Leaf Cutter Ants. The larger workers cut leaves and then bring them down to their nest. Underground there will be many tunnels where the smaller workers cut the leaves into smaller pieces – they then cover them with spit and feces which helps to grow a fungus garden which they then feed off. We also noticed this newly dug hole which is probably a baby Agouti’s den.

I spotted this large toad nearby. I don’t think it was a Cane Toad but I wasn’t going to get too close and find out. There are many kinds of poisonous frogs and toads in Costa Rica.

I found this hike very intense. We were always going up or down, and it was wet and slippery in places. Parts of the trail had a very steep drop off on one side. After an hour we still hadn’t reached a building or seen any other hikers.

This was one of the few signs that we saw. We were getting very tired and Mike suggested we turn around. We had just gone through a very difficult section with a stream crossing and a lot of big boulders that required climbing. I really didn’t want to have to go through that area again.

By this time, I was feeling done. I tried to call our resort but we didn’t have cell service. Shortly after that I tried calling 911, and sort of got through, but only heard a strange message and was put on hold. We walked a bit more and I tried the resort again. This time I got through. I explained where we were and they told me that we must be almost at the end of the loop, so we carried on.

Mike found a giant walking stick for me. It was helpful to figure out where the steps were because they were buried in leaves. We finally found another trail but soon after realized we had gone the wrong way.

I was quite thrilled when we started to recognize the trail we had come in on. According to my watch we had hiked over 8 km and climbed 440 metres.

Just before the end of the trail we saw a couple of men who had been working on the trail. They were the only people we saw on our hike. Turns out there wasn’t a ranger station for this park.

It was time to head to the pool for a well earned break. We were usually the only ones there. One time there was a group of seniors in the pool and they were slowly swimming in a circle. It was a bit funny to watch.

While I was reading I started to hear a strange sound. It was sort of like a short, very deep bass sounding “uuhm”. It would repeat every 10 seconds or so and was getting louder.

I was a bit startled when this male Great Curassow slowly walked by my chair. They are very large birds and spend most of their time on the ground. They will fly up into a tree if they sense danger but these two seemed quite at home. The female was behind the male.

I followed them down to the pond where I found them munching on some of the fruit that the staff had left out for the birds. On my way back, I found this unlikely pair….a Gray-cowled Wood-Rail beside a Black-mandibled Toucan.

If you look closely at the pond picture, you can see a Caiman on the grass to the left of the tree. The only time we saw both of them was after dark. This was our last night at https://www.esquinaslodge.com/