Tulemar Resort and Rainmaker Park
Today was our last full day in Costa Rica. Oscar was still unavailable, so Jeremias took over as our private tour guide for Rainmaker Park. It was a forty minute drive to get there.
When we first arrived, we explored a beautiful pond that was surrounded by a grassy area. It was beside a large covered area with picnic tables.
Next, we headed down some steps constructed from old tires. It was fairly steep, so the rubber helped with grip for our feet. This would be even more useful during rainy days.
The first reptile that Jeremias spotted was a Green-and-Black Poison Dart Frog. They are about 4 cm long. The female hides her clutch of 3 to 13 eggs in the leaves on the ground. The males guard the eggs until they hatch. He then carries them one by one into the water. There they feed on algae and leaf detritus and are full grown between 7 and 15 weeks.
The Granular Poison Frog is very small with finely granulated skin. Normally they are bright orange with bluish green underparts. In the Quepos area of Costa Rica, the orange colour morphed into green, making them unique to this area.
We continued our hike further into the forest. There was a lot of climbing, mostly on steps made of tires or old wood.
This is a Common Basilisk. In Costa Rica they often refer to them as the Jesus Christ lizard because of their ability to run across water.
The Helmeted Basilisk is about 36 cm long and spends most of its time up in the trees. Their toes are very long which helps them hold on to the trees. They catch most of their food by blending in and waiting for unsuspecting prey to come to them. They can change colour very quickly, even adding spots that appear to be lichen.
I had to face some of my fears in this park- there are many suspension bridges that are high up in the trees and they are very bouncy. The scenery around them is stunning. I didn’t really get any pictures from the bridges because I was afraid to let go of the railing.
Some of the bridges are attached to small platforms which are built around the tree trunks.
At the end of the hanging bridge area, there was a lookout. You can see the ocean in the distance.
Our guide noticed this Bird-eating Snake peaking its head out from behind a tree. It is not venomous. Costa Rican’s sometimes call it the puffing snake because of what they look like after eating. They are diurnal and can grow up to 150 cm long.
There is a river running through the park, along with a few small waterfalls, giving everyone an opportunity to cool off.
This is a view from one of the bridges. There are steps leading down to the water so you can explore the river and have a dip.
I spotted this guy on a bridge we were crossing. It is a type of Whip-tail Lizard. It was very iridescent and was much prettier in real life.
We headed back to the main area for lunch. We found all the lunches provided on tours to be very good and the servers very friendly.
Back at Tulemar, it was a short downhill walk from our villa to the closest pool. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and cooling off. Most of the time we had the pool all to ourselves.
We spotted this Three-toed Sloth while walking around the Tulemar property.
After watching yet another beautiful sunset, we walked across the street to Victoria’s for dinner. This restaurant is owned by Tulemar and some of the wait staff work at both. Although more expensive than TuleCafe, the atmosphere is more romantic, and the food is excellent.
Mike and I each ordered an entree to share between us. This was possibly the best pizza I have every had…but it was very spicy!
The Tiramisu dessert was amazing!
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