Hey Everyone!
I am back from Costa Rica and many of you have asked for a blog and some images so here goes... Eric went with me (he loved it!!) so here is where we went (in a nutshell)..
October 30th-November 1st:
Stayed in the rainforest (total jungle) near Carara, Costa Rica. Okay, so when I say stayed in the rainforest, I don't mean...stayed in a hotel and drove there, we were IN it. There were plants growing out of the tile roofs(the entire roof covered in vegetation). There were monkeys and all sorts of interesting creatures around us. LOVED it!
Went through the rain forrest on little skinny bridges (way up in the trees) on the first night-it was interesting.
Then, we strapped on some ugly golashes and started to walk through the VERY MUDDY rainforest as soon as the sun was up. You can't catch wildlife past 10am apparently. Here I was able to catch the rare scarlet macaw on camera and the difficult to catch acari toucan (I think it is acari). The toucan is black and so awesome. We were KNEE DEEP in mud and we were NOT on trails. Thank god we had a guide and we didn't piss him off in any way because there was no way we were getting out of there without him. So... here we are in the rainforest, total jungle, KNEE DEEP in mud-seriously, knee deep (wearing rubber boots with no support system at all) when, I get to capture some beautiful wildlife. The rare scarlet macaw. There are only about 500 of them left and I get 8 of them on a tree!!!! 8!!! Then, get stuck again, continue walking and capture a cool black toucan (I think they called it an acari toucan but i can't remember). Walk more, get stuck more. Oh yah! Had a huge backpack with equipment on my back while I was walking around and getting stuck, that was soooo not fun. Definitely got a great workout. Walked over a python then ran around it and got as close to the ground as I could and started to photograph it while it was coming towards me. AWESOME! Caught a couple of bats on camera and a howler monkey.
Went through the Tarcoles river. The Tarcoles river is known for all it's crocodiles. They are salt water crocs (well, the ocean meets the river and they apparently have a huge tolerance for salt so not sure if they are actually called salt water crocs but no matter what they were big and scary..eek!). Saw a HUGE 17 foot croc right up against our boat. eek! it was as long as our boat and it's head was huge. Now, due to the crocs being territorial, the locals named several of the crocs. The big nasty one is called Osama Bin Laden. There is a smaller male name Hugo Chavez (after the president of Venezuela because he is small with a big mouth).. Ha ha ha. There is a female croc that they name Monica Lewinsky. Anyway.. While I was taking pictures Osama crocodile... the guy driving the boat said that since I was a professional photographer, he would like for me to have better photos of the croc so, he puts the boat against the bank and GETS OUT OF THE BOAT!!!! He gets out of the boat with RAW CHICKEN and starts slapping the water to attract Mr. 17 foot crocodile to come over. He proceeds to try to feed this crocodile to get his mouth out of the water. BIG MOUTH, BIG TEETH!! Now, I am very concerned for this man's safety but I JUST CANNOT STOP SHOOTING.. Obviously, I know where my priorities are... Oh yah, caught lots of other birds on camera as well as some iguanas (in trees and on the ground)
In this area there are several types of frogs (many posionous) and many just small and cute such as the red eyed, green tree frog. Did I mention that all the frogs are NOCTURNAL? So, we go out at night (PITCH BLACK) with a small flashlight to see what we find. Sure enough, caught some of these on camera. I was so excited!! Got the Costa Rican tree frog and got a little orange frog (the size of my thumbnail-little suckers!!). That was fun.
November 1-November 3: ON TO THE NEXT REGION...Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
Small encounter with a little 5 foot boa. saw it curled up, took shots. Woke it up! started coming towards me, kept shooting-duh. The guide told me to back up :) that was awesome.
Monkeys...monkeys...monkeys... wow. Lots of monkeys. Got some capuchin monkeys (white faced monkeys), and some howler monkeys. Also caught some three toed sloths. Cool. Did a shoot with Laura on the beach (that was fun). We did some work for a company that makes wedding veils so, we did some wedding shots on the beach and then we did some swimwear since she looks so good in swimwear. Saw more crocs (I wasn't expecting that) and photographed a bunch more birds as well.
November 3-November 5: ON TO THE NEXT REGION...More highlands..Alajuela and other towns , Costa Rica
Caught some different rainforest shots including some beautiful waterfalls. LOVED IT!!! Butterflies galore, caught hummingbirds sitting around on branches.. YES, hummingbirds DO SIT STILL. I guess when you're a hummingbird in Costa Rica, you don't have to hustle and bustle. Kinda like people. I never hustle and bustle when I am at the beach or in the rainforest :)
FINISHED THE TRIP IN Caldera..
Drove to Caldera to do a photoshoot for Yvonka. She was really nice. I enjoyed meeting here and photographing her for her portfolio. The beach was beautiful-of course!
HIGHLIGHTS of the trip
-muddling around the rainforest in rubber boots, mud up to my knees and doing it with tons of gear on my back.
-catching the following animals: Scarlet Macaw, Acari Toucan (I think it is Acari), the red-eyed, green tree frog, green poison frog (That little sucker moved around a lot but I have one shot of it), the crocs, the monkeys, the sloths and the many birds and insects.. Being a people photographer, loved working with Laura (we work so often together in Austin) and with Yvonka.
Hope you enjoyed this blog..
Maria
