Some ideas and inspirations
Inspire Me Central America
“How is it possible to feel nostalgia for a world I never knew?”
Quote Source - Ernesto Che Guevara
Costa Rica
Cost Rica - Adventure Playground
Costa Rica is a great place for adventure such as horse riding - but don’t wear shorts, unless you want red raw legs, and a collection of new friends*; been there. There are also eco lodges, hiking, jungle treks, and of course glamping on offer too.
*Ticks - don’t pull them off as it will leave the jaws in which can then go septic. Use heat - a cigarette works well or a special tick removing card. Ticks carry a lot of diseases such as Lymes disease. ( borrelia bacteria) You can check out our colourful tropical disease chart in the art section of the museum.
With waterfalls, scuba diving, zip lining through the forest canopy and so much more you will be spoilt for choice. It is an adventure playground.
We tried several of these on our trip including zip lining through the canopy - oh and whilst we think about it top tip - take your spare batteries and change out of you pockets before you go - unless of course you want to loose them.
Our number one tip for zip lining is not to make scared look like bored. We started off with a standard zip line - sit harness on, leather glove and off we went - a bit too much control first time and we had to hand pull ourselves in the last 5 meters.
Next up the same but a lot faster. Then came superman style, head first - no control and off we went - smile for the camera! “How was that” - “Great” we replied still a little shook up. Next was cruciform style upside down, arm stretched out wide - now I am not sure if you know much about sit harness’s but they are not designed to be upside down, we got there but only just! But with a lot of butt clenching.
A short conversation later revealed that they thought my quietness was bored - so they were trying to spice it up a bit. So don’t let scared look like bored.
Not content with this for the last one they flipped the wire up and down - so we were flying through the air top to bottom like a monkey swinging through the trees - this was actually great fun - so thanks guys.
White water rafting which we also tried was another fun way to spend the afternoon, and instructors had great fun guiding us into rocks, and doing their best to find the roughest patches of water. It is potentially very hazardous, so stay in the boat, although we did all end up in the water at the end in the calmer section. Don’t think we have ever been white water rafting and not ended up in the drink.
Elsewhere on the website in the Adventure section there is a section which seeks to explain the different types of water and how they are graded.
Birding in Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a great place to go birding, but best go with a guide that is if you value your own safety. It can be an unsafe country if you go (human violence risks, like many countries) to the wrong areas. There are also several deadly species including the aggressive and multiple striking Fer de lance snake. (Bothrops asper). We have a photo of their massive fangs which can inject venom deep into tissue. Statistically there is a 6% chance you won’t survive an attack. This snake accounts for 46% of all attacks and over 30% of all hospitalisations from snake attacks in Costa Rica.
There are also around 900 species of birds to see, but the chances of seeing most of them are pretty slim, and that number includes seasonal and regional birds. If you see 10% - 20% or so in a fortnight you will be doing pretty well.
On most group tours, which are non birding we generally aim for 50 or so a week as a good number.
Birds to look out for are
Jabiru Stork
Scarlett Macaw
Green Macaw
Resplendent Quetzal
Lesson's Motmot (Blue Crested)
Keel-billed Toucan ·
White Throated Magpie Jays
Bare-necked Umrellabird
Fiery-billed Aracari (Toucan)
Crested Caracara
We were lucky enough to see all of these birds with the exception of the Fiery-billed Aracari.
The National bird out of all the amazing and splendid species to choose from was chosen as the clay-coloured Thrush - which as it’s name suggests is a clay coloured brown bird, and it’s a small passerine - thrush sized.
Did you know in addition to the umbrella bird you can find a cat bird, a mouse bird and a cow bird - not all in Costa Rica of course, but as far as we are aware there is no dog bird, but there is a bird dog.
We recommend Helm guide books, and the Merlin bird app, and if you can afford them a pair of Leica 10 x 25 binoculars. Because they are small they fit in a pocket or hand /man bag so you are more likely to have them with you. They are excellent quality, but quality comes at a price.
Costa Rica - Glamping - Poison Dart Frog & Bullet Ants
After several days on the road in cramped minibuses and long journeys travelling through Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, Glamping rather than camping was definitely the order of the day. Camping - but with a real double bed, a bathroom with solid walls, electric fans and even an ice cold beer.
Siting with my feet up filling in my travel diary I heard the distinctive “chirp-chirp-chirp” of the Blue Jeans frog. The blue-jeans frog is a poison arrow frog, or dart frog as they are also known. Its pumiliotoxins are not normally lethal to humans, but they are secreted through their skin and they can cause serious harm so you don’t really want to be handling them, but this does give you a better idea of scale - they are tiny - but they make a big noise; you keep looking for big frog and then there it is on the floor clambering amongst the leaves - happy as Larry, safe in the knowledge that it is deadly toxic to its predators.
Over the years we have also be collecting species and stings on the Schmidt Pain index - a list that describes and categorises the most painful stings from insects. They are graded into 4 pain levels. It is the descriptions that make it such as the (Level 2) sting from a yellow jacket wasp which was described as being "hot and smoky,” almost irreverent. Imagine W.C.Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue. Like fine wines you can really relate to the description!
We’ve tried most of them - accidentally and deliberately and we would agree with Mr Schmidts conclusions, however there are two that have eluded us.
1) The Tarantula Wasp - We’ve never seen one.
2) The Bullet Ant, said to be the most painful of all insect stings.
The bullet ant produces a Poneratoxin, which is a paralysing neurotoxic peptide - put simply it blocks blocks the synaptic transmission in the central nervous system, which causes extreme pain, uncontrolled shaking and can cause hallucinations, unsurprising really if your synaptic pulses aren’t firing, and best of all it lasts for up to 24 hours.
The ant is used in some tribes such the Satere Mawe tribe in Brazil .as a passage of rite to manhood - to become a warrior.
Well we found some - Paraponera clavata ants to give them their taxidermic name - it was night - I put my hand on the trail and the ants came along and then I chickened out - the thought of having a heart attack in the middle of a tropical rain forest was too much, so i’ll stay a boy thank you very much. Maybe we will try later or perhaps you already have?
If you want to know how much it hurts ask Steve Backshall or watch his video on line.
Now if I could only stop getting bitten by mosquitos, sand flys and midges, that would be nice.
Top Tip - Sunscreen first - Insect repellant on top - got it.
What you can find in The Museum of Travel from this region.
Mayan - Blue jade neckless in the form of a mask
Mayan Jade and Amber beads from a neckless
Textiles - modern
Jaguar Statue - Touristware
Coins and Banknotes
Rocks and geology
Photographs and Videos