Bring A Brelly!!!

 I suppose we knew there would be rain in Costa Rica.  After all, they did tell us to bring a small umbrella along with a minimal bag.  I think we maybe had two T-shirts each, both of which were going to get used on THIS day!!    

I must say it was fabulous cruising along the river in the little boats where we had some plastic window protection.

Finally back at the "hotel" which in reality was a hut on sticks stuck in the mud, I wanted to try and get pictures of the frogs making all that racket at night.  They were LOUD!!  Patty and I walked along the raised walkway until I heard one very close.  

Patty .... I can HEAR it!!  It's very near!  Wait ... it's VERY VERY close!!!  I almost screamed as I turned my head to the right and realized it was ON MY SHOULDER!!!  I'm in panic mode now, thinking it's probably one of those poisonous ones we have been told NEVER TO TOUCH!!

Patty ... get a picture!!  She took my phone, but at the time wasn't proficient in phone-pics.  Still, she snapped a good one as I slowly walked to the edge of the walkway to try and coax it off my shoulder.  I'm going to die, I just KNOW it!!!
 

Lucky for me, it went for the plant.  This is the Costa Rican green tree frog, the symbol of Costa Rica.  Cute little guy, right?

Thankfully, they are not of the killer variety and I didn't have to throw away my only dry shirt.  The moral here is to NOT buy a little carved wooden tree frog souvenir or you might just have one land on your shoulder.
 

Very early the next morning, as they did every single day we were there, the howler monkey alarm clocks went off with a blast that woke up the entire complex.  There were lots of them in the trees, but they were hard to spot and rather camera shy.

Hey ..... let's go on a little hike into the very wet rain forest!!  There had been signs .........

The first big red light was when we were required to put on rubber boots.  Just pick your size from the stash on the porch.  I had a fleeting thought of just how many people might have worn these boots before me.  Too bad Patty and I were a little late to the party, giving us just a few to choose from.  I never did understand why we didn't get any of the "messages" of what we needed.

It's hard to walk in rubber boots too big for you.  Even harder if you are running.

And so we followed our trusty guide through the forest on what wasn't really a trail, but a kind of wide spot in the trees.  Our first encounter was a big termite nest.  If you are stuck in the jungle, this is the first thing you look for for nourishment.  You can eat those brown wiggly-looking things.  Not me, but YOU could.

That's when it started to rain.  No biggie, I brought my brelly! 

There are lots of creepy creatures in the jungle, this being one of them.  It's a Jesus lizard.  Looks pretty much like a plant to me, but scare it and it will walk on water to get away from you.  That of course was the SECOND big sign that we missed.

Suddenly there was thunder ...... BIG thunder and lightning!!!  And the rains fell like someone pouring a pitcher of water on our heads.  I heard the guide exclaim ... uh oh ...  RUN!!!!!   Are you kidding me?  RUN???  

Yes he said ... run for cover!!  LIGHTNING!!  CLOSE THAT UMBRELLA!!  And so we ran in our too big boots through huge puddles of water back to the safety (??) of the boat dock.  Our 45 minute hike lasted five minutes.

That's when I discovered that really big hole in my rubber boots that let all the water and mud in.  We were soaked from head to toe.  We changed into our other shirt and I "rented" a hair dryer from the hotel.  Luckily I got one because everyone else seemed to know they were available before we did.

Unfortunately there's no way to dry your clothes.  The hair dryer didn't work all that well.  We asked about using a clothes dryer since we knew they washed their linens there, but were told no.  At this point the only thing dry was our one pair of shoes.  That didn't last long however, after all, we are in the RAIN forest.  Who knew???  

It's not over yet, we are going to have even MORE fun!!

I haven't mentioned my game camera in a couple of days.  I have been getting lots of bunny images.  Those guys run around all night long and ran up about 30 videos.  As soon as my internet services clicks over into next month, I'll post a few.