Sunday, January 24, 2010

Day 3, Part 2: Costa Rican Creepy Crawlies

One of our favorite parts of our Costa Rican adventure was The Night Tour with none other than our lovely hosts, Tracie "The Bug Lady" Stice and her husband Gianfranco Gomez. Even if you don't stay at the Drake Bay Rainforest Chalet like we did, you should make sure to do The Night Tour. It will be the best $35 you spend in Costa Rica.

The first creature Gian showed us was this snake.



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This video says it all, so no need for me to add more.

This red-eyed tree frog was my favorite. So cute!
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Gian held him, so we could get a better look.

Tracie showed us this stunning owl butterfly.
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How's that for mimicry?

We saw a number of common rain frogs.
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Females are larger than males, just like I am larger than Mr. Monkey.

Tracie picked up this tailless whip scorpion and demonstrated its grip.
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We both took turns holding it. I did not try to eat it.

We saw several trapdoor spiders. Incredible!
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These spiders build "trapdoors," wait for prey to come close, and leap out to snatch their meals. Don't miss the action in the video above. You can see the spider shut the door after Tracie opens it!

I can't lie -- I was scared of this Brazilian wandering spider.
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One of the most venomous spiders in the world, this aggressive arachnid is responsible for the most human deaths from spider evenomation. Glad I kept my distance.

This beetle looked kind of like a little ghost face.
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Little ghost face beetle love.

Have you ever seen a hummingbird completely still?
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We have now. This nesting hummingbird was sitting and protecting her eggs!

Lots and lots of spiders.
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Tracie showed us so many different kinds of webs.

On our way back to the chalet, Gian spotted this fer-de-lance. Can you see it?
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Good thing Gian saw it. This snake is a dangerous venomous pitviper species. Even with our headlamps, I'm not sure we would've caught a glimpse ourselves.

What an awesome way to end our time in Drake Bay! Thank you so much, Tracie and Gian, for your warmth and hospitality. We had so much fun on The Night Tour, and we felt like we were old family friends during our stay at your chalet.

Next: Journeying to an active volcano and zip-lining through the rainforest.

23 comments:

  1. Scary. Creepy. Eww!

    I liked the hummingbird and little tree frog though!

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  2. You are so brave. I would be FREAKED out if I saw any of those creatures walking near me...and Mr. Bumblebee is worst than me. Awesome pictures though, too good...gave me the eebie geebies. Can't wait for the next one!

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  3. I am way too freaked out by insects to watch any of the videos. But I do love that cute little frog!

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  4. Any spider with "wandering" in its name just sounds so untrustworthy. Eek! Ditto on the eek with that scorpion, *shiver*.

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  5. I love the little ghost face beetle! The pictures of the frog are so vivid, like a magazine.

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  6. Way too many creepy crawlies for me. I don't do snakes or spiders.

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  7. This post was like reading National Geographic. Except better because there was video. Awesome!

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  8. i couldn't do this post, because bugs freak me the eff out.

    but i wanted you to know i was reading ;)

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  9. Your pictures are freaking phenomenal, and the post made me giggle more than once.

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  10. Omg spiders?! Heck no. But, the tree frog is so cute!

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  11. The frog is so cute! The butterfly is just amazing. The rest of it scared me the eff out. Eeek! :/

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  12. So cool!!! Awesome photos, as always :)

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  13. What'd you go to CR for.. did they bring Fear Factor back or something?!

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  14. NOnonononono! Snakes, yes. Frogs, yes. Scorpians, maybe. Spiders, NO!

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  15. Hmm. scariness. You're a braver soul than I. I'd be jumping around trying to trample everything in sight aka a total drag on the creepy crawlie tour.

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  16. Oh wow these are amazing! The frog was really cute and I love how he looks with his hands close together like that. The owl butterfly looked too creepily similar to owl's eyes. Is that to fake out other owls I wonder?

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  17. These pictures are incredible! I am too scared to watch any of those videos though. Bugs are not my friends.

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  18. I normally don't mind bugs too much, but I think I held my breath in fear the entire time I was reading this post.

    ::exhales::

    Love the pics!

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  19. I would have been squealing and screaming the whole time. AAAHH EEEEKKK BUGS!!!

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