As usual, the day started out with many unusual sites.  We spent 3 hours on the bus going from San Jose to San Carlos, with a couple of interesting stops.

The first was in a place famous for its world's largest painted oxcart.  (I can't even begin to make this stuff up...)  The artwork on it is very striking.

We then went to an artisan's store that included workshops in it.

This is the woodshop where they make beautiful furniture.  All of the machines were powered by belts run by a watermill.

Then we went to a park that had Cypress trees pruned into fantastic shapes.

Then we arrived at the Hotel Tilajari which will be our place for the next three days.

First we enjoyed a huge lunch in an open air restaurant that was surrounded by bird feeders that basically consisted of a bunch of bananas stuck in branches of a dead pole about 5 feet high.  There are a couple of blue grey tanagers eating bananas in this photo.

Then, to my total surprise, a local green iguana, who was at least 2 1/2 feet long, decided to grab the banana on the lowest branch.  He succeeded.  These guys wander around the hotel grounds, and they are not trivial in size.

Mid afternoon, we started out for our first glimpse of a lowland tropical rainforest.  The first step into it is like stepping into a whole different world.

The trees are massive, and it is impossible to take a picture of a whole tree.  This is the bottom of a guava tree, known for its fruit.

Then there were wild banana trees.

A tree is not just a tree--it is a biological complex.  There are vines growing up it, mosses growing on it, plants hanging on  branches and on and on.

Brian is always looking out for my interests, and he found a cocoa tree with cocoa pods on it.  Pre-chocolate is almost as good.............

We saw trail after trail of leaf cutter ants, which carried bits of leaves considerable distances along beaten trails that were as much as 2 inches wide.  These guys are carrying bits of flowers.

One of our guides found a poison dart frog, who covered an area only about the size of a loonie.  We all stood around looking, but for a bit too long.  All of a sudden, some of us discovered hundreds of tiny red ants crawling up our legs and making little bites of our tender tasty bodies.  One Brit ended up taking his trousers off (in private) to dislodge these nasties.

Brian is posing in front of a giant strangler fig tree, which has grown up around its host and killed it.  The next photo is looking up the interior of the tree.

We're nearing the end here, folks.  This is Mr. Cicada who is about 1 1/4 inches long and 1 inch high.  We could hear them chiming everywhere.

The last two pictures are human ones.  The first is what I call an example of the whimsical Costa Rican art, which is everywhere.  These are hanging copper cups, but the top one appears to have the wildlife seal of approval with a bird nest inside.

And last but not least is a Costa Rica Pay Toilet.  For a mere 200 colones you were given some toilet paper and permission to use a stall.  I think that is equal to about 10 cents American.