The first stop on our trip was in Penas Blancas, which is basically in the middle of nowhere :) We hiked 10 miles with our packs up over the continental divide and down the Atlantic slope to about 800 meters elevation. Forests of this elevation on the Atlantic side get the highest amount of rain here in Costa Rica, and some even get over 9 METERS of rain per year! That's a bit more than the 8 inches I'm used to in San Diego :) As you can imagine, this was a great trip for herps!
The place we stayed used to be owned by a man named Eladio. He used to have a farm there, and the whole valley around there used to be full of farms. About 40 years ago, most of the valley was purchased through a conservation effort by some international organizations. A large amount of the money was raised by groups of children in Europe, so it was given the name the Children's Eternal Rainforest (or Bosque Eterno de lon Ninos-BEN). It is now the largest private reserve in all of Central America at almost 30,000 hectares! We are one of only 3 groups that gets to stay at Penas Blancas, so it was quite a privilege. Eladio has woked for the Biological Reserve in Monteverde for many years, and he knew so much about the plants around the station. Dan and I walked around with him one afternoon and he told us about all the orchids. He even has a species of orchid named after him! It was awesome to get to meet him :)
Though the accommodations were fairly primitive, it was a beautiful place, and the river nearby was great for swimming in. You could even ride down some of the rapids, which was quite exciting :) We used the river as a shower substitute every day, and it worked pretty well!
Well, I'm sure you're dying to know about all of the herps! :) I decided before the trip started that I was going to go on a night hike every night, and Penas was no exception...We saw lots of leaf litter frogs and Brilliant Forest Frogs (Rana warszewitschii) every time we went out. We also saw a "Halloween Snake" (Urotheca euryzona), which was a red and black coral snake mimic. The coolest frog by far was the Masked Tree Frog (Smilisca phaeota) that Dan found when it jumped onto his foot at the station! We went out as a group on the last night and near the start of the hike we saw another Fer de Lance (Bothrops asper)! During the day, we also saw one of the largest species of anoles here in Costa Rica (Norops biporcatus). I used some of my florescent powder to track it with my UV flashlight. (I am using this for my research later in the semester, so I'll explain more later...)
Overall, Penas Blancas was a beautiful place and a great start to the trip :) Here are some pictures from our time there:
Orchid! Each flower only lasts for one day on these.
The river rapids :)
Enjoying the river!
Leaf litter frog...Possibly Eleutherodactylus
crassidigitus?
Masked Tree Frog (Smilisca phaeota)
I love their face...It looks like they have such
personality :)
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