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The golden toad,
discovered in1964 in the Monteverde park, was only known to exist in this
area. No one has sighted a Sapo Dorado since 1989, and it is believed to
be extinct. The females are yellow, black and red, and the males are a
golden-orange colour, the reason for their name. A lot of the Costa Rican
frogs are so specialized, they have learned to survive in the canopies of
trees by using the water that's deposited in bromeliads and tree trunks.
This way, they don't have to descend to the ground and risk being attacked
by predators or of their tadpoles being eaten by fish. http://www.costarica-homeschool.com/cw/frogsandsnakes.html
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Golden Toads - Picture from the web |
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 Stained glass in Reception |
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 Beautiful Irid in the garden |
 Closer views |
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Elaine and Gerry's bungalow |
 Hummingbird PC |
We saw lots of birds at breakfast time, toucanettes, tanagers, hummingbirds and many varieties of flycatchers |
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Unfortunately we did not see the resplendent quetzal in any of his incarnations
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 Fern frond |
 Cloud forest |
 Strangler fig |
 Fungi |
 Intrepid travellers framed by sunbeams in the cloud forest MM |
 This is a shot looking upwards inside the hollow left after the tree has been destroyed by a strangler fig. MM |
 Orchid |
 Chris |
 Fungus |
 Tiny fungi |
 Itching bark |
 Red aphids |
 Jenny and Rob |
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We had a free afternoon so a visit to a coffee plantation was arranged through the hotel by the Moyes and the Higgs. Our guide was Juan |
 Juan |
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Coffee picker |
Coffee berries |
 Ox-cart PC |
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Riding on the ox cart DH |
Coffee beans drying |
Fine stand of bamboo |
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Old machine for separating beans from skins |
New separating machine |
Coffee roasting machine |
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 Where did you get that hat? |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak All about weasel coffee!!! |
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 Crossing the bridge |
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 Cloud forest from the bridge |
 View through the footpath |
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 Dangerously in step DH |
 George on a landing stage of the zip line |
 Another pretty un-named plant |
 Mary and Katie looking at the plant on the left DH |
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We saw the Black Guan in the tree tops crashing about. It is good to eat so when it saw us it kept out of range. Peter also saw the Green shrike-Vireo and the Golden-browed Chlorophonia. |
 Photographer on the bridge PC |
 House seen through the window |
Poros seen through the bus window on the way to San Jose
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