Living in Costa Rica and Creating the Arenal Botanical Gardens, Tiliran, Costa Rica

This short story is about Doug Ward's life in Costa Rica.   Doug  came from Miami, Fla  on a vacation and instantly fell in love with Costa Rica.  He bought a farm, transformed it into a Tropical Botanical Garden, and opened it to tourist to learn and enjoy.

Written by Doug:  I first came here to Costa Rica's  first international orchid show in 1986 on one of those 4 day/3 night adventures. It was in March.
I returned in July and spent six weeks cruising around the whole country.
It took five hours to get from Boyeros ( stop light in Liberia) to Flamingo and I had to un-stick the Land Rover twice with a winch to get there !
On my way back to SJ; I passed through Tilaran and spent the night in Cabinas Los Lagos.Rode dirt roads to view the lava that night.
I told myself "this is where I retire".
20 years despues....I DID !  Pura Vida!

Yes. I consider this area of Tiliran to Be Costa Rica's  Pura Vida without the need of living in a cage.
I have a greenhouse, several garden areas, uncountable varieties of fruit trees, rabbits, meat chickens, egg laying hens, meat chickens, a small pig pen. I moved here to live like a Tico.
I have zero interest in PriceMart or Multiplaza.

I'm bringing some hams and also a beef brisket to make some corned beef this morning.
Come on by.

As to the wood for my projects, two Cabins and my house... It was harvested in the farm below me.I paid a good price but made the old guy some nice outdoor furniture( Adirondack chairs) as part of the deal.

This is what Doug had to say about living in the countryside--outside of the Central Valley area of San Jose and Alajuela:

WOW. You need to get out of the Central Valley. I pay 4200 a kilo for lomito de res, my cleaning girl is 850 colones an hour. My mechanic charges 2500 an hour, works fast and is good. The Honda shop in Miami charges $60 an hour and they're morons.
Put that water heater on a timer. I only run mine from 5 to 530 AM and can still take a fairly warm shower at 8pm..
I recently finished a cabin. It's all tricked out with hand made cedar doors, windows and furniture, etched glass,custom plaster ceilings with exposed beams. Italian ceramic, REAL plumbing and electric, alarm.
$42 / sf- turn key with dishes, coffee maker, stove, fridge and a new 32 inch TV.

Sounds like a real "Pura Vida" Doug!

 

A Great Day at Rio Celeste (Blue River)

[caption id="attachment_4318" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Rio Celeste Costa Rica"][/caption]

The road was winding  and rocky.  I thought we would never arrive.  The sun was warm but dark clouds settled in the east.  An impending rainstorm, hopefully not,  since we were on our way to the Tenorio Volcano National Park to see a river with clear sky blue water.  With a name very befitting-Rio Celeste.   Or Blue River.

This blue river has its birth place at the base of the Tenorio Volcano in the highlands of Northwest Costa Rica.   The water picks up sulphur and when the sunlight filters through, the water looks blue.

The hike was not easy to the river, through dense rainforest and mountainous terrain. Several inches of rain in the previous days had left the pathways deep in mud.  But off we treked  with much anticipation having heard there was a hot springs in the river near  the large waterfall.

After about one hour of hiking we reached the hot pool and of course could not wait to get it....so relaxing and soothing to the aching muscles.

The waterfall  was at least ten feet high and the sounds of the force of the water filled the tropical humid air.

I just could not believe my eyes!  Such a beautiful sight.  We all had to take photos so our friends back home would believe that we actually saw a river with blue waters.

The trip from La Fortuna (Arenal Volcano) took us around three hours because the last portion of the road is rocky  and loose gravel.  So come in a 4x4 vehicle.  (Look at your Costa Rica map and see this route.)

The other route: from San Jose drive north on highway 1.   Past the Canas Exit-- turn right when you see signs to Bijagua - around Bijagua  you can can find small hotels and tours to the Tenorio Volcano National park  and the beautiful Rio Celeste River.

Read more about Tenorio Volcano National Park and the Rio Celeste River at
www.costarica-nationalparks.com/tenorionationalpark.html

See photos of Rio Celeste  www.ruralcostarica.com/photos4.html

Pinktoe Tarantulas in Costa Rica Yes!

 

[caption id="attachment_4324" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Zebra Tarantula"][/caption]

I  would like to share a letter I received from one of my readers who has a 60 pet  Tarantulas.  And he is taking a trip to Costa Rica soon, and will be looking for Tarantulas there.

Hi, I came upon your blog because I'm a tarantula collector who's also making a trip to Costa Rica soon.  I liked your post and thought you might be interested in more tarantula info.

There are a good many species of tarantula that live in Costa Rica.  Many of them are quite pretty (from a tarantula person's point of view) and, as "New World" tarantulas, are fairly docile.  Species in Costa Rica include the Costa Rican Zebra (A. seemani), Costa Rican Tiger Rump (C. fasciata), and the Pinktoe (A. avicularia), which are arboreal tarantulas, likely the ones you've heard are found in banana plants.  Pinktoes are actually extremely docile, compared to some other tarantulas (though they still should not necessarily be handled in the wild by inexperienced people).  You can Google pictures of them if you like.

You are correct that no tarantulas are deadly- no one in recorded history has ever died from a tarantula's venom.  Depending on the species, various levels of pain can be experienced from a "wet" (with venom- tarantulas don't alway inject venom when they bite) bite, ranging from a little worse than a bee sting (localized swelling and numbness) to serious muscle spasms, sweating and heart palpitations.

Tarantulas don't urinate, though.  Their biology requires them to conserve as much water as they can since they rarely drink  and often go weeks without eating- other insects, very, very small animals, where they also get much of their water.  For waste, they expel a guanine-based material that comes out looking like a white paste.  It's basically white, pasty poop with a very small amount of water mixed in.  They only do this rarely- again, conserving their resources.  As far as I can tell, tarantula poop doesn't irritate the skin at all.

Similarly, since they only eat other creatures (except for on the rarest of occasions when tarantula keepers have reported them eating something like a grape), which they detect as prey via vibrations (tarantulas' eyes don't see images, only the presence or absence of light) it is unlikely the tarantula was going after crumbs in your home.  It is possible it was coming inside to get warmer.  There is also a possibility that your tarantula was a mature male, since they rarely leave their homes- they're not big wanderers, except for mature males- however, if the spider was only an inch across, this is unlikely.

"New World" tarantulas do flick hairs, as you saw in the NYT article.  I had a similar experience to that man when I touched my eye after working with my tarantulas and got a urticating hair in it, though I did not need surgery.  However, that New World tarantulas flick hairs also makes them more docile, as flicking is their first line of defense- when they feel threatened, they don't have to resort to biting as their only option.

Lastly, unfortunately, the Cobalt Blue Tarantula (H. lividum) doesn't live in the Americas, but in southeast Asia.  They are beautiful in the correct lighting and also plentiful in the tarantula hobby.  They are not handleable, though- definitely one of the meaner species of tarantula.  They are an "Old World" species and don't have urticating hairs.  They also rarely seen by their owners because they are what's called an "obligate burrower"- they spend almost all of their time in their burrow.

If you ever wanted to keep a tarantula as a pet, look for something in the Brachypelma or Grammostola genus.  They are docile, easy to maintain and often quite beautiful.

Thanks for the post!  I'm really looking forward to our Costa Rica trip.

P.S. The black  Costa Rica tarantula in the photo above is a pinktoe.

Zebras are not only animals found living in Africa but also spiders which are found living in western Guanacaste region of Costa Rica .  It's called the Zebra Tarantula and lives burrowed underground.