Orosi

This weekend, we headed to the Orosi Valley which is famous for its scenic mountain views.

The park/overlook, Mirador Orosi, offers great views of the lush river valley below. For one of the first times in awhile, I was able to snap pictures of the 3 kids without one of them striking a pose.

On Saturday night, we were lucky that there happened to be a big fiesta in town. We let the kids go on the creaky, old rides that date back to around The Kennedy Era.

It was quite the fiesta… just ask this clown that was passed out in the field when it was still daylight.

Will you have fries or gallo pinto with that?

Nearly a year of Costa Rican cuisine has allowed us to appreciate really good casados – the typical Costa Rican meal.

It has even become normal for us to see McPinto on the menu at McDonald’s.

However, after having eaten Costa Rican food for all of this time, “exotic” for the kids is having a hamburger at Burger King (which they refer to as “Blue Burger” (long story)).

Mariposa

We went to see butterflies while we were at Arenal. Soon after we entered the netted area, the butterflies started to land on Léah. I immediately thought of the scene in the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when the forest animals gather around Snow White.

Léah provided some tips to Naimah on how to stay still enough so that she too could play Snow White.

The Blue Morpho Butterflies seemed to favour Léah while the Great Owl Butterflies (pictured below) seemed to prefer Naimah.

Emerald Basilisk

This emerald basilisk crossed our path when we were at Arenal. He can run on water too just like his cousin that we saw on the coast at Manuel Antonio.

Blue Jeans Poison Dart Frog

The poison dart frog’s stunning colors are a warning to possible predators that they are toxic. Their skin is poisonous, not because of any poison cells in the skin layers, but because of the toxins in the ants and mites that they eat.

The frog below is really tiny but Gabriel still spotted it relaxing in the leaves.

Beetlemania

It appears to be beetle season here. There are beetles everywhere both inside and outside the house. The kids collected this quantity of beetles from the pool.

Oxcart Parade

One of the highlights of the annual Climate Festival in Atenas is the oxcart parade.

Excerpt from History of the Costa Rican Oxcart:

The oxcart integrated Costa Rica into international commerce by becoming the main means of export transportation after 1840. The first shipment of coffee to London was transported from the coffee plantations to Costa Rica’s main ports by oxcart in 1843. Oxcarts transported coffee to Puntarenas on a small road between 1844 and 1846.  After World War II, the oxcart became obsolete due to new inventions. It has been used since then as an ornamental object although some farmers still use it during the coffee harvest season to carry coffee to processing plants in rural areas.  Painting oxcarts developed into a form of original Costa Rican art in the early 20th century.  Cowherds decided to add life to oxcarts by hand-painting them with bright colors and geometrical figures.  There are never two oxcarts painted the same.  All of them contain changes in color tones and figures.  This art has been passed from generation to generation up to the present time.  The painted oxcart has become a Costa Rican symbol throughout the world and has promoted economic development through the production of handicrafts in the Costa Rican cities of Sarchí and Puriscal.