Week 3 - Costa Rica

This week is full of frustrations, as things just don’t seem to be going our way!

It started out with me heading out on my first night bug hunting trip with Tristan. We headed towards Bolita with one aim – to find a velvet worm (anything else I found was a bonus). Alan had found two velvet worms last week; one brown and the other a purple-grey colour with a white stripe behind its head. Both were around 5-8cm long. Alan was really disappointed as the one with the white stripe had managed to escape through the airholes in it’s enclosure – being soft bodied they can mould their body to any shape. As it was, Tristan and I made it up to Bolita, had a look around the back where the tents were for some scorpions, then headed back down again without having seen a velvet worm. But then, there it was! It was huge, and moving across the face of a clay wall rapidly to find a hole to shelter in. Tristan and I managed to capture it, and I was estatic! This Velvet worm was about 15cm long, and I felt like I had earned my keep! We also found some amblypygids, spiders, lots of frogs, mud crabs and more.

Tayen holding the Velvet Worm

Both Tayen and Saige have been a bit sick this week, with both of them coughing and Saige having a urinary infection. We head to the doctor for Saige with my trusty Spanish Phrase book. I have memorised “Noestra hija esta enferma” (our daughter is sick) and “orina infeccion” (urine infection), “dos anos” (2 years old), and “mucho dolor” (much pain). The doctor speaks a little English, so we managed to understand each other enough for him to prescribe some antibiotics. Health care for tourists in Costa Rica is free, basically because they don’t have the system to deal with foreigners. Our medications were free as well.

On Monday our internet USB is still not in. Last week we were told that there was no room for them on the truck (because USB keys are so HUGE!). This week we are told that there are none in the warehouse, so yet another delay! So it’s still off to Steve’s rancho to use his internet connection to pay our Minibeast Wildlife staff back in Australia and to check emails, and to email my sister Tamara, whose birthday it is on Sunday!

The howler monkeys seem to be calling more often now, or maybe it’s because we now recognise them, but both Tayen and Saige have been able to hear them as they are calling both morning and evening now. Tayen did a drawing of a howler monkey for her cousin Joah.

Tayen's drawing of a howler monkey

We now have quite a large collection of animals which will be used for filming the TV series. They take a bit of time each day feeding and watering them, which, once filming begins, will be my job as Alan will be on set every day.

Our animal collection so far consisting of spiders, katydids,  velvet worms, beetles,  amblypygids, and more!

We have heard and read about another ‘bug person’ living on the Osa Peninsula at Drake Bay, so we head out early on Thursday to see if we can meet her. After a few wrong turns (and wasting about an hour and a half!) we finally find the right road, only to find that in the heavy rain that has fallen the last 24 hours, there a quite a few river crossings. The first is just a small one, the second one wider and slightly deeper, and the third one completely impassable for us with 2 small children in the car. After assisting an Austrian couple across this particular river, and hearing from them that there were more and larger rivers to come after this one, we decided to turn back. There is something going on with these third rivers that keep turning us back! A local man also told us that in the rainy season these rivers rise extremely quickly, and are mostly impassable for 4 months of the year! Supplies in and out of Drake Bay come by boat during this time, as the road we were on is the only road in. At least we had another adventure!

One of our river crossings on the way to Drake Bay

Our wrong turn ended in the end of the road, with only a footbridge to cross the raging river.

Flooding after the heavy rains

A large iguana we found on the side of the road, though not a great photo!

 On Friday Malcome and Mylene, the camera crew, arrive from San Jose, where they have been held up nearly all week waiting for their equipment to clear customs and for the pneumatic trolley that we will use for putting the set on to turn up. When they find out on Thursday that it is still in the US, they decide to head to Puerto Jimenez on Friday, only to be told that the trolley arrived in San Jose 4 hours after they left! We will need to get it transported to Pto. Jimenez somehow! They spend the weekend setting up the studio.

We also get some great news on Friday – Our USB internet key has arrived! Alan takes Steve into town to pick it up, as Steve’s organisation needs to sign up the connection for us. Once in town with USB key in hand, Steve realises he has left his passport and organisation documents back in Dos Brazos, so Alan takes him back straight away. It is about 4pm at this time. With the necessary documents in hand, Steve heads into ICE, the telecommunication company here in Costa Rica. He emerges 15 minutes later fuming, as we have been sold an internet key that has already been registered in another name, and cannot be re-registered! Steve heads back to the store we bought it from and find the police there, chatting to the staff. He apparently berates the staff for what has happened, and gets the police involved. Unfortunately, not a lot can be done, as the staff only know that the USB key came from the warehouse. So it’s back to square one after thinking this saga was almost all over. Add to that the fact that Steve’s organisational documents expire next week, and he will have to get them renewed in order to set up out internet (if ever that happens!) and the fun starts all over again!

The weekend is full of building the set for the animals to be filmed on, which Alan does mostly at Steve’s as he has all the necessary tools. We also go to a local nursery to pick up some plants to create the set (although most have been taken from our property and the side of the road). Tayen and Saige meet some girls to play with while we are at the nursery, as well as their 2 puppies, and the two Tica girls are soon picking Saige up to cuddle her – who could resist her really!

It has been raining here nearly every afternoon, and is actually very wet for this time of the year, more like October weather. This makes it very hard to collect animals, and Alan has some very wet nights out! Among other things, he did manage to catch a Helmeted iguana to take some photos of it.

Alan's boots are full of water after a night out bug hunting 

The Helmeted iguana

 Filming begins on Monday, so everything is moved to the studio, and our preparation room next to it. The animals will be kept at our house though, so I am able to better look after them without having to travel into Pto. Jimenez every day. One of the first animals that will be shot is some Owl Butterfly caterpillars. Tayen and Saige have adopted these as their pets, so we will have some butterflies to release in the next few weeks!

And to end the week, the girls and I got all domestic and made a banana cake to get rid of some bananas. We have soooo many bananas growing here it’s not funny! And so many kinds too. We have banana manzanas (apple bananas), a red skinned one and one other kind that I’m not sure of. We also have pineapples, lychees, bread fruit, lemons, guava, star fruit and mangos growing around the property.