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Costa Rica is a lepidopterist’s delight and it seems that every little town with respect for itself has a butterfly garden. This affords us good photo opportunities because, if truth be told, the fluttering beauties are almost impossible to photograph in the forest. They flit and fly like ballerinas in an endless dance, seemingly never sitting still long enough to take a breather and pose for the photographer.
Particularly alluring and tantalizing is the large and brilliantly blue Morpho helenor. While it flies it displays its dazzling colour but the instant it sits it closes its wings and shows only its somewhat duller brown underside with pretty circle patterns. On the upside, it does not seem to mind sitting on one’s finger and will even allow itself to be touched, but gently trying to pry open its wings does not work. I tried, but to no avail.
Fragile butterflies are offset by a meeting with leather-skinned green iguanas. They look like a herd of prehistoric dinosaurs. Neither dainty nor pretty they are nevertheless fascinating to look at.
We continue our journey westwards to the town of La Fortuna. It sits at the foot of the perfectly cone-shaped volcano Arenal. To my great disappointment, this hitherto active volcano turned off its light show last year, so now I guess I will have to go hunting for active volcanoes somewhere else in the world.
We do however, get treated to another unusual sight. At a place called Rio Celeste (Light Blue River) in Tenorio Volcano National Park sulphur and carbonate from the volcano mix where two rivers meet producing the most amazing turquoise-blue hue. A challenging walk leads us past a lovely waterfall and hot springs. Unfortunately, armed guards ensure that no one swims in the water (although it is advertised that you may), so there is no relief from the mud and sticky heat.
On the way we take a break to study a tarantula that is sitting in a hole in a mossy tree, patiently lying in wait for its next victim. It’s huge – about the size of my hand – and hairy. And as fast as lightning. Impressive!
