"in the jungle...

...the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight". well, no lions, but half of that statement is true. the land of the Rich Coast is definitely a jungle...compared to Southern Cali that is. technically i believe it is called the rain forest, but the song is so fitting. haha. anyways, i returned late on Saturday night, but i've been so busy and so tired! (i started my job today, which is another story all in itself, but i'll wait on that).
here are some pictures of Costa Rica! i decided to save the stories for later, but here are all the unusual creatures we managed to encounter...some may surprise you :)



an iguana...nothing too spectacular yet, eh? these things were everywhere, but they are nothing compared to the other animals that await at the bottom of this post. hehe!










one of the nights my incredibly crazy, yet awesome family all decided to pile nine (gary was watching katie) of us into a golf cart and go down to the main hotel for some desert at like 11:30pm. haha! the whole way down we were singing things from "welcome to the jungle" and "that's amore"...yeah the locals thought we were crazy. which reminds me of another weird thing i saw and did not manage to get a picture of. as we were driving from the airport to the place we were staying, coming down the middle of the road was a drunk guy...on a horse...in the middle of the highway! our driver said it was a normal thing and then proceeded to tell us that the town motto between all the caballeros is "don't drink and drive" and nothing about "don't drink and RIDE". haha...you sure don't see that in Long Beach everyday. sorry to get sidetrack...where was i? oh, yes this is a picture of the restaurant we had desert at. everything there is open...like they have a ceiling, but most of the walls are open, since it stays about 80-90 degrees all year round. we had a little raccoon visitor walk into the restaurant and get up on a chair. i just caught a picture as it was walking away...it was cute.



raccoons in hotel restaurants still not weird enough for you...don't worry i have more. there was a monkey right outside our house. i was sitting by the pool out on the terrace like thing and all of the sudden a tree starts moving. i got up to look what it was and it was a little black howler monkey. they are called howler monkeys because they howl...it seriously sounds like a fake lion sound you'd find at disneyland. how awesome! if you can make this picture bigger, you can see the monkey in the background.




here is a better picture of him. cute little guy isn't he?



















my next weird animal experience i met in the shower. that is a pretty huge beetle cockroach thing! look at it in comparison to my foot! so, they had these outdoor showers that were attached to the indoor one...they were really cool and there were trees all around, so i decided to take a shower outside. as i go to turn on the water i didn't really look when i stepped. i started to put my left foot down when i feel something grab the side of my foot. i didn't even look to see what it was. i frantically shook my foot and jumped around literally for about 5 seconds...the thing wouldn't come off! it was horrible! i did manage not to scream in my panic, but then got my cousin to come get the thing out of the shower for me, even though he was probably more squeamish with the bugs than i was...he'd never admit to it thought. haha! so yeah, how'd you like to have that on your foot? :)



next we meet our friend the boa constrictor...right in the road outside our house! it was just sitting in the middle of the road. the hotel staff was trying to capture it to move it and eventually managed to do so, but that was definitely a different experience. i mean, i've seen the little lizards and snakes we have around here, but never a 6-7 foot long boa constrictor in front of my house! crazy!






and next...KILLER CROCS OF COSTA RICA!!! these thank goodness were not seen near or at our house. haha! we went on a river tour and there were a bunch of them! how awesome...wouldn't want to fall in that water though. our guide told us that about 2 deaths per year happen in Costa Rica due to crocodile attacks...this is mostly common with fishermen, who wade too deep into the water. also Costa Rica has already met this average for this year, so...who will the next lucky victim. gulp!

isn't he a cute little guy...in a scary kind of way. he's looking at me!!! ahhh!

yeah we got up close and personal haha! i think they were a bit annoyed with all of us, but it was still awesome to see...it was like being on the jungle ride at disneyland, but with real, live, wild animals! :)

well, i'll post some other pictures when i get some time, but just wanted to let you all know i'm back and i didn't get eaten by any crocs or constricted by any snakes. haha! check back soon!