...that's the slogan in Costa Rica. It means pure life, and the Costa Rican's apply this philosophy to every thing they do. I have never seen a culture so passionate about just being.
After a looooong trip from California, we finaly arrived at the Monteverde Cloud Preserve just before dark. After checking into the lodge and booking a morning tour of the cloud preserve, we headed over to the local frog ponds. The frog pond is an indoor facility where they have a living habitat set up with about 30 of Costa Ricas 150+ frog species on display. While Costa Rica is famous for it's frog population, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see them in the wild. Amphibians are what they call an indicator species. They are extremely sensitive to enviromental changes. In fact, they are so sensitive that they don't let you use a flash to photograph them at night because the sudden heat from the flash is enough to make them sick. One species that is missing from the tour is the Golden Toad. Monteverde is the only place in the world where this toad lives. Unfortunatley, it's now thought to be extinct. The Costa Rican's attribute this directly to the global climate change. My favorite was the red-eyed tree frog. This shot was taken at nightime, lit by a headlamp, handheld at ISO 1,250
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amador01/2995030007/
After a looooong trip from California, we finaly arrived at the Monteverde Cloud Preserve just before dark. After checking into the lodge and booking a morning tour of the cloud preserve, we headed over to the local frog ponds. The frog pond is an indoor facility where they have a living habitat set up with about 30 of Costa Ricas 150+ frog species on display. While Costa Rica is famous for it's frog population, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see them in the wild. Amphibians are what they call an indicator species. They are extremely sensitive to enviromental changes. In fact, they are so sensitive that they don't let you use a flash to photograph them at night because the sudden heat from the flash is enough to make them sick. One species that is missing from the tour is the Golden Toad. Monteverde is the only place in the world where this toad lives. Unfortunatley, it's now thought to be extinct. The Costa Rican's attribute this directly to the global climate change. My favorite was the red-eyed tree frog. This shot was taken at nightime, lit by a headlamp, handheld at ISO 1,250
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amador01/2995030007/
Friday morning we met our tour guide, Carlos(who happened to be the same guide that we had last year when we were here), at 7:00am for our cloud preserve tour. I haven't seen many places in the world, but I would have a hard time believing there are many places more beautiful that this. It is absolutely incredible. People travel from all over the world to the Monteverde Cloud Preserve for one reason; a chance to to see the Resplendant Quetzal. The Quetzal is a very important bird in the Aztac and Mayan cultures, as only the kings were allowed to wear its feathers. It is considered to be the most beautiful bird in the world. Although Monteverde is your best chance to see this amazing bird, it is still very rare to see one, so I feel very fortunate to have seen one both times we have visited. It is very difficult to photograph under the forest canopy because there is no light! But nevertheless, I was honored to have the opportunity to photograph such a rare bird, so while it's not the best shot, I am happy to have captured it-http://www.flickr.com/photos/amador01/2995868954/
Being that this is a photography blog, I should mention that the conditions for photography so far could not be worse! The wind has been absoulutely brutal. That combined with slow shutter speeds for the available light(no flashes are allowed), and a 420mm focal length make for a lot of blurry photographs. I am hoping for better conditions soon!
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