Costa Rica flowers & scenes

The best flowers of the trip were on the first and last days. We stayed at the Bougainvillea Hotel, not the closest to the San Jose airport, but it has a huge, spectacular garden. At breakfast, there were Blue-crowned Motmots among the birds at the feeders outside the dining room. We spent a few hours wandering in the garden and taking pictures. For the most part, we don't know the names of the flowers. We did notice that a great many had colorful bracts and small flowers (like poinsettias).

Bougainvilleas.

Flowering bushes at Bougainvillea Hotel.

Yellow bracts and white flowers.

Red flower.

Pale purple flower (and background for the Costa Rica pages).

Hanging orange blossoms.

Bromeliad with orange center.

Purple bromeliad.

Bromeliad with red center.

Damaged wasp nest showing its internal structure.

We had many birds, but just a couple of scenes at Rancho Naturalista and Savegre.

Scene along the Tuis River, near Rancho Naturalista.

Our room at Rancho Naturalista was in a small cabin.

Yellow flowers in the garden at Savegre.

Succulents that look much like Hen and Chicks, but much larger (Savegre).

Forest bromeliad on Savegre hike.

Bosque de Paz has a nice looking lodge and very nice grounds with a creek and creekside flowers.

Lodge at Bosque de Paz.

Creek at Bosque de Paz.

Small orchids near Bosque de Paz creek.

Another creek-side flower.

Bosque de Paz also has mammals coming to the feeders along with the birds.

Agouti.

A coati came several times and was not much frightened of people.

This feeder was used for some kitchen disposal, as well as corn meal.

Coati from near the feeder.

Checking another feeder.

Between Bosque de Paz and Monteverde, we made a couple of interesting stops.

Sculpted bush in park at Zarcero.

Zarcero park view.

Mother howler monkey with youngster, an unplanned roadside stop.

Another view of the mother howler.

The Monteverde Reserve and surrounding area provided us with much interesting scenery and many flowers, along with the birds.

Dining room decorations, Trapp Lodge.

Our guide called these "monkey earrings."

Orange flowers in the forest.

Our guide, Jorge Zamora, explaining flower and insect symbiosis.

Tree details and views in clearer conditions.

Strangler figs generate interesting structures as their roots reach to the ground.

Root detail.

More fig structure.

View to the ocean from the town area at Monteverde.

Rainbow as we were leaving Monteverde.

Rainbow from the hotel and conditions at "La Ventana," a viewpoint on the Continental Divide that has a good view when the weather is clear.

Rainbow from the hotel.

George at La Ventana.

Marti at La Ventana.

La Ventana view.

Costa Rica Flowers & Scenes