Costa Rica vacation ( yes there are in situ orchids)

[Gilda]

I wanted to share an experience we had on our trip to Costa Rica we just returned from.
We stayed at the Lomas Del Volcano( Arenal Volcano) and outside our backyard was a fallen tree covered in orchid species. A few were in bloom, see pics. I had no idea what they were but was ecstaic to see so many different varietes on one log ! We discovered this late on the afternoon we had arrived.

The next day while we were hiking the property , we saw workers with machetes clearing the field and remarked that a gas powered weed whacker would have ruined the ambience of the hike. We saw toucans, parrots ,birds of every size and color, loads of bromeiliads , etc.

On our way back down the hill, I heard what sounded like a gas powered weed whacker and I told hubby he had spoke to soon. Well, it wasn't a weed whacker but a chain saw and they were cutting up the orchid log and hauling the big logs away in a dump truck. The orchids had been pulled off and we saw them scoop them and the debris up and dump them into a ravine....boo hoo ! I was devasted ! After they left with the naked logs, we went and looked and orchids were all over the ground.

One of the workers saw us and came over, he too was saddened but said there was orchids all in the cloud forest. He did tell me the one was tigrinum cervicanium(sp). He spoke only Spainish..I speak very little but I guess the love for orchids broke the language barrier he was very accomplished about butterflies and orchids.
One highlight was the volcano erupting that morning...was way COOL !
Hope you enjoy !

 

[NYEric]

Wow, very cool. Next time collecting permit, right!?

 

[Drorchid]

cool (and sad), but thanks for sharing!

were you scared, being so close to an erupting volcano?

Robert

 

[Gilda]

cool (and sad), but thanks for sharing!

were you scared, being so close to an erupting volcano?

Robert

It happened so fast you don't have time to be "scared" ..you just are in awe !!!! Plus we were told there was only a 30% chance of seeing the top ,so to see an eruption was like icing on the cake.

According to our tour guide we were on the inactive side of the volcano , she also said there had been an eruption around midnight while we were sleeping( I sleep in ear plugs,hubby snores like a train), so I didn't hear that one Tour guide at night said you saw the red cinders etc. ....I don't know what her definition of "inactive " is! Pretty darn active in my book !!

 

[musiclovertony]

Arenal is more along the lines of constantly, though minimally, active. It's really a wonderful place and i really enjoyed your photos, as well as the unfortunate story of the discarded epiphytes

 

[Wendy]

Sounds like a great vacation. Too bad about the discarded orchids. The first one (being held) appears to be Trigonidium egertonianum.

 

[Scooby5757]

isnt that right by the natural hotsprings/suana place? I was there when I was in costa rica. Wonderful pictures of a wonderful place, thanks for sharing!

 

[SlipperFan]

What a great experience, that vacation! Nice the fireworks were there for you.

It sounds like people down there treat orchids like weeds -- and maybe they are. I wish we had weeds like that!

 

[smartie2000]

...wouldn't the orchids be baked in the sun that way? It might have been a recent tree falling looking at the direction the plants are growing.
In anycase, we hope that trees are not being purposely chopped down for orchid collection.

Very cool with the volcano!

 

[toddybear]

Cool! On my recent trip to Ecuador I saw plenty of orchids but like you, most were minis!

 

[cnycharles]

interesting, thanks for sharing

 

[Gilda]

isnt that right by the natural hotsprings/suana place? I was there when I was in costa rica. Wonderful pictures of a wonderful place, thanks for sharing!

Yes, in the town of La Fortuna is the hot springs. Our group went but hubby and I hiked the hillside instead of soaking in the hot springs.

 

[Yoyo_Jo]

Thanks for posting your photos - very cool.

 

[JeanLux]

You are there with a very nice background on that last pic Gilda!!!! Too bad for those weeds called orchids, too bad that there are these strange laws forbidding you to grab the poor plants, put them in a plastic and rescue them home !! Jean

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Looks like a great trip. Too bad about the lost orchids, but they really are just a small drop in the bucket. Live volcanoes are fun!

 

[Candace]

Wow, what an adventure. I didn't see many orchids at all when I was there. But we were mainly on the coast near the beach. It would have been so tempting to save those orchids...darn CITES.

 

[NYEric]

It would have been so tempting to save those orchids...darn CITES.

You too can get admittance into the exclusive orchid smugglers club, membership is only $300!

 

[Candace]

You too can get admittance into the exclusive orchid smugglers club, membership is only $300!

That was the fine? Ouch.

 

[NYEric]

Yep! Gotta love the government's funding methods.

 

[etex]

Great pics and info! Very sad about the orchids! That's enough to make smugglers out of all of us!!