Follow Patty as she leaves the beach and ventures into the Tropical Rain Forest:

By Patty Chang Anker

We’re off on a boat tour of the rainforest, and Michael S. Kaye, president of Costa Rica Expeditions, is trying to set realistic expectations.  “People come expecting to see wildlife as close up as they do in a guidebook, or as dramatic as they see on a nature show.  What they don’t understand is how many hours that cameraman had to wait to get that shot.”

And as we float down the canals it is clear, this is not a zoo.  This is is the animals’ home, we are the visitors.  They are not here to perform for us.  But if we are quiet, and pay attention, the forest is teeming with life – we see and hear herons and falcons, river otters and monkeys, iguanas, a sloth and then, this:  



Can you see?  It’s a butterfly on top of a caiman’s snout, and on the caiman’s tail is a turtle and on the turtle’s back is a Bacilisk lizard (aka Jesus Christ lizard because it walks on water).

It’s a Rainforest Tur-Duck-en!

It is wild here, wild and beautiful and surprising.  Throw expecations, high and low, out the window.  Just look and see what’s here:

Coming up: ”Help!  I Need Somebody to Help!”  What’s a vacation without an identity crisis?