Costa Rica offered a chance to see a plethora of wildlife and members of the plant family. There was an astonishing rainbow display of colors, patterns unlike any I had seen before. Dizzying displays of how wonderful life can be when it is allowed the freedom to grow unchecked by civilization. Christopher P. Baker's Costa Rica Handbook published by Moon Travel Handbooks was the perfect source for me to study at night what I would be surrounded by during the next day's travels. The easy-to-read guidebook not only helped me get around, it was also invaluable in terms of garnering information about the foreign environment that I was suddenly transported into.

According to Baker there are between 500,000 and a million plant and animal species in Costa Rica! Birds are crucial representatives, as there are more than 850 annual species that flutter their way through the high jungle canopy. While staying on a commune in the coastal headlands of the Nicoya peninsula, I heard the bright green "emerald toucanet" families waking up early to greet the Howler monkey growls. At night the buzz of the insects, which made it difficult to imagine how many billions and billions of them there must have been in order to make such a deafening din, filled the air thick air with sonar waves. Baker notes that there are thousands of species of ants. One of those species was small, red and not very nice to me. When I unrolled an old straw mat on the commune, I disrupted some sort of plan they had in motion. To show their vengeance they dug their microscopic pincers into my flesh like a hundred needles being inserted into my skin.

"Howler monkeys make the loudest noise in the animal kingdom." It seemed ridiculous that such a diminutive little creature could produce a call louder than that of the jaguar, tiger and other big predators. I learned from my guide that the males have a special lung system where they can trap large bubbles of air with which to emit such a spine-tingling growl/howl. Their clockwork howls a dawn were a perfect auto-alarm for the surfer who is prone to sleeping in back home in the States. The white-faced Capuchin monkeys were not quite so appealing. They got very aggressive when they felt threatened by close forays. Maybe it's just the lack of special sound, but they just didn't seem as mystical of a monkey compared to the howlers. Spider Monkeys, on the other hand, were very cute, and very gymnast-like arboreal dwellers. Looking up quickly I would see a little troupe of six or seven Spider Monkeys leaping and climbing through the high branches and vines. The mamas had babies clinging to their backs. I guess they like to teach their young ones what kind of life they can expect at an early age. In monkey talk: "Hold on tight! It's a life lesson!"

ER Harris