Crocs and Crabs

Costa Rica is well known for its eco tourism and its efforts to protect and restore endangered species, plants and animals and to protect the natural habitat. This despite being a poor country.
Our tour guide, Heidi, is a kindergarten teacher who is the granddaughter of a Jewish girl who escaped Nazi Germany on a banana boat with other children in 1939. The grandmother was adopted by a local family and married a local man, called a Tiko and the rest, as they say, is history.
Costa Rica means rich coast. Legend has it that Christopher Columbus came here on his third and final voyage and found natives wearing gold and silver jewelry with emeralds - and called it Costa Rica. We are very close to the equator and days and nights are equal year round, sunrise in 5:30 AM and sunset 5:30 PM. The temperature is also constant year round, within a couple of degrees. The temperature depends on your location, primarily altitude. For example, at the coast where we are docked the temperature is 82 to 84 degrees Celsius year round. The Capital, San Jose at 4,500 feet above sea level has a temperature of 18 to 20 degrees Celsius, year round.
Costa Rica, does however have two seasons; dry season and wet season. The Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is one of the wettest places on earth, with over 300 inches of rain a year.
We took an hour and half bus ride over rough roads into the jungle for a river cruise on the Tarcoles River. We saw Howler monkeys, crocodiles, dozens of birds, iguana's and land crabs on the walk to the river. It was hot and humid but very exciting to see a crocodile up close in its natural habitat.
We also saw a cashew fruit tree. Yes, there is a cashew fruit that looks like a small orange bell pepper but apparently has a distinctive taste that locals use to make a drink. Each piece of cashew fruit also has a nut attached, which has to be roasted and then you must crack its very hard to get the nut. No wonder they're so expensive.