COSTA RICA

                                Couple More Costa Rican Experiences

We drove through Braulio Carrillo National Forest where the foliage was lush and thick. Named for Costa Rica’s third president Braulio Carrillo Colina, the area protects 6000 species of plants and 333 birds. We saw a couple of small waterfalls.  We stopped in the rain forest bordering the national park on the far side for an aerial tram ride through the canopy of the forest. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day. The sun was shining on a  clear day.

We boarded a six passenger gondola where a local guide was waiting for us. He was good about identifying and pointing out birds to us. We saw a rare black bird, a duck sitting in a tree, lots of palm and mahogany trees. There were several streams running on the ground below. It was so quiet up in the canopy---the only sounds being those of birds.

After the tram ride we took a half hour nature hike on the rain forest floor. We all were fascinated with the many leaf-cutter ants busily working away. Their nesting area was huge. The guide pointed out a small, but very poisonous snake. This private rain forest covers 470 acres and the tram is fourteen years old. It was a new experience for the girls and great fun for us all!

Butterfly gardens are always fun and often one sees unusual butterflies that you’d probably not see in the wild. It is hard to photograph butterflies as they always seem to be in flight. We saw lots of the blue morpho butterflies on this trip. The beautiful blue is easy to spot as it stands out against the green backdrop.  Later we rode by many pineapple fields and banana plantations. The last few miles to the canal boats for Tortuguero National Park were over a bumpy dirt road.  At the dock people were selling coconut milk. The coconuts were small and round. For a dollar a fellow with a sharp machete cut off the top of the coconut and inserted a straw. Not only were the perfectly round coconuts a different shape than the ones we were familiar with in Hawaii, but the ‘milk’ was clear and very mild in taste. Until I watched the actual process of preparing the coconuts I thought they may have filled the nut with water. There was perhaps an eighth of an inch of coconut meat in each shell. I liked the cool and refreshing ‘coconut water’.

            There is only one way to get to Tortuguero National Park and that is by boat. There are no vehicles in the park which consists of several islands connected only by canals. We all boarded a large canopy-covered boat for the hour-plus ride to our hotel. Enroute we saw howler and white-faced capuchin monkeys, snowy egrets, green iguana, rose spoonbill birds, and a small crocodile called a caiman. A caiman can survive in either fresh or salt water and is the most numerous specie of the crocodile family.

            Monkeys were seen several places during this trip with the girls. At the beach they played and scampered just beyond us. One monkey came down on the beach and lifted a pack of crackers from a gal’s beach bag while she lay sunning and oblivious to all the activity. The white faced monkeys are very social and are great fun to watch. We also had the chance to see and watch sloths---are they slow! It would take all day for them to climb up a tree!

GRAND PRE, NOVA SCOTIA

                                            A True Historic Place
                                               

            At the Grand Pre National Historic Site we were joined by a young docent dressed in period costume. He told us, “In 1680 Pierre Melanson, his wife and five children escaped from Port Royal because it was always under French-English conflict and settled in Grand Pre, French meaning great meadow. He and others who joined him built a dyke system to hold back the tides in Minas Basin creating rich pastureland for grazing and fertile fields for crops.” He demonstrated how the dykes worked with a small model.

            Grand Pre soon outgrew Port Royal, and by the mid 18^th century was the largest Acadian community around the Bay of Fundy and the coastline of Nova Scotia. The Minas area became the breadbasket of the colony and the Acadians prospered. Today a lot of apples as well as corn are grown in the Annapolis valley.

            In 1713 part of Acadia became Nova Scotia with Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal) its capital. The Acadians chose to remain and live under British rule. An oath of allegiance to the British crown was a point of contention for the next forty years. Many did sign the oath in 1730 when promised that they would not have to bare arms against the French.

            But in 1744 when England and France were again at war everything changed. Attacks and counterattacks occurred. Halifax became the capital of the colony in 1749.  The majority of the people living in the British colony were Acadians, their numbers were growing, and they lived on the most fertile farmland.

In 1755 the boats and guns of the Acadians living in the Minas area were confiscated. The governor decided to expel the Acadians from Nova Scotia and disperse them in British colonies south from Massachusetts to Georgia. The men and boys of the area were ordered to the church and were told they were to be deported as soon as ships arrived to take them away. Families were split apart and before 1755 ended more than 6000 Acadians were carried away. Their villages were burned to the ground.  Thousands more followed until 1763 when the two countries were again at peace.

Evangeline

       Henry Wadsworth Longfellow told this tragic story in his poem Evangeline in 1847. Grand-Pre was forgotten for nearly a century until   Americans wanted to visit the birthplace of the poem’s heroine. Of the original village only the dykelands and a row of willows remain. A lovely bronze stature of Evangeline stands at the front of the walkway to the church that has been reconstructed at the Grand-Pre Historic Site. It is said in many circles that Evangeline is the most famous Acadian who never lived.