Cacao Blooms - Start to Finish

The blooms are attached to the trunk of the tree. It seems to me that this is a natural defense to keep the branches from breaking. The cacao fruits are so heavy that just two on any of the branches could cause it to snap so the tree has it's fruit on it's trunk. The last picture is our homemade drying rack. After fermenting we put the beans on this rack in the direct sun for about 4 days then we roast in a wok over an open fire.

Our Cacao in bloom

We have about 25 cacao trees along our creeks here in Costa Rica. We have been playing around with the drying process and learning how to prune our trees lately. We have done a successful batch of nibs but still don't quite understand the tempering to chocolate process. Here are two images of the fruit on the tree and a collection of ripened fruit. Tomorrow we will post two more. I am in love with the look of the tree and the colors of the fruit.

Pit Viper in Costa Rica

You are probably thinking to yourself "Why are these guys always shooting Rain Forest Hog Nosed Pit Vipers?" Well it's because we have a lot of them here on the farm and we don't have our bird stations completed yet. This guy lives on the banks of the stream in the roots of a laurel tree.

HELP

People don't usually pick these strawberry dart frogs up but this lady didn't seem to mind. She says that she has somehow become immune to the sticky poisonous mucus that covers the frogs. You can also look up blue jean frog to find out more about these guys.

Manzanillo Reserve

You can find this lovely little spot on the Southeastern side of Costa Rica. It's unspoiled because it was deemed a national park and boasts the only undisturbed mangrove swamp in the Atlantic.

Inside a Hermit's house continued

I liked these two images together because of the contrasting messages. The eating utensils, although dirty, show some sense of order while the shelf, which is an arm's length away, is simply an un-organized pile of collected objects.

Inside a Hermit's house - In HDR

When we bought our farm here in Costa Rica there was an existing house on it that was occupied by an El Salvadorian man. He lived here for 25 years as a caretaker in exchange for free rent. This is the inside of his house. We will be taking it down and donating what usable pieces there are to an Indian family tomorrow. We have two more images to post tomorrow.

Welcome to the snake pit

Another shot of a hog-nosed pit viper. This has been my favorite snake that we have caught so far. His coloring and markings are just beautiful. No animals are ever hurt in our photography and we always put them back close to where they came from. When we want to snake to play nice, we simply fill a 5 gallon bucket with water put a branch or a flower in the bucket with rocks and then place the snake on the branch. He can not slither away because he would fall in the water.

Gandoca-Manzanillo Nacional Refuge

This little piece of paradise is at the very southern tip of the Caribbean coast of Limon, Costa Rica. There is magnificent snorkeling and wave watching here. The nearby town of Manzanillo is really small and not overrun by tourist hotels so it is the perfect day spot.

Here I am, rock you like a

Scorpion King? The bigger the scorpion the less punch they pack so this guy was not much of a threat to us due to his large size.

Sloth - This is the third deadly sin?

After watching these guys for a few months now I believe that they just told people that they were slow so that they were always impressing us. They move pretty rapidly compared to the long held belief that they are slow. This guy is from Cahuita National Park. We have two that live on our farm but they are always so high up that we have yet to get a good image.

Green Vine Snake, 2 more

Only slightly venomous this snake is really only interested in feeding itself. It would only bite a human or larger animal if it felt in danger for its life.

Green Vine Snake

We were walking back from delivering a cake to our neighbors and came upon this guy attempting to snatch a gecko in a banana tree. He missed the gecko and then noting our presence stayed in the tree long enough for Barry to run into the house and get his gear. We will post two more images of him tomorrow. If you want to learn more about Vine snakes go to wikipedia.

Sitting in the porch - HDR

We like our new place so much that Barry decided to take an HDR of what he see's when he wakes up. This is a farm in San Bosco,Limon,Costa Rica. We have a view of Turrialba volcano and two rivers, La Perla y Rio Desterro that meet about 1/2 a mile behind the house.

Puerto Viejo

We just arrived in Costa Rica this week. We are getting started on our plans to build a photography education center here. This is an image from Puerto Viejo, Limon. PV was just added to the Frommers 2011 guide of top ten destinations to visit this year. If you would like to keep up with our progress you can "like" 10 Degrees Above on Facebook or add your e-mail to our blog www.destinationcr.blogspot.com

Slow and Easy

In honor of our Costa Rica trip today I decided to highlight the two toed sloth. These little buggers are so slow that they only go to the bathroom once a week. It's partly because it takes them a long time to process the nuts & berries they eat but it is also a safety measure. Cats are their primary predators so they have to be careful descending to the ground to often.

It wears poison as a coat

This cute little bugger is known as a poison dart frog, a blue jean frog and a strawberry dart. These amazing frogs will carry their babies high up into trees where they plop them into an open flower that has filled with water as a protectionary measure. You can find them hopping happily throughout Central America with the exception of highly toxic area's where chemicals have been sprayed.