More species than an ecotourist’s eye can see

January 24, 2010|John Powers, Globe Staff

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Ticos are native Costa Ricans and they’re generally friendly and relaxed amateur naturalists. “Taste this,’’ says Roberto, one of the Finca’s farmers, tearing off a piece from a wild cilantro plant growing by a dirt trail. Roberto knows every bit of flora on the property and his young colleague Gerald is expert at spotting everything from the golden-hooded tanager with its seven colors to the “walking’’ palm whose roots perambulate in search of sunshine.

Ticos understand instinctively how their ecosystem fits together and its complex life-and-death, give-and-take between species, and they worry that human intrusion is knocking the balance askew. In the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve alone there are 2,500 species of plants (including more than 400 orchids), 500 kinds of butterflies, 400 birds, and 100 mammals.

Trained guides like Adrian, who charges a modest $17 for a leisurely but thorough tour, can identify most of them by their Spanish, English, and Latin names. They know where to find them and are skilled at snapping intimate photos from a distance using your camera and their telescopic lenses. They can also point out close-ups you don’t want, like the bullet ant whose sting feels like a revolver shot.

Not all of the residents of these tropical Edens are friendly and not all of them are visible, at least to the untrained eye. “That’s the sloth?’’ I say to Gerald after 15 minutes of fruitless squinting. “That hairy thing up there?’’ The best thing about sloths is that they’re slothful, so sluggish that algae grows on their fur. If I come back, odds are I’ll be able to find this one, since he moves just a few feet a day. I’m not so sure about the quetzal.

John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.

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