July 1, 2018 - Costa Rica - Flowers and a Volcano

One of the iconic tropical flowers found in Costa Rica is the Heliconia. This one, seen at the Rainforest Lodge in Sarapiquis, was one of the many different kinds of Heliconia we saw while we were there. Wikipedia says there are about 194 varieties of this species and most of them are found in the American tropics.

HeliconiaflowerRainforestLodgeSarapiquisCostaRica20180406

Here’s another Heliconia with the same basic shape but very different colors than the first one. This was also at the Rainforest Lodge in Sarapiquis.

HeliconiaflowerRainforestLodgeSarapiquisCostaRica20180406

Heliconia plants vary in size but this is a typical one. It was photographed at the Botanical Orchid Garden in La Garita and has large leaves and many clusters of flowers.

HeliconiaBotanicalOrchidGardenGaritaCostaRica20180413

The large, colorful parts of a Heliconia are actually bracts. The true flower parts are the little green pieces sticking out the bottom of the bracts in this photo. These flowers are favored by hummingbirds and I’ll have photos of them next week. This photo was taken at Dave and Dave's Nature Pavilion.

HeliconiaDaveandDave'sNaturePavillionCostaRica20180407

The roots of this tree at Los Iguanas Restaurant in Muell made a pattern that I found very interesting.

TreerootpatternLosIguanasRestaurantMuellCostaRica20180408

We had a great view of the famous Arenal Volcano when we stayed at the Arenal Manoa Hotel. When we arrived, our guides told us to quickly get our photos because the volcano was unobstructed by clouds. Sure enough, we stayed there for three days and never had a clear view again.

ArenalVolcanoManoaHotelCarlosCostaRica20180408150233SamsungGalaxy