Did you know the Resplendent Quetzal has been treasured by ancient civilizations?

Let’s start with some physical and geographic facts:

The resplendent Quetzal (pronounced “ket-sál”) is one of the most beautiful birds in the world, mainly because of the amazing combination of colors of his outfit; when we look at the iridescent green body, fluffy looking crown, cherry-red breast and a shimmering two-foot long green tail, it creates a vision of tropical beauty never seen before and that vision will always stay with us.  The mature males have four upper tail covert feathers that grow from above their real tail, which is only about eight inches long and it is white when seeing from below.

The male Quetzal is also adorned with elongated green satin like wing covert feathers that drape over the sides. Under those beautiful and plentiful feathers resides a very delicate and thin skin.

The female Quetzal searches for an old tree trunk, where with the help of her partner will build a nest. Once the nest is ready, between the months of February and April, she lays one or two eggs. Both the hen and cock take turns during the 18-day period of incubation. The male Quetzal enters the nest, always leaving his beautiful tail plumes outside so as not to injure them. The female doesn't have this problem, because her tail feathers are very short, although, still pretty.  Young Quetzals can start flying at about three weeks of age, but males do not begin to grow their long tail plumes for three years.

The Quetzal is the national bird of Guatemala and their currency is also called Quetzal.

In Costa Rica, the resplendent Quetzal lives primarily in the Mountains.  It is a bird of the cloud forest in the Monteverde area.

A Quetzal looks for his food by standing still on a horizontal branch watching for blackberries, figs, wild avocados or small lizards; once he has found his lunch, the tendency is to return to its perch.

The iridescent green or blue of this bird is a structural color caused by reflection of light on the feathers, so, when he is on the shade, the plumage looks kind of dull; however, when he is under the sunlight is when the display of majesty comes to life.

Now, let’s talk about some Myths and Legends

The name Quetzal means, according with some Aztec translations: "large brilliant tail feather".  The Resplendent Quetzal was considered divine by the Pre-Colombian civilizations because of the association with the “snake God” Quetzalcoatl.

The Aztecs and Mayans viewed the Quetzal as the “God of the air” and as symbol of goodness and light. The Quetzal also symbolizes freedom because it will kill itself if kept in captivity.

In general, Mesoamerican rulers and some nobility of other ranks wore headdresses made from Quetzal feathers; this was a symbolic connection to Quetzalcoatl. 

The Quetzal bird and the rattle snake (coatl in the náhuatl language) shared the position of most venerated creatures by ancient Mayans.  The Quetzal symbolized the movement of creation and the will of the creator to come to earth, on the other hand, the serpent represent the grounding power.  Because the serpent moves side by side, and the Quetzal moves up and down, in the Mayan mind, it was the perfect representation of the progression between day and night as well as the alpha and the omega.

So, the logical outcome was to unite these two creatures into ONE, calling it “Quetzalcoatl” (Feathered Serpent), who represents light, love, happiness and all which is good in life.  Their God “Quetzalcoatl” is known as the god of the wind and Venus, the Morning Star.

He was also the god of transition, since the serpents were seen as living on the boundary between the worlds of water and earth.  He was one of the four gods who created the world from the primordial chaos; he created the current generation of people.

In Mayan culture it was a crime to kill a Quetzal; hence the birds had to be captured in order to retrieve their feathers; however, they were always placed back in nature.

The Quetzal is legally protected in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama, although enforcement in remote areas where birds are found is nearly impossible. In Costa Rica, national parks have been set up to protect the endangered Quetzal. Braulio Carrillo, Poas, Chirripo, La Amistad, Monteverde and the Los Angeles cloud reserves all cooperate in the preservation of the Resplendent Quetzal.

The population of Quetzals has greatly decreased due to factors such as cloud forest destruction, hunting, and capture of these birds for trade. The Quetzal however, is still somewhat common in very remote areas of Central America.

When you come to Costa Rica, make sure you take a couple of extra days to visit the cloud forest and experience the amazing presence of this magnificent bird.

Try these sites for bird watching tours:

http://www.crsuntours.com/nature-calendar/

http://www.avianjourneys.com/Tours/toursataglance.htm

Fishing is better when the Papagayo winds are around Costa Rica.

Last week I was reading the Tico Times, www.ticotimes.net/weekend/fishing and I found it very interesting to learn that during the months of November and December, the fishing for Marlin is excellent all along the Pacific Coast, from the south of Mexico to the north of Panama. It is expected to see plentiful schools of Dorado, football Tuna, and bigger Tuna moving along with the spinner and bottlenose dolphins. Since Tuna and Dorado (mahi-mahi) are the Marlin’s favorite food, it is expected a great Marlin Season maybe just around the corner.

Todd Staley from the Tico Times explains, “As the rain subsides, the water clarity near shore will begin to improve, and the inshore fishing will return to normal. All the water rushing down from the mountains these past weeks has been carrying tons of silt with it, making inshore fishing a washout for the most part. Some time around the beginning of December, the Papagayo winds will begin to blow from the east, across Lake Nicaragua into the Pacific Ocean. This event lasts about four months. What happens is this wind pushes the surface water offshore and the upwelling water does not have enough oxygen to support sailfish, forcing them to move south. You can catch a sailfish or a marlin any day of the year in Costa Rica, but when the Papagayo wind is blowing, the population is more concentrated in central and southern Costa Rica.”

 

This fascinating article got my curiosity about the Papagayo wind, a term that I had never heard before, despite the fact that Bill and I have been living in Costa Rica for the last 6 years and we love going fishing; I guess we haven’t been fishing as much as we would like lately.                                                                

NASA explains that the weather behind the Papagayo wind is a very simple meteorological mechanism. “During the winter, cold high-pressure weather systems move southward from North America over the Gulf of Mexico. These high-pressure systems create strong pressure gradients between the atmosphere over the Gulf of Mexico and the warmer, moister atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. Just as a river flows from high elevations to lower elevations, the air in the high-pressure system will flow downhill toward lower pressure, but the Cordillera mountains block the flow of air, channeling it through Chivela Pass in Mexico, the lake district of Nicaragua, and also Gaillard Cut in Panama (which also holds the Panama Canal)."

Every year in the far west of the  tropical Pacific Ocean, between 5° N and 17° N, an important event takes place, it is the rising of deep cold water to the surface as a result of the winds pushing from 3 strategic points which are: The Tehuantepec Gulf in Mexico, The Papagayo Gulf in Costa Rica and the Panama Gulf.

So, what does that have to do with having a good fishing 

season? 

Well, imagine what a sight it must have been a million or so years ago when the volcanoes blasted out of the ocean floor piling rocks and lava for hundreds of miles creating what is now known as Central America.
This also created an underwater maze of formations that many species of sport fish call home and  frequently  visit to feed during their migratory routes.
The entire western shore of Costa Rica is made up of these spectacular coastline works of nature. They are home to an untold number of varieties of snappers and groupers. The finicky and celebrated "sport fish”, the rooster fish hangs out in this area along with several varieties of jacks, rainbow runners and sharks.

Offshore the volcanic activity has formed pinnacles that rise hundreds of feet out of the ocean floor, attracting bait fishes that start the "bigger fish eats littler fish" chain of life. Marlin, sails, tuna, and dolphin fish take advantage of the feeding opportunities here. One of the exciting things about Costa Rica is that these popular species can be taken year round.

The fish move up and down the coast and one time of year a certain area will be excellent during several months but slow during the others. Generally speaking, from December through April the major bite of migratory species will be in the center of the country and south. The rest of the year the best bite will be to the north. There are exceptions to every rule, of course.

 

It seems like the predictions for this coming Costa Rican Summer (December to April) are very bright for the fishing enthusiast, so if you are one of them, this is the time to start making plans and traveling arrangements, you might be going back home with priceless experiences and memories about fishing in Costa Rica.

 

 

www.hookedoncostarica.com/costa-rica-fishing-vacation-packages 

http://www.cunadelangel.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=39&Itemid=132&lang=en

http://www.crtourism.com/southpacific01.htm

November in Costa Rica… How to avoid Mosquito Madness

It is a beautiful time of the year because we have sunny mornings and cool-rainy evenings, and the occasional 24 hr. overcast day. This November 2011, has started on a very sunny note and the local meteorologist is predicting the beginning of the dry season in central Costa Rica by mid November.

The southern pacific always experiences a longer rainy season and is predicted to end on the first week of December.

Since November is the last month of rain,  the soil is already well saturated, grass has grown in all those neglected areas, foliage is abundant, everything is gorgeous green and wet and, of course, the perfect environment for mosquitoes and al their flying-biting relatives. Yeah! They are everywhere,

Many of us know that the most common way to avoid mosquito bites when outdoors is to use citronella candles, but… if you are in Costa Rica, you may not be able find them as easy as you do in other countries, besides, if you ask about citronella based products, you will get a very funny look, something like “what are you talking about?”

I have been on the receiving end of that look, so, I decided that I needed to do a little more research and find out why nobody seems to know much about citronella.

To my surprise, I found out that I had been living under a rock for the last 6 years since we came to Costa Rica.  If I had known that the other name of Citronella is Lemon Grass, I had been able to buy as many plants as I needed to plant around my house by the beach, creating a “NOT WELCOME” wall for the undesirable but very numerous mosquitoes and their relatives.

Citronella or Lemon Grass, which in Costa Rica is called Zacate Limon, is actually a tropic plant that grows to be around six feet tall, so it might not be practical in the average suburban backyard, but the average house in the Costa Rican Pacific Coast has enough room to grow it and a green natural wall blends perfectly with the tropical setting. As you can see in the picture, it is not the most handsome or exotic plant in Costa Rica, but it provides you with an incredible value allowing you to enjoy more your outdoor space.

A little bit of history:

Lemongrass is originally from Sri Lanka and it became popular all over the world in the 19^th century. The lemongrass oil was known as Oleum Siree when it was exported for the first time to Europe. Sri Lanka was the main center of lemongrass oil production until 1890 when Java started production of this oil of better quality. In 1900s, lemongrass oil started to be exported to other countries, becoming very widely used.

In Costa Rica, unless you are in Central San Jose, it may not be so easy for you to find oil or any other lemon grass/citronella based products; for that reason you might want to bring it with you if you are coming for a short vacation, or if you are staying for an extended period of time or actually living in this tropical country, you might want to consider planting Lemon Grass (Zacate Limon) , Rosemary (Romero) and Mint (Menta) around your house, this combination will discourage mosquitoes from hanging around.

There are different schools of thought around the use of these plants.  Some say they do nothing to repel mosquitoes, while other swear by them; in my opinion, since those three plants are very easy to find and grow in Costa Rica, why not try them?”

Planting these plants that repel mosquitoes is a great choice for your yard.  They are not only an earth-friendly way of dealing with these pests, but they will add beauty to your garden, and more importantly, they will not jeopardize your health the way common insecticides might.

You can also prepare your own home made lemon grass (citronella) repellent buy following these simple steps:

Pack a glass jar with finely chopped lemon grass (Zacate Limón), then top it off with vodka or alcohol.
Make sure to seal it tightly.

Shake it one a day and store it in a dark place for a full week.

Then you are ready to use it as repellent.

Couple more natural tricks against the mosquitoes:

If you don’t mind smelling like a cookie, pure vanilla extract, believe it or not, actually repels mosquitoes. If you use imitation vanilla it won't work.  Mosquitoes are not the only bugs that don't like vanilla, so it's good to keep around. You can put vanilla on your pulse points to keep away the bugs.

Lavender is another great mosquito repellent and who does not like the smell of lavender, well, mosquitoes don’t, and that is why lavender is a natural insect repellent.  You can use the flower to rub on your skin or use the oil on your pulse points just as you would for perfume. This is proof that you don't have to smell like a chemical to keep away the bugs.

Finding lavender plants in Costa Rica may not be so easy, but if you are lucky enough to find them take good care of them and they will keep the mosquitoes away from you.

If the mosquitoes have succeeded and you are already carrying their bites, well, I know the feeling, so it is time to try Aloe Vera gel, it will help to calm the itch and will heal the affected area.  If you happen to have access to an Aloe Vera Plant (which in Costa Rica is called SABILA, or ZABILA), it will be even better, just cut the tip of a branch, open its skin like if it was a banana and use the jelly type pulp on the affected area, you will feel an instant relief.

So, as much as the mosquitoes might try to scare you away from this wonderful Tropical County, you can outsmart them and keep them away from you, in a very natural way.