In Manuel Antonio while eating lunch we saw a cat darting across the ground with something in his mouth. My brain was trained to see a mouse or a tiny rodent hanging from his teeth, but instead I saw something more slender, something with long, thin appendages, something that was green. That cat caught a lizard in his mouth and when I finally realized it I was jolted out of the familiar and thrown back into the reality that I was not in Boston anymore.

Being in Costa Rica and seeing so much wildlife that I had never experienced was new, exciting and amazing. Everything was so different though, that whatever I saw I wasn’t too surprised. But, as I ate my rice and beans with a plantain, that cat was eating a lizard and I was reminded that more than just people are shaped by their surroundings.

Of course, when it came to wildlife, that wasn’t the most exciting thing we saw. We also came across…

A Sloth. On our tour of the National Park in Manuel Antonio our tour guide took my little camera and placed it in the lens of his spotting scope to get that up close picture. We saw so many sloths, but no picture was captured that well.

A Macaw. While at a rest stop between Arenal and Manuel Antonio we were lucky enough to spot this guy and his friends taking a rest themselves.

A Laughing Falcon. This bird was in the National Park at Manuel Antonio. He gets his name from the sound he makes – it sounds like laughter.

A Snake. I forget what kind of snake this is- all I know is that I was thankful I was standing much farther away than it seems from this photo.

A White Faced Monkey. I thought I was going to go the entire trip without seeing one. But on our last day, right outside of our room, we finally saw about a dozen running around.

A Lizard. This guy greeted us every time we came back to our room in Manuel Antonio. He kept his eye on us every time we passed. I was scared of him at first, but at times he would scurry away when we got close. When I realized that he was just as scared of me as I was of him, he became endearing, cute even.

A Toucan. This was from a distance by the Arenal Volcano.

What is the strangest animal encounter you’ve ever had?

Our room was this tiny little cabin with a porch and a set of two rocking chairs that overlooked the Arenal Volcano.

This shot is one of the few I grabbed where you can almost see the top. The volcano is so tall that it gets in the way of passing clouds and throughout the day it seems to get entangled by them as they break up and wrap around it.

On our second day in Arenal we ventured out of our little hideaway for a volcano hike with Desafío Adventure Company, which was followed by dinner and a visit to a hot springs resort.

During the tour we walked around the volcano into a forest that was filled with wildlife and plants that we had never seen. From rubber trees to real life vines shooting down from the trees, at every corner there was life hidden behind the branches. And despite the fact that, to some of the more smaller creatures, we seemed to be an army of people stomping through the forest, it was somehow made evident that we were the visitors and it was not our territory.

I believe this little guy (or gal) is a caligo butterfly. As we passed by, it made sure to show off its beautiful wings in an act of defense, as that big dot on its wing looks like an intimidating eye.

At the end of our hike we made our way to another location in hopes that we would see some heat crumbling down the side of the active volcano. As we stood on the side of the road staring up at the volcano, like kids waiting for fire works during the fourth of July, our tour guide passed around complementary cups of Costa Rican rum. He joked that the more shots you drink the more fire you’ll see. Unfortunately, either I didn’t drink enough or we never saw evidence of an eruption, but it was great to relax and share a drink with the group.

The next day Mike and I went on a canopy tour, which included strapping ourselves into some rope and chains, throwing on a plastic helmet and then soaring through the air by a wire hung from tree to tree, just beyond this point…

Above those rolling hills, trees and river there are 12 cables zig zagging between platforms that resemble tree houses, minus the safety of a roof and four walls.

Of all the things I wanted to do while in Costa Rica, zip lining through the jungle was the one thing I was sure I wanted to do. However, the second that helmet was put on my head I began to have horrible visions of Mike sailing ahead of me, only to plummet to his death as I stood helpless on a shoddy piece of wood. I can get pretty dramatic. The good thing was, I was able to keep that drama in my head for the most part. As we climbed up to the first plank, I did my best to fake confidence as I gripped the wire above me and followed our guide’s direction – before letting go he told me I was very serious even though I could have sworn I put on a bunch of showy smiles to hide the fear. Suddenly, as I soared through the air trying to balance looking around and not getting twisted in the ropes, all my fear slipped away.

For me, zip lining was the most I have stepped out of my comfort zone in a long time. I went from absolute certainty in wanting to do it, to envisioning the death of my fiance, to complete exhilaration all in a matter of moments.  One thing I took away from the experience was the knowledge that when I am faced with something that scares me in the future, I will be equipped with the memory of seeing the tops of trees beneath my feet as I flew through the air.

Believe it or not, the rest of our stay in Arenal did include time for relaxation as well. Another one of my favorite parts was enjoying the many hot springs that dotted the trails throughout the hotel property.

After three and a half exciting and peaceful days in Arenal, we packed up and moved on to Manuel Antonio, which is another post for another day…

Once again, it is officially Blog Action Day 2009 and this year’s focus is on climate change.

A new U.N. environment report revealed that healthy oceans are one of the keys to combating climate change and preventing the destruction of marine life could help offset between 3 to 7 percent of current fossil fuel emissions. As a result, it also proposed that governments consider a “blue carbon” fund to help protect marine life. This fund would be used to protect and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and could eventually allow the future use of carbon credits, similar to that proposed for tropical forests in U.N. climate negotiations.

It’s no wonder a body of water that dwarfs towering buildings can be so greatly impacted by climate change. And if a recent study revealing that the Arctic will be ice-free in summer within 20 years is correct, who knows what it will engulf as it melts.

When I was little I wanted to be a marine biologist. In second grade, we had to do a report on an animal and present it to the entire grade. Naturally, I chose whales. For some reason I have been fascinated by these great animals ever since and if I had a knack for science at all, I imagine I might be in a very different place right now, having followed the path my second grade imagination created.

Despite my great interest and fascination with the ocean and the life it contains, there are times when I feel helpless knowing that marine life could play such a pivotal role in solving the enormous issue of climate change. But I have realized, the best thing to do is start off small. In a search I found a list of 5 Easy Ways to Protect Marine Life and it stresses the need to reduce your carbon footprint.

When it comes to being more environmentally-friendly, my greatest motivation is thinking about the Pacific Trash Vortex, but I still need to get to a place where it is ingrained in me, where it is natural to go out of my way to recycle and not just throw a plastic bottle in a green container when I happen to see one and then feel good about myself.

Do you have other ways to reduce your carbon footprint every day?

We thought about going on a day trip to salvage the whale watch that I had purchased a while back via Groupon, but decided that it was too rainy on our anniversary weekend to take the risk. We had one weekend left to use it before it ran out, but during that weekend, Mike was at a bachelor party in Pennsylvania.

Long story short, Lisa was kind enough to come up to Gloucester with me to fulfill my Groupon and go on a Cape Ann Whale Watch. Let’s just say, it was worth it. We saw a humpback whale breach, twice!

In an effort to get a good picture, I had my camera ready, zoomed in and pointed toward the vast ocean. When the whale dove up and out of the water I snapped a photo, but the huge swells throwing the boat around caused me to only grab a picture of the sky.

Lisa, on the other hand, brought her serious photography skills…

I never thought I’d really see something like that in real life – it was absolutely incredible.