Volcán Rincón de la Vieja/El Día de las Serpientes: Número Tres

For the last day of our Pacific Coast field trip, we drove to a national park on the slope of a volcano called Rincón de la Vieja. We had a few hours to hike around the trails, so we decided to hike to a waterfall that had a swimming hole at the bottom. After about an hour hiking we made it to the waterfall. It was so incredible! My camera certainly does not do it justice, but I hope you can get an idea of how impressive this waterfall and pool are. The water was a little on the cool side, but it felt so good after a hot hike :) I also saw a cool anole by the pool that turned out to be a Norops oxylophus.

Absolutely breathtaking...

We hiked back to where we started and stopped at another little swimming hole along the way. Nick, Gracy, and I went a little ways down the river and found another waterfall. It was so fun getting to explore this place, and it turned out to be one of the most fun and relaxing days of the trip :)

We left the volcano and drove down to the beach to watch the sunset. After that, we went to dinner at a seafood restaurant near the coast, We went back to Santa Rosa for our last night, and the rest of the group decided it was time for a big party, so Dan and I promptly left for a night hike ;) Dan went back partway through, but I was determined to see one more snake before leaving Santa Rosa.

I have to say that I underestimated how creepy it is to walk around in a forest alone at night…Nevertheless, I continued on. Before long I heard a sound in the leaves next to the trail. It was another one of the “uncommon” mimics of a rare coral snake (Leptodeira nigrofasiata). They are such beautiful snakes, and it was cool to see another one since we only saw a glimpse of the last one. Satisfied to have seen a snake, I headed back to camp. I took a brief stop at the only water hole to check for frogs and I saw a cool Dry Forest Leopard Frog (Rana forreri). As I was about to leave, I saw another snake! It was a little brown and tan colored snake stretched out right next to the water. I didn’t know exactly what it was at the time, but it turned out to be a relative of the other snake I saw (Leptodeira annulatus). I was so excited to see another snake :) On the five minute walk back to the campground, I heard some rustling in the bushes. I looked over and saw anther Lyre Snake (Trimorphodon biscutaus)! It was slithering through some braches next to the path. It was about 3 feet long, so pretty good sized. I was overwhelmed with happiness :) Not only 3 snakes in one day, but 3 snakes in 30 minutes! A great end to an amazing 2 week field trip!

Leptodeira nigrofasciata in the leaves

Leptodeira annulatus climbing a branch

Rana forreri by the pond