My first Biennial

[Mike4284m]

The bromeliad at Vulcan Poas in Post # 41 was ID'd as Werauhia ororiensis. (not by me, but by someone knowledgeable! )

Much appreciated. Apparently it's not in cultivation, too bad.

[Jeff in St Pete]

After leaving the National Park entrance, it was just a short bus ride to the Aerial tram

Brom in a tree

Euterpe

[Jeff in St Pete]

Welfia? Now I think all big palms with a new red leaf are Welfia

Could this be Desmoncus? Someone told me to take a picture of it, but I don't remember why.

I believe that is Kim down below us. Hi Kim!

Some cool plant growing up a tree

[Jeff in St Pete]

It was very cool gliding through the canopy. Some of the views were spectacular!

A couple big palms

A closer look

and passing them by...

[Jeff in St Pete]

The Euterpe's were beautiful!

[Jeff in St Pete]

[Jeff in St Pete]

A sloth up in a tree near the tram entrance

[amazondk]

Jeff,

Thanks for the great pictures. It is almost like being there. But, I am sure still a long ways in reality. It is a beautiful forest around there. I am sure it was a good time. Hopefully next time I will make it.

dk

[FossilNypa]

Thanks Luis! It was great finally meeting you and your brother. I have pictures of you guys that I will post soon. I hope the palms are doing ok. Thanks again for the trade!

Hi Jeff,

We also liked meeting you and the other people that day. We have already planted the Joey palms in bags!

Thanks a lot .

Regards,

Luis Diego.

[FossilNypa]

Luis- It was great to meet you for a short time at the banquet!

Bill

Hi Bill,

Thanks! I also enjoyed meeting you there.

Pura Vida,

Luis Diego

[SubTropicRay]

Jeff,

I think the one in the photo with me had the branching inflourescence (Asterogyne martiana).

Ray

[Jeff in St Pete]

Thanks Ray. I know you told me the name of this palm a couple dozen times but I still couldn't get it through my thick skull! I was on palm overload that day.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Jeff,

Thanks for the great pictures. It is almost like being there. But, I am sure still a long ways in reality. It is a beautiful forest around there. I am sure it was a good time. Hopefully next time I will make it.

dk

My pleasure Don. Since it looks like we will be coming to Brazil for the next Biennial, I hope to meet you there!

[FossilNypa]

Hi Jeff,

Do you have any contact info or address of the Herrero Bros. Farm?

Regards,

Luis Diego.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Thursday May 8, 2008 - Carara National Park

Our last bus ride of the Biennial found us crossing the mountains on a very long twisty road and arriving at the central Pacific coast. Carara is a transitional forest between the dry forests to the north and the rain forests in the south. I wasn't expecting this to be as exciting as Braulio Carillo but I was in for a surprise. I saw lots of amazing palms including one called Neonicholsonia that I had never seen before. Twice while we were at the park I saw pairs of scarlet macaws flying overhead, we saw howler monkeys in the forest, a very dangerous snake and lots of other critters.

Cryosophilas in the forest

Looking up into the crown, the flash on my camera really made the silver stand out.

A closeup

[Jeff in St Pete]

A very large leaf-cutter ant mound

Chamaedorea

I think this was a tall Astrocaryum alatum

I was backing up trying to get a picture of a palm and Jimmy yelled for me to stop. I turned around to find this coiled up about 6 feet away. I think he said this was a Fleur de Lance which is very poisonous. Needless to say, for the rest of the hike I watched every step of the way!

[Jeff in St Pete]

Dottie looking at a Cryosophila.

Another Cham?

Not sure

looking up into the trees

[FossilNypa]

I think this was a tall Astrocaryum alatum

Now I see the Astrocaryum you were talking me about, it is really tall. That one is taller than the ones I've seen.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Not sure what this palm is either but everyone was looking at it.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Sunlight hitting these fronds in the forest

Some Chams with very long bent trucks arching out over this creek bed.

Check out the aerial roots on this one!

[Jeff in St Pete]

Howler monkeys up in the trees. The lighting was not good to get a good picture

Lots of pictures were taken of IPS members in front of large trees

[Jeff in St Pete]

[Jeff in St Pete]

This is the palm that was assumed to be Neonicholsonia. Very cool palm!

[Jeff in St Pete]

One more Neonicholsonia pic

Flowers all over the forest floor.

[Jeff in St Pete]

After leaving Carara, we stopped at a gift shop on the way back to San Jose. They had free coffee for us there and it gave everyone a chance to do some shopping.

Some of the flowering vines around the store

[Jeff in St Pete]

Mangos hanging in the trees across the street from the gift shop

After we arrived back at the hotel, I had previously made plans to meet Luis Diego and Adolfo that evening. They are twin brothers who live near San Jose, are IPS members, and participate on this forum as FossilNypa and geonomaDude. They couldn't attend the Biennial since they are both still in school but they stopped by to trade some palms with me, meet some of the other PalmTalk members, and they were invited to the Phoenix lecture that evening (in Spanish) and dinner afterwards. Both of them have been very helpful to me since I moved to Costa Rica and it was a real pleasure to finally meet them.

That's Luis Diego on the left and Adolfo on the right in the hotel lobby

Phoenix lecture

When they found out Andrew Henderson was at the Biennial they made a quick phone call and got someone to bring them their copy of Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas and we asked him to autograph it. Dr Henderson was also kind enough to pose for a picture.

[geonomaDude]

Hi Jeff,

Your pictures are incredible, specially the ones about animals (which are hard to photograph). Its cool to see that those

Corypha

palms are here

in Costa Rica.

Thanks again for the palms, they are doing great (we placed them underneath a

Phoenix roebelenii

for some shade).

Regards,

Adolfo

[Leland Lai]

Ensete leaf

Me with an Ensete

In flower

Hi Jeff, Amazing pics of many things I missed running around. I will have to visit you next time I am in town. Your pics will have a lot of others wondering or maybe not if they don't already know what they all missed by not going.

Brazil is next and I think it will be a heavy crowd as well in 2010. It has what I consider the best Botanical Garden around due to age and support of a great staff.

Leland

[Jeff in St Pete]

A few pictures of the hotel lobby taken on Thursday night

[Jeff in St Pete]

I think this was a tall Astrocaryum alatum

Now I see the Astrocaryum you were talking me about, it is really tall. That one is taller than the ones I've seen.

I hope that's an Astrocaryum in that picture. Sometimes it's hard to tell when you are not used to seeing them that big! The Cryosophila's are what really blew me away. The silvery underside of the fronds were spectacular!

[geonomaDude]

Jeff,

We were lucky to have Mr. Henderson autograph the book and pose for a picture. Luis Diego and I really enjoyed the dinner (and the lecture too) and having the chance to meet you and other IPS members.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Hi Jeff,

Your pictures are incredible, specially the ones about animals (which are hard to photograph). Its cool to see that those

Corypha

palms are here

in Costa Rica.

Thanks again for the palms, they are doing great (we placed them underneath a

Phoenix roebelenii

for some shade).

Regards,

Adolfo

Thanks Adolfo! Under a P roebelenii, huh?

You should check out the Herrero Brothers Farms. Lots of other hidden treasures there! But the Corypha was a nice surprise.

[Jeff in St Pete]

[quote name='Leland Lai' date='May 13 2008, 11:06 PM' post='20206

Hi Jeff, Amazing pics of many things I missed running around. I will have to visit you next time I am in town. Your pics will have a lot of others wondering or maybe not if they don't already know what they all missed by not going.

Brazil is next and I think it will be a heavy crowd as well in 2010. It has what I consider the best Botanical Garden around due to age and support of a great staff.

Leland

[Jeff in St Pete]

Jeff,

We were lucky to have Mr. Henderson autograph the book and pose for a picture. Luis Diego and I really enjoyed the dinner (and the lecture too) and having the chance to meet you and other IPS members.

Adolfo, I know you guys were very excited about having him sign your book. You met a lot of IPS members that night and you were both a big hit! As Carlo Morici said when he announced you guys, you are the new generation of the International Palm Society.

[Jeff in St Pete]

A couple more pics from dinner Thursday night.

Jerry and Cindy Andersen

Al and Silvia Bredeson

I had a great time visiting with them all here in Manuel Antonio for a few days before the Biennial. Al and Silvia were on Bus #1 with us, but Jerry and Cindy were on Bus #4 so I didn't get to see them much during the week.

[amazondk]

Jeff,

You are sure lucky you did not step on that snake. It looks like a bothrops, which is known as a jararaca around here. The largest number of snake bites in Brazil are from this snake. I imagine it is probably the same in Costa Rica.

dk

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Jeff,

Awesome photgraphs... Thank you so much for posting them. I know it takes a bit to DL them and get them posted so quickly. Palmtalk really is a great venue to share with members who weren't able to attend. I really hate that I missed such a lovely meeting. 2012 in Thailand here I come!

[Jeff in St Pete]

Don, I will be much more careful where I step from now on...

Thanks William, you missed a great Biennial but I'm sure Brazil in 2010 and Thailand in 2012 will be even better!

[Jeff in St Pete]

Friday May 9, 2008 - This was a free day and many people went on additional tours like white water rafting and canopy zipline tours. Others opted to go shopping at the market in San Jose. I slept late and spent the day at the hotel. Here are a few pictures I took that day.

One of the hotel restaurants

The pool was empty, not many people were around the hotel that day.

Oxcart inside one of the entrances

Lots of palms and tropical plants throughout the hotel

[Jeff in St Pete]

Farewell Dinner - Friday night

The dance floor is ready

The band

BobbyinNY got up and sang a couple songs. He was awesome!

He really got the crowd dancing!