At 40 years old I was glancing through the J.C. catalog when I spotted the Costa Rica field biology classes. Previously I'd barely left the country and had never been on a commercial airliner before. As a child I had clumsily climbed trees, beat my chest and yodeled like Tarzan.

I sat back in my chair and fantasized about what it would be like to walk in the "jungle". I realized I could do this. And a few days later I found myself signing up for the class. In a couple of months I was there with my video camera, bug repellent and wide eyed excitement.... Er, that is after I got over the hideous flu I came down with just in time for the trip...

These pages are a collection of anecdotes from my two trips to Costa Rica. Once in the winter of 1995-96 and again in the summer of 1997. I went with a group of about 15 other students on two field biology classes with Santa Rosa Jr. College. They were led by Chris Christopher and Noni Palmer.