POSTCARD N.159 - COSTA RICA

Postcard sent on the 28th June; received  0n the 19th August 2024

Postcard image: Agalychnis callidryas (Red Eyed Tree frog)
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Ask me to thin Costa Rica and I will say volcanoes and colourful frogs. 

I got t a lovely card from Eric, the Flying Dutchman, posted in Costa Rica and since it did not have a volcano image, I wasn't at all surprised to see that it had a great picture of one of those amazingly colourful creatures that are endemic to central America, and Costa Rica in particular, a country with a  incredible degree of biodiversity. Muito Obrigado, Eric! Fantástico postal.

The Red Eyed Tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas) is an absolute icon of Costa Rica.

An arboreal being, the small frog (females can grow up to 3 inches while males do not exceed 2) is most active at night, when it hunts for insects, its main diet staple, although they are known to eat smaller amphibians too. 

Being such a colourful creature, one would think it to be poisonous, but it seems that is not the fact, Be it as it may, the red eyed tree frog is a tremendously photogenic little creature and the image on the postcard corroborates this.

Stamps., left to right:

- On 04MAY2007, Correos de  Costa Rica issued a 5 x 155 Colones mini-sheet dedicated to pre-Columbian art (the term  Pre-Colombian designating the period before contact with European culture, that is to say up to 1492, date of the arrival of  the first Christopher Columbus' expedition to the  Americas).

Two of these stamps can be seen on the postcard, the one on the left illustrated with a photo of a Ceramic Censer with an alligator figure on top of the lid and the other with the figure of a warrior.

- The centenary of FIFA the Federation Internationale Football Association was celebrated in 2004. 

For the occasion, Correos de Costa Rica issued, on 15DEC2004, the 2 x 140 Colones se-tenant pair of stamps on the cover. The stamp on the left is illustrated with the logo of the organization and the one on the right with a rather subdued image of a soccer player over a soccer field At first sight I thought that the image was some sort of a map, but it doesn’t bear any resemblance to the map of Costa Rica, after a more attentive examination. 

-- The 75 Colones stamp  is illustrated with an image of  a Venus fan (Gorgonia flabellum), a form of soft coral whim can be found in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean sea, as well as in the Tyrrhenian Sea, which is considered to be a vulnerable species, in terms of its conservation status.

The stamp is part of a 4 x 75 Colones stamp set issued on 25SEP2002, dedicated to the marine life of Uvita island or Isla Quiribrí, a small  415 m x 320 m Island, off the Caribbean coast of  Costa Rica.