As we made our way from the Central Valley of San Jose toward the Caribbean, we noticed that the vegetation was changing dramatically. Every half an hour, it seemed like we were in a whole new ecosystem.

With changes in vegetation, obviously come changes in the critters that live there.

At nearly every turn in the road (which is all time- the road is never straight for more than 100 yards), Pika pointed out a new animal. Many times the animals were birds.

Right: The Aracai belongs to the toucan family, and is actually considered a toucanet, one of the smallest toucans found in the world.

Once we made it closer to the coast, the rainforest changed. The trees became filled with epiphytes and vines. Each tree seemed to be home to more and more plants.

It was starting to make me dizzy looking at all of the trees, when I noticed a collared aracari. I pointed it out out to Pika, and asked, "Is that an Aracari?" I pronounced it ARA-sari

Pika looked at me a little strangely, and asked, "How do you know that word?" I told him I wasn't sure, hoping I wasn't wrong.

Pika told me that most people call them ARA-karis, rather than ARA-saris. He told me that only real bird experts know how to pronounce aracaris the right way.

Before leaving for Costa Rica, we visited Congress Park Elementary school in LaGrange, IL. There was a fifth grader who was a real bird expert, and taught me the correct pronunciation for the aracari.