This trip will focus on the lower elevation rain forests, that I've been putting off doing. I've been dreading this trip for years after meeting a family on our last trip that was on their way back to Florida after doing the rain forest. In just ten minutes of showing us their bug bites and explaining how no bug spray would work, I just felt it would be a most uncomfortable trip. So, if I was going to be eaten alive, I wanted a bargain! Lora wants to go to birding lodges that have protected land, lots of land. She feels that if we don't reward the resorts that put land into conservation, there will be no incentive for private properties to do so. Makes sense to me.
We picked Selva Verde for a number of reasons. First of all they come to our Space Coast Birding and Wildlife festival, year after year. Second, they have put away more than 500 acres into conservation. Third, they offer a special at our festival called their "birding safari" for only $549 for 4 nights, all meals, lodging, bird guides and transportation!
I picked Villa Lapas because they too had put away 500 acres, but they also adjoined Carara Biological Reserve. Oh, but there‘s more. They spent a fortune building the Sky Walk, which is a hike through the tree tops using cable suspension bridges. Now, on to some details.
We flew on Jet Blue, non stop from Orlando to San Jose, and Selva Verde picked up us as soon as we cleared immigration. These folks know what they're doing, and wanted us to go birding at Tirimbini Biological Preserve at 3PM. I'm thinking, yeah, right. But by gosh, every transfer ran like clock work. Got a great guide, that focused on birding, but also the back ground of the preserve. This property was incorporating the use of cacao (think chocolate) in reforestation programs. The paths were all smooth concrete, with some cable suspension bridges thrown in. Immediately, we saw lots of birds such as: Orapendulas, motmots, tinamous, and 2 mussareri snakes. Further in, we picked up green kingfisher, rufous tailed humming bird, olive backed and yellow crested euphonias, and of course trogans, both slaty tailed and black throated. Many, many more, but you get the point. This is birder's heaven on earth.
It's June in the rain forest. It's the rainy season, and it's damp, hot, and full of birds. Missing are mosquitoes and biting insects. I'm in shock and ask about it. Willie explains that the wet season has no biting bugs. I'm just going to guess that there is so much rain, that the puddles are flushed clean every day.
Selva Verde had an older man in an ancient beat up car handle this transport for us. Sometimes I'm more comfortable using locals that I know need the money, and it's nice to climb out of an old car rather than a splashy resort vehicle advertising that well heeled tourists had arrived.
Returning to the lodge, we have time to get our bearings before dinner. All the rooms are upstairs in stilt homes. Incredible wood floors and doors. Giant porches that surround these houses on all sides. No a/c. This is a 3 leaf C.S.T. resort which I'll talk about a little later. Trust me, it's a big deal.
The resort has walkways throughout this incredible rain forest, but they're all covered so that you can walk pretty much everywhere when it rains, and trust me, it's going to rain! Wandering around, we find a beautiful tropical pool. It's full of young bikini clad birders from Sweden! Well, no. It was empty. I just knew the young birders were around somewhere, so I figured I'd keep looking! Anyhow, we enjoyed this beautiful pool, and soon it was full of folks from all over Europe. The shock was that these folks had come to this out of the way property to experience the rain forest, but weren't birders! We were the only ones in the place.
In central America, it gets dark very early, even in June. Luckily, the dinner hours don't start until after dark, so you get to use all the day light you have for birding. The building known as the dining room is two stories, and overlooks the Sarapiqui river. It can handle more than 100 folks. Upstairs is screened with meals served buffet style, downstairs is completely open air, and meals are served at your table. Down stairs we were never alone. The lights brought in many huge toads that would hop under all the tables, and numerous bats would be circling the lights stuffing themselves on the insects until they had to take a break. During daylight hours we had orange billed sparrows which are gorgeous, and buff rumped warblers hopping around under the tables.
Costa Rica is also known for small beautifully colored frogs. I was hoping to see some as we were at much lower elevations on this trip. Well, they're everywhere, visible even from the dining hall. Beautiful bright mint green and black ones, as well as the famous "blue jeans" frog which is bright red with navy blue legs, looking like it's wearing blue jeans.
Selva Verde has water coolers available in multiple places, and had back up bottles waiting if needed. They didn't say whether you could drink the tap water or not, so I had Lora try it. No, I didn't. We did travel with our own hiking water bottles which we were able to keep as full as we wanted. At these temperatures, you have to be proactive to avoid dehydration.
At 4:30 in the morning, I was awoken to realize that one of the European tourists was choking her husband, and I figured it was probably long overdue, anyhow! Then I remembered the Howler Monkeys.! I had been wondering why our room didn't have an alarm clock. Not needed, as you won't be sleeping even til dawn which comes around 5:30 am.
Breakfast would find us in the upstairs dining room sitting politely at a table with the other guests. Well, not exactly! Actually, they have these incredible cool benches that you can sit at eating your breakfast watching the water features, feeding platforms, and the river as well. Your feet basically hang over the edge on these wonderful polished wood surfaces. Yep, just as dangerous as it sounds. But birders are like that!
Like clock work, our next guide is waiting on us after breakfast, and I'm talking 6 am. Off we hike into their botanical gardens. Here we pick up white crowned parrot, crimson front parakeet, tropical king bird, ani, white collared swift, long tailed hermit, black cheeked wood pecker, tawny chested flycatcher, red throated ant tanager, and on, and on.
Heading back to the lodge for lunch, we walk back the covered walkways, and I spot a fasciated tiger heron. From our perch during lunch, we see spotted sandpipers, black phoebes, social fly catchers and more tiger herons.
Included in this safari is a boat trip up the Rio Viejo. Another transfer in an old beat up vehicle, and we are let off at a dock with all kinds of local folks lurking as if it was some kind of old musical, and someone had just yelled: "AND ACTION"! As we head into this crowd, I whisper to Lora: "just blending in", which is my joke because, there is no way that I will ever be able to blend in here, yet we are thinking about buying property here. I have been referred to as "blanco face". A little too tall, and a little too light.
A man with a bar of soap is taking a bath in this muddy river. Mothers are holding babies. Folks are sitting on parcels going somewhere. And in comes Blanco Face! I roll my eyes as it looks as if the Prince and Princess have just been dropped off. We are ushered to this narrow boat that seats 24. Of course we are the only folks on board. If you've seen the boats they use on the Amazon, that's what this is. It's narrow, and very fast, and fully covered. The river is boiling in fast flowing mud, trees that are coming down, and partially submerged trees sticking up out of the water. I'm thinking surely we won't really be going, when the captain introduces himself, and I smell that cocktail hour had already started!
As we cast off, and the current drags us quickly downstream, I look at the folks on the dock, all watching us. Yep, just blending in with the locals!
The lodge had given me a voucher to give the captain for $50. That's what he would be paid for this 2 hour boat trip. Gas is $6/ gallon. There were no other passengers. Some wages are very low. Wages in eco tourism appear generous. These are some of the dynamics of cst (certified sustainable tourism). More later about this.
As we head up through the boiling river, I'm amazed how rough he treats this boat as we are navigating through trees in the river. Here we pick up: kiskadee, buff rumped warblers, and of course, caimen. He knows some birds, but not all. However he hears a loud squawk, and runs the boat aground! He speaks almost no English, but orders us off the boat. (sure, get off a perfectly good boat in the middle of nowhere, hmm) We follow him up this steep, muddy, manure covered bank into some trees. Here we find green macaws nesting!
By the time we get back to his boat, we are covered in mud, and dragged mud all through his boat. He managed with some jockeying to get the boat unstuck. But this is an example of the effort that everyone went through on our behalf. Back at the dock, another driver was waiting with another old beat up vehicle. At no time did we have to wait for a driver.
That night, our waiter Jose asked us if we would rather take his car on our birding trip to the Carrillo National Park in the morning, or use the lodge's beautiful air conditioned van plastered with a gorgeous Selva Verde wrap. This caught me by surprise. He explained that by using his car, we could have more flexibility in our stops. I had an inkling that it would be a very old car with no a/c, no airbags, and who knew about insurance. Without thinking further, I told him we'd be happy to go with him in his own car. (well, what was I going to say?) I got to second guess the wisdom on this one throughout the night! One side said: "are you nuts?!!, and the other side said: "the best adventures are always just a little dangerous"!!"
The next morning, I snuck into the dining area at 5:30 to get coffee for us. It was always ready for us. Jose met us with a travel breakfast that the staff had prepared for us to have in the field. Off we went in his 27 year old Toyota Tercel. Our first stop was off the paved highway, up a mule path. I have a 4wd suv, and I would have given up. However, Jose had done this before. He made the car jump from high spot to high spot, and blasted through muddy areas. I finally explained very clearly that I didn't want to destroy his car. He explained that roads like these were where the birds were.
We came to rest in the middle of a heart of palm field. Heart of palm had been served to us at dinner, and was actually quite nice. In the middle of the fields are incredible almond trees that are flowering pink. Green macaws fly over, blue black grass quits are near the road, and in comes a smoky brown wood pecker, and a tawny crested tanager. Some of the many other birds included dusky faced tanager, violet headed humming bird, common bush tanager, green hermit humming bird, crowned wood nymph, blue and gold tanager, and ruddy tailed fly catcher.
While we are working the fields, agricultural workers arrive with sprayers mounted on their backs. Each one is carrying a 5 gallon unit weighing approximately 40 pounds, and riding a bike up this muddy, rocky path. And this brings me to exactly what it means to be a birding guide. These are good jobs. Jose was our waiter. He was the bartender. Now he's the birding guide, and has perfect English as well as Spanish. He also had to pay for his own optics. He also goes to school for conservation management. This is one very hard working young man. Another part of CST is employment of locals, rather than bringing in bird guides from other countries.
Arriving at the national park, we decided to enjoy our breakfast in the picnic area that overlooks the parking lot and main highway. Our table has a dedication tag on it. It reads that the tables were provided by L.L. Bean. Great idea. Now, imagine a national park with 10 parking spots, and no roads. You explore this on foot. The elevation is much higher, and the temps are cooler.
The climb is steep. We hiked through a mixed flock and saw black headed nightingale thrush, russet ant shrike, silver throated tanager, violet sabrewing, striped breasted wren, and black faced grosbeak.
This was a long and strenuous hike, but allowed us to also see lattice tailed trogan, variable seed eaters, passerinii tanagers, and violaceous trogan.
Heading back, Jose had a favorite spot he liked to bird. It was a private residence, empty now, and somewhat overgrown. Without trespassing, we were able to watch incredible humming birds in their gardens such as snow caps, black crested coquette, and white necked jacobens. If we buy a place in Costa Rica, this is similar to what we would want. Overgrown is fine. Run down is fine, but it has to have the land and habitat. Why would anyone move there, if you didn't have the birds on your property?
Part of this route would put us in the heavy truck traffic between San Jose and Limon, the port city on the Atlantic. The trucks are nearly all American made. There are pedestrians everywhere. Jose explains that the schools run 2 sessions per day. Everyone eats at home, and they can get by with half as many schools.
Lunch at the lodge was upstairs and a buffet. The place is busier. Mrs Holbrook, the owner has gone back to the states this morning. She is the founder of the facility, and introduced herself to us at dinner last night, and was somewhat curious as to how we wound up there. When we explained the connection to the birding festival, it all seemed to click.
She has built basically an education campus. There are meeting rooms, presentation rooms and class rooms. She takes conservation very seriously, and that is what sustainable tourism is about. Her facility is certified in three areas. Villa Lapas, where we head to next, is only certified on one.
After lunch, we are without any adult supervision, so we cross the road and start climbing the hills behind the botanical garden. When it gets really steep, steps have been cut into the mud which helps. Eventually we reach a fence and are looking up into a farmer's field. Here we come face to face with groove billed anis, gorgeous blue dacnis, and dusky faced and passerinii tanagers. On the way down, we surprise an agouti, and a troop of young howler monkeys, and one is carrying a baby.
Arriving back at the lodge, we head out to the gigantic cable bridge. The bridge is open for you to cross the river, but you can't leave the bridge. Was this to prevent us from going over there, or someone else coming over here? Anyhow, I love heights, and birding the tree tops. Here we pick up rufous motmot,and slaty trogon.
We were scheduled to do a night hike, but it had been pouring for hours, and it was postponed. One of the things that I enjoy is a nightly insect display that is possible with a uv light and white sheet. Here, they have gone one better. They built a kiosk with a permanent white board and uv light. Always a treat.
The following morning we were transported to La Selva OTS research station. This research station is a big deal involving rain forest research. It's a campus. A research paper is published every 72 hours here. The place is crawling with college students from around the world.
We were paired up with a very young couple from Switzerland and their 2 children under the age of 6. I didn't have high hopes as these folks were not birders, but once again, big binoculars won. There's just something about a man with big binoculars! You don't have to say a word. Everyone knows why you are there, so the tour still had a good emphasis on birds.
We were fortunate to see both 2 and 3 toed sloths. Our guide explained the wonderful bullet ants which are the biggest ants I had ever seen, and about the 24 hours of agony that you would go through if one bit you. The bite becomes as painful as a bullet, hence the name. I am still observing my non aggression pact with the insects, which means that if they don't bite me, I won't kill them! But that will come to a close soon enough!
We're using good concrete paths, and there is no hard climbing. The guide was so experienced that the material was presented constantly, and kept the kids somewhat interested. As a general rule, I'd rather have folks bring their pets than their children when around me. However, these two were so well behaved, that when one bolted toward a cliff, I actually told the parents to catch it. I must be mellowing!
We went right through the middle of a swamp, and I found a gray necked rail skulking in the distance. This property has 73 species of bats, and the Christmas count yielded 365. An incredible spot, and worthwhile experience.
Everything so far has been included as part of Selva Verde's birding safari. After lunch, we finally get to cross the large bridge at the resort. These are the 500 acres that we came to see. It appears that guests are not allowed over there without a guide, as some folks had gotten lost, and with dark coming so early, had to spend the night in the rain forest. Oh yeah, I bet those guests had a trip they won't ever forget!
We do a strenuous hike up and down a ravine. Jose is again our guide, and is helping us to understand some of the research that is being conducted on this property. Birding was good as we saw more of what was previously mentioned.
Recovering from this roasting hike, I take a break and sit in one of the leather rockers outside our room. One of the young women from Europe asks to join me, and I oblige. It's the big binoculars! It gets them every time. The other secret to meeting folks is to just open a field guide, and put your finger on a bird, and say "hmmm". Instantly, you will have folks asking if you are a birder. So, anyhow, she is from Holland, and basically wants to talk with an American, I guess. Of course, I want to interview her, and this is what I found out.
When she and her husband were putting this trip together, they were unhappy using a travel agent in The Netherlands. She tracked down a travel agent in Costa Rica, and saved more than 1/3 the cost of the trip. She had no language problem with the CR travel agent, and was able to talk with them in both languages. Next, this was their first trip here, yet they rented a car, and did the driving themselves. This we need to do, but I see problems. She explained how important taking the extra insurance was on the car. They traveled all over the country straying just 2 nights at a time. From here they were heading into Panama, and for that leg, they hired transportation.
These are small countries, yet I'm amazed when I ask our drivers, how many have never driven in adjoining countries. Imagine driving in Virginia, but not West Virginia.
After supper, the rain stopped long enough to do the night hike. We were all instructed that we must have our flashlight illuminating the ground in front of us due to the snakes. Some surprises included the red eye frog, a kinkajou, several huge centipedes, and a cat eyed snake.
Word had spread among the guests that the old guy with the big binoculars was approachable, so the next morning before breakfast, a man from Holland came to talk with me. This conversation focused on folks traveling to Central America, and South America to look for places to retire to. We compared notes on everything from Costa Rica's national health insurance that everyone is required to pay into and costs $49/ month, to the price of gas, and real estate.
I took a few minutes to explain what housing costs in Brevard county. His eyes got bigger and bigger. The young gal the previous day told me what her town house cost, and I almost fainted. He cuts me off, and runs and gets his computer, and asks me to show him. I send him to my favorite real estate web sites, and I'm quite sure he discovered the real bargain! At this point in time, I'm still not convinced of the savings, other than the health insurance.
We in Brevard county are missing this boat. Wealthy retirees from many developed countries, that don't need jobs, nor schools, are looking for economical living in a warm climate. We have that. As they age, they will be hiring everything from home health to home maintenance. It sure seems like an easy market to go after!
Onward to Villa Lapas. I knew it was a long trip, so I was hoping to use Selva Verde's air conditioned van. Sure enough, the original driver shows up, and off we head in the rain. The driver explains that it's a four hour trip! Let's just say that we were the slowest vehicle in the entire country on that day. Sure enough, he turned a 2 hour trip into nearly 4!
Villa Lapas is on the Pacific coast, high up in the hills. This resort is down a long steep driveway in the bottom of a very steep valley. Costa Rica is known for having earth quakes. Should one hit this area, the entire resort would be buried in a hurry. I imagined myself on one of these cable bridges during an earth quake. The bridge would flex, and basically shoot us skyward like a sling shot! Hmmm.
At the reception desk, I am asked for my credit card. I have to explain that everything was paid ahead of time, and eventually they understand the voucher that I was given to give to them. When you don't do your own driving, you are somewhat trapped in these situations.
Our room is directly across from the reception area and dining room. These are all open air with no screens. Our room has king size bed with some kind of towel art on the bed covered with flower petals. I laugh when I see it, as it's my own little personal curse. I know that something really stupid will probably happen! Beware the towel art!!
This is the first "birding" resort that we have ever stayed in that had tv and a/c. So, perhaps it's not as birdy as I thought. We have no guided trips scheduled, so we are on our own. We explore the grounds. This is a gorgeous resort with a pool, about 50 rooms, a beautiful river, and a bridge over to a historic restored village. This rather handsome village consists of several buildings around a huge town square with a gazebo.
There are no people anywhere. Iguanas are watching us from all the roofs like some old Gunsmoke episode! Closer inspection shows iguanas everywhere. Imagine an abandoned town full of lizards. There are incredible trees loaded with ripe mangos and bread fruit.
We head back to the main side of the resort, and the dining room is full of women. The pool is full of women. There is a giant tour bus hidden at the back of the property. Of course, we are marching around with binoculars, and the only North Americans in the place. Once again, we are the only birders. I whisper to Lora; "yep, just old blanco face blendin'in with the locals!"
Selva Verde had packed us a lunch which we had in the van during our slow trip. So, we were free to disappear if we wanted, and we headed up the mountain on the main road which was dirt. You have to ask yourself whenever you do this: "is this safe, or smart to do? " Of course, it's not, but neither is doing your own roof work, or electrical repairs. Birders just seem to thrive on excitement!
Instantly, there are birds. Blue black grass quits dart among the ditches. Beautiful streaked headed wood creepers, rufus capped warblers, ant thrushes, and on and on. It's hot, and the road is very steep. So, I seize every opportunity to take a few extra seconds to identify each bird, (and catch my breath).
As the rain starts again, we see something large in a tree just ahead of us. It is tearing the tree apart. My feet are telling me to run for my life. It is a huge ant eater in a giant cecropia tree. I had never seen one, and was shocked to see it in a tree, and more shocked to see it ripping the branches off the tree. The ants weren't going to win this one. We'll never know if we would have seen this with a guide, or not. Something to think about.
Dinner that evening was a buffet which I have learned to appreciate after recovering from a fish surprise souffle that was served in another country a few years ago. Imagine a souffle with fish skins in it. Oh, yeah, give me that buffet any time!
In these resorts, and I'm guessing here, it seems that the tables are set for specific folks ahead of time. Some are large tables set for a group. There's always one set for just two, but the setting is so that the two guests can sit with their backs to the dining room, so that they can watch the feeders, or river, or whatever.
Villa Lapas is beautiful, so I'm becoming comfortable with not having a guide. They also didn't make us aware that one was available, nor did we see one running around.
We head back to our room, and turn on the forbidden tv. It's satellite from Miami. Hmmm. This is the first time we've had A/C in either central or South America. These rooms were like hotel rooms, so that there could be no ventilation naturally. That's why the A/C. All the other birding lodges have multiple openings for the heat to escape. We drift off to a cool and dry sleep easily.
At 3 am, I start to awaken. I realize that the ph must have been off in the pool as my skin is beginning to crawl. As I come to life, I realize that I'm picking little objects off my skin, and they crunch. There's one on my neck, then one on my stomach. It got more personal after that. I figure that Lora is exhausted, and I'm just going to have to lie here and see if I can go back to sleep. At 4am, I have woken her up with my antics of "kill the crunchy critters", and she asks if I feel like I'm being eaten alive. Yep, both sides of the bed.
I'm picky about beds. We never sleep under a bed spread if we can avoid it. I had found a bagged blanket in a drawer, and put it on the bed. Now, I figured that the bugs were in the blanket. So, we slip on some clothes, and take the bedding outside to shake it out. We remake the bed, and get back in. At 4:20, the critters have called for back up troops. We shoot out of the bed, strip it again, and this time I put my glasses on.
The mattress is covered in tiny whitish ants. I mean covered. Great, no car, and a resort that appears full. This should be fun.
I see the lights are still on in the reception area. I throw on some pants and march over to leave them a note. Before I get there, a man is running after me. He doesn't speak English. I used international sign language. It goes like this. I point to our room, where all of the bedding is now piled up outside the room. I then take my fingers, and make little biting gestures all over my body, while snapping my teeth. Being that I'm only half dressed, he gets the picture. If a deep voice, he says: "Blanco, face, what do you want for $250 per day?". No he didn't. He runs and gets me note pad and pen, and I leave a polite note for the staff.
Back in the room, we have to wash our hair, check all our luggage, and then it was dawn. By 5:30, it's daylight, the birds are everywhere, and the grounds are still beautiful. Lora is birding. I'm looking for places to sleep tonight! I see the pool table. Worst case scenario. Then I see the sofas in the reception area!
I'm wandering around with hot coffee, birding, and I know where I'm going to sleep tonight if need be. A delightful breakfast is served, and I'm excited about doing the Sky Walk. That's why we came here.
As we pass the reception desk the staff has arrived, and I explain that I dropped a note off earlier, and that I'd be right back to discuss it in a few minutes. The staff instantly asked me to switch rooms, right now. Yep, a big pile of bedding outside a room is also an international symbol to the staff that the guests probably didn't sleep well. She also informed me that our driver would be waiting to drive us up the mountain at 8am, and that we could take as long as we want to come down.
We drag all our junk to the new room. I pull down the bedspread. I'm not kidding. Here is a huge spider between the pillows! The truce is over. All insects must be killed immediately! I take one lunge at it, and it runs behind the head board which is screwed to the wall. The bed isn't attached, so I pull it from the wall about one foot. We have a driver waiting, so out we go.
The Sky Walk is about one and a half miles long. However, it starts up the mountain, way up the mountain. The driver never took the van out of 2nd gear, that's how steep it was. The top of the walk is a locked gate. The driver locks us in, and leaves us. From an outcropping, we can see the pacific ocean, mountains, and all across the Tarcoles river flood plain. It's beautiful.
The birds are non stop. Honey creepers, dacnis, motmots, etc. As you enter these suspension bridges, the birds come to see you. Some bridges have plants that have grown across them. But it is the rain forest, so plants grow fast. However, we see no people this day. Imagine a bus load of women staying at the resort, and they missed this. We are crossing ravines through the tree tops. We are silent. No guides, kids, or tourists. Just the lonely birds asking us what took us so long!
It's a hot rain forest, but because we're only walking one way, which is down, we're having the time of our life! A large squirrel is watching us. He's gray and silver on his back, with a rufus underside. Here are nightingale thrushes, dotted wing ant wren, among others. We are next to Carara Biological Reserve and looking down at it. Unbelievably, 3 scarlet macaws fly just under us. I can't believe my eyes. Yet a bus load of other guests would never see this. Hmmm
We're off the mountain by lunch time, and we are melting. We head back to the room to discover that the cleaning fairies have attacked this room. To greet us is this giant swan sculpture made up of towels covered in petals, and the swans are kissing. Of course, they had shoved the bed back up against the headboard to reload more spiders! I was actually wondering what they thought when they saw the bed in the middle of the room, and a little smirk came to my face.
After lunch, we head to the deserted lizard town. We have a huge pavilion to ourselves. We drag a couple of chairs up on the stage so we can bird the river. Flycatchers, wrens, and tityras, and several different humming birds are quietly making their rounds. This little bit of down time is allowing me to daydream a little about living near here. And of course, this daydream sets us up for what happened next.
Late in the afternoon, we are coming out of our room, when a pair of blanco faces on mountain bikes goes past us so close, that I have to step back. Without time to think, I say hello as they go past. I heard the man call back hello as they went on. They had built up speed to try to get up the hill and out of this resort. We were on the way to climb a little of the mountain again, and had no problem catching them when they finally gave up, and had to walk.
Once again, our big binoculars started a dialogue. Now get this. Randy and Sunny are from Cocoa Beach, and Randy has family in the town near our summer camp in N.Y. Of course, they have moved to Costa Rica, and bought a small hotel nearby. (what are the odds of this introduction? ) They charge $35/night. They are both basically wearing swim wear, so I check out their bodies looking for bite marks, welts, etc. Well it appeared that perhaps they had given their old bedding to Villa Lapas! So, perhaps it would be safe to stay with them next time, so we exchange contact info!
On our last full day in Costa Rica, I wanted to hike the mountain road as far as we could get in two and half hours. This would get us back by lunch time. This means we would be hiking public roads, not knowing anyone, with no phone, and heading to areas completely unknown. We have been learning Spanish, so we can speak a little, and had a good dictionary. Before we left, I double checked Lora's work book just to be sure that she still hasn't learned: "please kidnap my husband"….at least not yet!! So, up we go.
It's a very, very hot and steep climb. I had assumed it was one way up the mountain. The traffic was heavy for a dirt road. Every person waved. Some stopped to say hello. We get past the turnoff for the Sky Walk, and going further, we come to an incredible vista overlooking the Pacific. There is no garbage. The lot is for sale. Going further, we come to a future development selling lots for 100K, each with a magnificent ocean view.
The road is a through road, going up and down mountains. I wanted to follow it to the end, because it was so incredibly beautiful. With a rental car, I would have been able to.
This hike would get us a second look at our gray hawk, and good looks at familiar friends such as blue black grossbeaks, puff birds, red legged honey creeper, and rufus naped wrens. I have to admit that this was about the hottest I'd ever been in my life. My back pack was wet on the inside. The money in my wallet was wet. Now that's hot!
That night Lora wanted to do a night wildlife hike. I was afraid to tell her to look in the mattress! Out we go, and upon close examination, there are frogs everywhere in the water gardens. But not like at Selva Verde. All different ones. We are looking for an owl that keeps calling, but we never see it. We see a silhouette a long way off, but that one will remain a mystery.
The morning we were to leave, we birded at 5 am, and at 6 am, 4 scarlet macaws land just above us and feed their young! Now, that's the way to end a birding trip!
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