From Hacieda Baru to the airport outside of San Jose, March 24

We got up early and took a nice walk to watch the birds. Then, we had breakfast at the restaurant, packed up and headed out.

The ride was pretty uneventful and Mark made good time overall. We went via Atenas as we wanted to eat there at La Carreta as we had not eaten there last time we were there. We got a trifle lost trying to find it, but were laughing at recalling how foreign Atenas felt on our first day in Costa Rica, but felt familiar and comfortable today. We had a lovely lunch. I had ceviche and Mark had a really good burrito. I had my last pineapple smoothie - made with only water and pineapple. I will miss them; maybe I will learn to whip up my own.

We also went to the Cooperative Mercado there and I got some of the peach tea that they make here which I also really like and want to take home with me. And, Mark got some more coffee, too, to take home.

We are now at a nondescript Hampton Inn. We could be anywhere in the world. I am not saying that it is not nice, but it does not feel at all like the adventurous and funky and quirky places we have been staying. And, naturally, the internet works here like a charm.

We returned our Hyundai Tucson very easily which was quite surprising. We were relieved to get rid of it because it never felt reliable and did stall on us a few times while chugging uphill.

 

 

 

What a last day at Hacienda Baru! Fabulous. March 23

What a fabulous last "real" day in Paradise! We LOVE Hacienda Baru.

We had a fabulous bird walk at 6 a.m. with 25-year-old Olman. He was our best guide yet. All the guides have been very knowledgeable, gracious and proud of their country and birds, but Olman was also joyous and had no sense of ego about it at all, happy when others spotted things first, making sure everyone got a good look through the scope. The other two couples were also great - a pair of doctors from Berlin and a pair of retired people from Switzerland. (He had been a diplomat in Washington DC for almost 5 years.)

After the walk, the doctors and Mark and I had breakfast and chatted for well over an hour.

Then, Mark and I had a lazy day of reading, reading the bird book, sitting by the pool and savoring our last full day of holiday.  We had a lovely meal at the restaurant here. (Mark - rice, beans, chicken as a typical dish for tonight and mahimahi for me. Yummy.

There was one sad note. The baby potoo that we have been watching since we arrived was killed by a predator. He did not yet know how to fly and was vulnerable sitting motionless on his stump. Olman found feathers. The reserve is sad because they have never had a potoo nest and had been watching the bird develop every day.

This is what we saw, again coordinated with the bird book so that we can look these up and enjoy them later.

A short-billed pigeon (calling, too)          86
Cherries Tanagers (frequent sightings - we LOVE this beautiful bird. And, it is endemic to
    this area.
Great-tailed Grackles       317
Cattle Egrets - flying in a lovely flock.  22
Charming hummingbirds      125 (Just gorgeous!)
Variable seed eater....294
Red-Crowned Woodpecker.....157. Note: There are no red-bellied woodpeckers in Costa Rica
Chestnut-sided Warbler....258
Inca Doves (What we thought at Manuel Antonio were Inca Dolls!)....88
Great Kiskadees....all calling "Kis - da- dee!" .....210
Boat-billed Flycatchers.....210
Summer Tanagers....284

Orange-chinned Parakeets - saw some chattering and flying over, but later, finally got to see
   one perched.......94
Bananaquits.....276
Clay-colored robins.....250. This rather drab bird is, remarkably, the national bird of Costa Rica. But,
    evidently, it is the birds many lovely songs that have endeared it to the country.
Rufous-tailed hummingbirds......128
Palm Tanagers....290
Ruddy ground dove....I couldn't find this in the book, so may have misheard the name. It is
   not easy writing them all down!
Black mandible Toucans (formerly called Chestnut Mandible) We got great looks at these birds
    today and even saw one in its nest, poking its great bill out. Unbelievably, it nests by the
    restaurant, so we could have seen them every day. These birds' bills are so heavy that they
    do not fly long distances, but fly from tree to tree. They also keep their bills open to cool
    themselves off, a behavior we got to observe closely.    154
Yellow Warblers, now called Mangrove Warblers here......258
Red-legged Honey Creepers....p 292. This was a real highlight for us and Mark got a good photo, too.
    A gorgeous bird.
Roadside Hawks...42.
Spot-crowned Euphonia - endemic to the area. The Euphonias were real highlights for us, too.
    p 326
Fiery-billed Aracari   155
Riverside Wrens.....240
Broad-winged hawks....42
Piratic flycatcher.....192
Yellow-crowned Euphonia...endemic and endearing.....326
Yellow-throated Euponia....326
Golden-hooded Tanager.....288. Another amazingly gorgeous bird
Streaked flycatcher....212
Tropical Kingbird....212
Brown Jays...230
Grey-capped Flycatcher....94

Other things:
variegated squirrels. There are 15 squirrel species in Costa Rica
White-nosed Coati (Wow)

Spiney Cedar Trees - prickly.
No native trees can legally be cut down in Costa Rica. They planted teak from Asia to cut.

Leaf cutter ants - very specialized. They have soldiers to guard them, cutters, cleaners, nurses etc etc. They use the leaves as compost and plant a fungus which they eat. Very impressive to watch.

March 22, a Day in the Jungle

We woke to a lovely day......nice and early. The noises in the night were quite amazing. At dusk, the insect noises were ear-piercingly loud and shrill.

Then, off to a lovely al fresco breakfast with our fellow French mates in our area of the reserve. All the cabins (6) are full, but the inhabitants are all on morning hikes, so we have not met them yet. It is incredibly peaceful and beautiful here - a true garden of paradise. We went to see the baby potoo this morning and he was as still as he was last night. He looks like part of the stump and quite reptilian, rather than avian. Evidently, his mother drops by to feed him, but we have not seen her.

We had planned a waterfall hike in the morning coolness, but found out that is is quite strenuous and over 4 kilometers each way. Plus, it is closed on Sundays. We could still go because the reserve here can get us in, but we opted out. There is no point in pushing Mark's knee like that.

Instead, we took one of the reserve trails and walked through the rain forest to the beach. We saw truly amazing trees and vines and flowers. At times, it was fragrant. The tallest trees are ceibos and guanacastes. We also were fascinated by a calabash tree with large fruit used by the pre-Columbians as drinking gourds. The beach is wide, sandy, huge and ferocious...way too dangerous for swimming. We saw a beautiful whimbrel, snowy egret and some brown Pelicans. We also think we saw a black eagle, but are not positive and Mark's photo may be too far away.Afterwards, we showered as we were drenched in sweat with the humidity. I think it was a 4 shower day!

We drove to Uvita, about 10 miles south. It was not much to see, rather strung out along the road. But the beach area in between, Playa Hermosa, (yes, another one), was beautiful and we stopped for a while. We met an interesting man who told us he was one of the original Italians who settled in San Vito in the mountains. About 140 families immigrated here in the early 1950s. He was only 2 at the time, but grew up speaking Italian and Spanish and holds both passports.

Then, we went back to Pescado Loco for a late lunch and had the delicious fish tacos. Again.

A sloth-like afternoon for us, after a scare at losing our room key which also has the key to the room safe where we keep the passports. After searching the car and our backpacks more than once, we walked to the office to get help, and, lo! the security guard had found them in the parking lot next to our car after we had pulled out. Whew!

The wildlife is amazing. Hummingbirds, iguanas, lizards, tanagers, flycatchers, wrens....and lots we cannot identify.

We hung out at the restaurant tonight having a pineapple drink (addicted to), doing Internet and sharing a meal when an agouti wandered by, a strange looking animal....some sort of large rodent. Look one up.

March 21 - Our first toucan and potoo In Hacienda Baru

We took today to a gentle rain, appropriate for the rain forest, and the howling of monkeys in the distance. I don't know if that means that they were enjoying the rain, or complaining.

We are creatures of habit and we often return to restaurants where we have had good meals. So, we ate breakfast again at Emilio's - good food, great coffee, fabulous views. What could be better? And, we realize that we have only eaten breakfast out twice during this entire trip - and both were at Emilio's. Otherwise, we have been at bed and breakfasts or we made our own. (With the possible exception of a token breakfast at the internet cafe in Santa Elena, but just to justify sitting there doing our internet. We had already had our own, proper breakfast)

We drove less than an hour south to a game reserve where we are in a largish room. It is called Hacienda Baru and it is outside Dominical. It is really jungle. After checking in, we went to Dominical, a little, funky surfing town where, by a stroke of luck, they were having a national surfing competition. Wow...what waves and an eclectic crowd of all ages with a surprising number of youngsters surfing. It was carnival-like and festive.

We ate at Pescado Loco, a little open air fish and chip shop run by a young American couple from Alaska. I had a fish taco and Mark had fish and chips. Then, we went to a supermarket to have dinner at our little cottage which has a fridge.

We then sat around the pool with two French couples and....saw four Capuchin monkeys in a nearby tree, plus a chestnut mandible TOUCAN! Yay! Our first. The birds and flowers on this private reserve are quite amazing. How often can a person sit Ina swimming pool and watch monkeys playing, see hummingbirds, flycatchers, tanagers....and a toucan? And, the insects are actually quite deafening! We are very, very lucky...even if there is no air conditioning and limited wifi only at the restaurant! And, just before we headed to bed in our cabin, a baby  potoo was pointed out to us....on a tree stump, very still. You'd never know it was there. (It was pointed out to us by a security guard.)

 

March 20 - A lazy, wonderful last day in Manuel Antonio

What a wonderful last day here in Manuel Antonio. The 6 kilometer stretch between the town of Quepos and the national park is full of excellent restaurants and we have really enjoyed the fresh food here.

We ate breakfast at Emilio's which was very good and we wished that we were here for a few more days to try a few other meals there, but settled for breakfast. Then, we read by the pool all morning. For lunch, we returned to Falafel for a repeat meal of hummus (me) and schwarma (Mark). Then, we read by the pool. (We watched the antics of Cherrie's tanagers) For dinner, we could not resist a return to Raphael's Terrazos as I really wanted to have the tuna that Mark had two nights ago, as he claimed it to be the best tuna he'd EVER had, a really big compliment.

So, we did. There, we met a newly-wed couple from Ohio who we'd met at Falafel's and recommended they also go to Raphael's, so that was nice. And, they agreed about the tuna, too!

Manuel Antonio National Park, March 19

Today, we got up early and drove to Manuel Antonio State Reserve. And, it was good we did because, when we left in mid-morning, it was mobbed. We hired a guide, Wilbur and we are also very glad that we did that, as he found things that we never would have seen in a million years, plus was knowledgable about the plants and other animals. We paid for a group tour (which could have been up to 20 people). But, as we were there before the park even opened, we ended up paying for a group, but having a private tour as it was just the two of us.

We walked (a very easy walk) for about an hour or two and then, he left us at the beach. Again, there were few people there when we arrived and we had a lovely swim.

No denying that it is hot and humid here, but there was some cloud cover today, which made it better. Mark has had an allergic reaction to sunblock and has a rather vivid red rash on his cheeks and forehead, so we are being very careful in the sun.

For those not interested in the birds, ignore the following! Again, it is paginated to the bird book we are using.

The first birds we saw on a wire, Wilbur called "inca dolls" but we cannot find them in the book.

-Band-tailed pigeon     87 (could have been short billed?)

-Cherrie's Tanager    287  (We also saw this by the pool yesterday)

-Ruff-sided hawk - I could not find this in the book and may have misunderstood him

-A flock of Crimson-fronted parakeets. (Later, we heard Orange-fronted parakeets, but did

    not see them.  p 95

-Tropical Kingbird p 213 (gorgeous!)

-Lesser Nighthawk, p113. This was so blended in resting motionless on a branch and is such a

    small hawk, although, we understand that, in flight, the wings are long. This is one of the birds

    Mark and I would NEVER have noticed. A great bird.

-Chestnut-sided Warbler, p259. Beautiful.

-Riverside Wren (lovely song)

-Great Crested Flycatcher p 209. The guides were all very excited by this sighting as this bird   

     has not been seen here much of late.

-White necked Puffbird, p 151. Another great bird! We were excited to see this one.What a beak...

-Hummingbirds: Violet headed, and one he called stripe throated, but I cannot find that one in

    the book.

-Black-hooded Antshrike p 177 - endemic to this area

Other things we saw:

A golden orb spider in its web,

Two, very motionless blobs of hair - otherwise known as the 2-Toed Slothb

Two gorgeous, large blue Morpho butterflies

White faced Capuchin monkeys

Heard Howler Monkeys in the early morning at the apartment, plus making a racket in the park.

Wilbur heard other birds, but I will not list them as we did not see them. We really, really, really wanted to see a toucan and the closest we came was a glimpse of wings that was a Fiery-billed Arcari. Boy, did we wish we could have seen it to really see it, but it was not to be.  Yet.

We were tired and hot when we were finished, so came back to 11Up, where we are living, washed our clothes, took cold showers and a rest, plus looked up the birds that we saw.


For lunch, we went just up the street to Falafel, which was the name of one of our favorite restaurants in Cairo. Mark had schwarma and I had a hummus plate; both were fantastic. We chatted for a long time with two British couples who were very interesting; they met at a hotel in Gatwick 42 years ago, both having just been married that day and en route to their respective honeymoons. They have remained close friends and travel together frequently - to China, Thailand, Australia and three weeks here.

After lunch, we ventured into Quepos to get some aloe and just look around. There was not much to see as it is a rather busy, rather poor town and, unfortunately, has polluted its beach.

Then, a dip in the pool and later, to dinner at Agua Azul which is rght by our hotel. It was very busy and we both had interesting dinners. Mark had tuna with a ginger aoili dressing and I had a "plantain tower" - which was rather like a salsa in layers. It was delicious.

March 18 - from the dry to the humid - to Quepos - long day!

Today, we left Playa Hermana after breakfast and a lovely chat with Canadians Tom and Carolyn who  seem like a young version of ourselves - travelers and she is a teacher.

Then, we drove southward to Quepos. It was less than 200 miles, but took us most of the day with the two-lane roads and waiting for trucks and busses. We stopped outside of Liberia for, yes, a McDonald's, probably Mark's first big mac in 20 years! The landscape changed as we moved south - ever greener and with steep mountains to our east. It was dry in the north, but it is humid here and the vegetation got ever thicker. It is a jungle.

Before we got to Quepos, we stopped on an overlook and saw a flock of scarlet macaws by the roadside - absolutely magnificent. In addition, there were several more frigatebirds which are also awesome. They made our day!

We are staying in a funny hotel down the side of the cliff on the approach to Manuel Antonio Park, the most visited park in Costa Rica. We are in 11 UP - a "suite" with a good view. The bedroom is spartan with a double bed which will feel rather small. The other room, an unairconditioned porch, really has a refrigerator, one chair and a hammock. So, we cannot cook, but we can keep water cold. It is not luxumrious by any stretch of the imagination, but funky and it will do us for three nights.

We were really tired from the drive and went for a quick dip in the pool before heading toward the park to eat at Raphael's Terrazos. It was excellent! We split a sushi roll and Mark had seared tuna with a mushroom sauce and I had mahi mahi in a lemon sauce. The vegetables were excellent, too.

We heard from Nick; he is visiting Jecca for a night before heading back to the island. They are still in the grip of winter. We plan to get up early to go toe Manuel Antonio tomorrow; we bought some nuts and water to take in there for the day as there are no concessions in the park.

Happy St. Patrick's Day in Costa Rica!

We had a relaxing day today at the resort.

We went swimming at the beach which was nice as there are lounge chairs in the shade. We took the little shuttle bus down there. There were no crashing waves, which was also nice. But, the highlight was the completely asleep monkey in a nearby tree. He was so asleep that his arm hung down limply.

Otherwise, we read the news, read our books and enjoyed the weather.

March 16.....what have we done? So unlike us.

We went to the beach here before breakfast to look for birds and were not disappointed. We saw a Baltimore Oriole, a blue-crowned MotMot, and another Oriole which we think is either the Streak-backed or Bullock's.  And, we saw a beautiful, mostly yellow bird that we cannot identify and will get help on when we get back home.

At breakfast and at lunch we watched a white throated magpie jay steal food in the cafeteria, too, which was humorous.

After breakfast we had our mandatory meeting with the timeshare people as we got these five days through a promotion. We vowed that we would NEVER buy timeshare again, but.....this one is a bit different which I will not bore anyone with by explaining, but....we actually did buy. I can imagine what our kids' faces will be like when they read this. And, they will have to wait for the full explanation when we get home. Enough said. We are a bit embarrassed, but also feel like we did not make a mistake. We hope.

After lunch, we filled in our March Madness brackets in the group, called the Whalers, organized by David.

• After that, we went to Playa Coco just to walk the street, see the beach there. I bought a few souvenirs for 2 of the grandchildren and some postcards. We saw a woodpecker briefly, but not enough to identify or photograph. We had a great view of a Magnificent Frigatebird. The photos might not be sharp enough to see clearly, but we had a great view of it with our eyes.

Then, another amazing coincidence...we met Ben and his baby son there! We know so few people in Costa Rica and the odds of him being there at the same time as us are miniscule. He was there with a friend to register a boat. It was fun to see him again and he promises to get the proper emails for Nina and Rhianne as mine did not go through.

On the way home, we saw an unidentified bird on a wire, possibly a chachalaca, but we will need help to identify.

We ate dinner at Heliconia's, the a la carte restaurant here as we are entitled to a meal there. It was quite good and we had a pleasant evening.

Ides of March in Costa Rica

Well, no Julius Caesar or Brutus in sight here; it must be the wrong year!

A lazy day in the sun.

We ate our three meals at the restaurant, aka "The Feeding Trough" by Mark, although we have been very restrained and have passed up the desserts and breads.

I started my day with a yoga class by the pool.

We have our first tv since arrival in Costa Rica and cannot say we have missed it, but it was a treat to watch some of the Indian Wells Tennis last night and we hope to catch a bit more today.

We have seen a few parrots, boat tailed grackles, white-throated magpie jays, a motmot and a cute little rufous-naped wren was close to us during lunch.

We also saw about 8 iguanas have a conference on the lawn. We wonder what a group of iguanas is called collectively. Anyone?

March 14 - moving from Playa Grande to Playa Hermosa

We got up today to a lovely breakfast with four people we don't want to say goodbye to, as well as to say adios to this lovely bed and breakfast. Anyone who is journeying to this part of Costa Rica needs to stay here; we have so enjoyed it.

Mahmoud and Nadia took off for Monteverde and then to Atenas, so they have a long day, but, they are young and will have a grand time. Nina and Rhianne took off to see the Monkey Farm where monkeys are rehabilitated. The place sounds interesting and we were invited to go; they do aquaponics etc etc there. But, it is in the opposite direction of where we needed to go today, so we, regretfully declined and said goodbye to them, too. But, we are sure that our paths will cross again in the future.

We did get slightly lost; we took the grey route on the map which was mostly dirt road. But, we got lost right away as the road was not marked outside of Potrero. But, we asked directions and did a little backtracking. The directions were to go around the soccer field (where we had actually turned around 15 minutes earlier!) and take the unmarked dirt road. We were happy we took the dirt road - no traffic and beautiful countryside. The photo below does not show how steep and narrow the road was; it just can't capture it.  Then, when we got near the coast, we went to the wrong Villas Del Sol - the one in Playa de Coco, not Playa Hermana. Again, no harm done as they are pretty close together.

We are now in an all-inclusive large resort, not in a town, but near the beach. It is situated on a big hill, so we have awesome views. We had to wait several hours to check in, but had lunch at the buffet style restaurant. This is the first all-inclusive we have ever done, rather like what we imagine a cruise ship is like with the opportunity to eat and drink too much. We plan to do the opposite - stick to the salad bar, fruit and a little bit of meat. The alcohol does not tempt us.

We are in a single room, but it is spacious and has a little fridge. We have a nice balcony and the bathroom is great. So, although this place has mediocre reviews, we think it will be fine. And, we are close enough to the lobby that we are getting wifi in our room , something we did not expect.

We had dinner at the restaurant. It was quite good. We read a lot of negative reviews, but, the Mexican-themed dinner was delicious and the service was excellent. Overall, a very nice day.