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.)