Dominical

Saturday, March 8  Birds, Birds, Birds
At 8am, we were picked up by our driver, Henry, for our trip to Dominical for a week.  of couse, the first thing he says is, "Dominical?  I thought you were going to Manual Antonio."  Dominical is 30 minutes farther.  He said he gave us a really good price, based on the shorter trip, but now he would be losing money.  We were not quite sure if we were being had, especially when he insisted that he had written down Manual Antonio, and then, After taking a quick peek, quietly put it away, but not before Jo got a glimse of the word Dominical.  However, knowing that the price we were quoted was very good for what could over six hours of drive, and of course he has to drive back too, I agreed to give him an extra $50 if he would stop and let us do our grocery shoppibg along the way.  He seemed pleased.  Henry was a Tico, ( native Costa Rican), but spoke English quite well.  We learned that Nicaraguans are called Nicas, and Panamanians are called Panas.  Americans are called Gringos, as are Canadians until they discover you are not American, ib ehich case you are called Canadian.  Nicas and Panas do not like Ticos, and Ticos prefer Canadians over Gringos.  When the American economy took a downturn, Canadians continued to come and feed the important touist economy.  People from Spain are also not popular be ause they act like Ticos are back woods people and everything is beeter in Spain.  Henry also said that unlike other ethnic groups, Ticos generally do not move to other countries for work.  He said this is because they are generally lazy and want to enjoy a sressfree life rather than working long hours to get ahead.
The first two hours of the drive was very tedious, on slow narrow roads with slow-moving trucks and lots of road construction. Once we got to Punteranus, travel wentmuch faster.  We stopped for coffee at a place known for lapas, parrots.  There were large almond trees in the back with many scarlet macaws and even a rare green macaw.  We stopped for a full grocery shop and, because it was not in a touristy area, ended up paying only slightly more for almost double the amount of food we bought in Tamarindo the first day.  We also stopped at the "crocodile bridge" near Torcoles, where we stayed in 2007.
We had a little difficulty finding our place, because it was tucked away in the trees above the highway and there were no signs on the highway.  It was fortunate that we had a Spanish speaking driver that asked some of the locals.  The cottage was up a long steep road but it took our breath away.  We had a. Magnificent view of the cove, Dominicito and was nestled in the trees, so you looked over the tops of the rain forest. Even Henry asked if he could come in and take a picture.  We arrived at about 4pm, eight hours after leaving Henry, so we gave him a good tip and decided to hire him for our return trip on March 21.  The location is awesome, but it is a ways to go to the beach, of couse we have a small, private pool, and the hike back up would be very difficult in the heat.   The town of Dominical is still3 kilometers down the beach.  Perhaps we need to rent a car earlier than planned.
For the rest of daylight hours, I was extremely busy.  I really hoped to see some toucans this trip.  Last trip I only saw one.  Here, we had two sitting in a tree overlooking us.  We saw two pair of another  similar, but sleeker bird, as well as a large variety of colourful birds like tanagers.  Every time I turned around, there was another interesting new bird in the trees and flowers around us.
  At dusk, it became almost unbearably loud, like a very high-pitched machine or the sound electricity makes in high voltage wires.  It seemed to echo through the forest, and you could hardly talk.  I first
blamed it on some workers cleaning a cottage nearby, but after exploring, discovered it must be some kind of cricket or similar bug.  It did die down eventually, but there was a continuous hum all night.  In the evening we sat on our veranda being entertained by the many geckos catching bugs, some half their size.  We all agree this place is stunning and exceeds expectations.

Sunday, March 9. Come to me my precious
Today was designated a relaxing day, but with high expectations.  After all the birds we saw in a short period of time, I was excited to see what we might see today.  I woke up at 6am due to the heat and the noise of cicadas or whatever was making the loud sounds, and decided to get up and wonder around.  I soon discovered that the creatures here are like me, seeing no need to get up early.  I did spot two toucans, a woodpecker and two morph blue butterflies, but it was pretty quiet.  Finally, two
howler monkeys dropped by to have breakfast in a tree beside our parking area.  For mostof the day, there was very litle wildlife until mid to late afternoon when many small birds dropped by.  It was too hot to go walking up and down the steep road to our place, but our veranda had a nice breeze that
kept things pleasant, and we always had our little pool, which was a little cooler than the ocean.  After dinner, which we always eat outside, we were visited by a giant grasshopper, which hopped around a lot and freaked out the women and the geckos, which were smaller.  A bright green praying mantis also hung out for much of the evening.  My friend Wade would have freaked out as well.  Then while playing cards, there was a big splash in the pool beside us.  We got a flashlight but saw nothing.  Some claimed they saw something swimming but there was no water marks where it would
have left the pool.  It might have been the wine.  This morning I saw a piece of fruit at the bottom of the pool which was not there yesterday.  My theory that the splash was something falling from the
trees may have merit.

Monday, March 10 Ah, the sound of the jungle, chainsaws!
It's 8am as I write yesterday's blog.  I stepped outside at 7:15 to see a truck full of workers in the parking area, waiting to start their day.  Today, they plan to cut back a lot of the trees around our cabins, and tomorrow they will do the same across the road.  The chainsaws were whining at 8
o'clock exactly.  The very trees that attracted birds the last few days were topped.  I exect a noisy day with no wildlife sightings.  After breakfast we decided to go for a walk to a pool and waterfall nearby.   It was another hot day.  While it is quite pleasant on our patio, with a nice breeze most of the time, when you go away from it, you feel the heat.  We had to walk down the private road from our cabin
to the front gate, a very steep hill with loose gravel.  It took a while because of all the photogenic plants and birds along the way.  Then we had a five minute walk that took us through a liitle village.
The little houses were all open, with no sign of doors.  People sat around everywhere, there was clothes hung up on lines filling the little yards.  It was clear that these people had very little and lived very conservatively.  At the pool there was a waterfall running over a rack wall, but due to the dry weather, the volume was far less than what we saw in pictures.  There were others there.  Jo and I did
go in the pool, which was refreshing.  A few local boys were playing on a rope swim, but because
they had an audience, I think they wanted to show off.  One boy of about 14 years old climbed up a tree which grew over the pool.  He crawled over the limbs like a monkey.  It seemed like he was twenty five feet up or so, and many watching were nervious that this was an accident waiting to
happen.  However he jumped, and when he resurfaced, people cheered.  Our walk back up the hill was slow and hot. Sister G said she had never been so hot before, with sweat pouring down her face.  Later in the afternoon, Dave, the owner droped by. He is in real estate, and Deb, his second wife, comes from Alaska, where she was a downhill ski racer.  Dave agreed to book us a snorkeling trip, and invited us to join them on Wednesday for a trip to a secret beach they always go to.  He could not give us directions and said we had to be blindfolded, including the driver, in order to keep the lovcation a secret. Our efforts to rent a car a day earlier, because the steep terrain made walking everywhere impractical, failed.

Tuesday, March 11. Too many visitors
After breakfast we walked down the hill, across the highway onto the beach at Playa Dominicalito.  We didn't realize that the beach was so close to the end of our private road.  The beach was awe-inspiring!  There were only a few people on the entire beach.  We walked along the water towards the town of Dominical, about three kilometers away. At one point, we had to go back up to the highway
for a distance, and scramble over the rock outcrop sperating the two "playas".  It was already very hot, and by the time we got to Dominical we were drenched.  The town attracks a large hippy contingient and the shops, hostels and accomodations looked rustic, to be polite.  Along the beachfront road, there were tables lining the narrow gravel street selling wares.  We stopped in a little place for fruit smoothies.  The rest of the group were so hot and thirsty, that they drank two in a row.  After walking around some more, we stopped in at Tortilla Flats for lunch and drinks, before taking a taxi home.
At night we sat outside playing cards, like every other night.  A number of huge bugs landed on our
windows and screen doors, including a large cicada, some green bug, and a stick-like bug.  There was
 also the usual large group of geckos.  After our game, I looked up at what I thought was a gecko in
the roof above Jo's head.  After closer examination,we found that there was a snake!  We have no idea  what kind it was, but a number of Costa Rica's 190 snakes are venomous.  It was creepy and we spent the rest of the evening inside.  Our theory is that with all the tree pruning arou d us the last few day, many of these things have been displaced and disturbed.
Incidently, yesterday Dave was telling us about a renter who was in one of the cabins just below us.  They had cut down a palm tree in front of the veranda, but left the trunk, with a cavity on the top.  One day, sitting with his coffee, he saw a boa slither up the trunk, go into the cavity, and come out with a racoon or coati, which it then fed on,right in front of him.  Hesaid it was disgusting, but fascinating at the same time.  Another time, Dave was leaving our cabin, and found a boa going across the road.  So, yes, there are snakes here, but we don't want them visiting us!

Wednesday, March 12. Water day?
Our rental car, a Rav4, arrived this morning.  We are mobile!  Strangely, it was delivered to the cabin, but the gas light was on.  Fortunately, there was enough to get to the nearest gas station.  Dave West invited us to join him and Deb, his wife, plus some other Canadians staying in one of his places, to "secret beach", an unmarked beach that locals don't want gringos to know about.  It was amazing.  Miles and miles of sandy beach lined with palm trees.  You had to take an unmarked rough road through fields to get there.  When we got there, Dave had already set up two large umbrellas and lawn chairs.  We spent a nice afternoon getting to know some other couples, all from Canada, as well as playing in the surf, which was higher than usual.  I even saw dolphins jumping just beyond the breakers.  Dave and Deb are very social people and were fun to get to know.  No one knew them prior to coming to Costa Rica. deb, despite being in her late sixties, is a very active woman, enjoying surfing and skiing in her native Alaska, where she insists on spending part of each summer.  She also insisted on teaching sister G and BIL how to boogie board.  When we left, Dave and Deb agreed to
drop by before we left on Saturday to collect on a beer I owed them.  We had dinner at home and sat
around reading on our ipads and readers, glancing up now and then for any sign of  a snake.
 Suddenly, the strangest thing happened.  Water started falling from the sky.  In fact it poured.  We had to go inside because we were getting wet from water bouncing off things.  Through the pounding of the rain, we heard the distinctive loud roars of howler monkeys near by.

Thursday, March 13 feeling like a sloth
It was an early morning,as we wanted to leave around 7am to go to Manuel Antonio, one of the most visited parks in the country.  Unfortunately, Jo was suffering from stomach cramps, and couldn't keep any food in, so she decided to stay home and recover.  The three of us drove to the park, 42 km. away.  Dave, as well as a website I consulted on tips for going to Manuel Antonio, said when we arrived near the park, to ignore all the people directing you into their parking lots and drive right to the end of the road, because the closest parking lot almost always has spots, and if not, you can use the turn around at the end to go back.  It turned out the road was very narrow, with big trucks blocking traffic, and no place to turn around because of trucks. We ignored the people directing cars off the road and continued until we got trapped near the end of the road and had to back up.  We had little choice but to turn into the last lot, near the gate, which cost 3,000 colons while the lots a few hundred yards back charged 2,000 colons.  So much for listening to the experts.  We chose to take a park tour guide, providing it was in English.  We had to wait 15 minutes so they could add other couples to our tour, most who spoke Spanish, so that the guide sometimes said things in both languages, but sometimes got caught up in Spanish conversation that he forgot to translate.  However, he showed us wildlife through his telescope that we would not have spotted.  t the end of the day, we saw five or six three-toed sloths,lazier than their two-toed cousins, white throated capuchin monkeys, squirrel monkeys, racoons, several types of lizards, bats, and red-eyed frogs sleeping under a leaf.  It was hot again, 32 degrees, and we were soon drenched in sweat.  After out guided walk, and hike we did on our own,  we could not resist cooling off in the warm surf.  The park and it's three beaches were gorgeous, with
a variety of rain forest trees and the beaches were magnificent.  We were in the park, half of which
was closed off due to path reconstruction, from 8:30 until about 2:30.  Then we went for a liquid
lunch, fruit smoothies.  I think I have become addicted to mango smoothies.  When we returned
home, Jo was still not feeling well.  Before dinner we were entertained by the acrobatics of a few howler monkeys.  All in all, a great day, ... For some of us anyway.

Friday, March 14. Getting more than you bargained for
Jo was still not feeling ill today, but there was improvement, and she was determined not to miss today's snorkel cruise.  We had asked dave to book the trip for us, and in an email, he had mentioned a $50 less than the full day trips advertised on line.  We drove the short distance to Uvita but when we  wanted to turn off the highway we were blocked by police.  They were running a national marathon using the road we needed to get to the tour location.  After a short delay, I was allowed to turn onto the road filled with runners. As I did, one police was waving me on and another was blowing his whistle and yelling at me in Spanish.  I didn't know if I should stop or go.  Then it dawned on us that there was a gap between some runners, and they wanted me to hurry before more runners came.  After we parked,some ten minutes late now, the tour operator came up to us, told us to move the car from the side of the road into his enclosed parking lot,  we were rushed along to sign up, pay, and get outfitted with flippers and life jackets.  We had not discussed prices with Dave when he made the booking, so when they asked for $125 per person, we almost choked.  That was a lot for a half day trip, but since we had no tine to rebook with anyone else, we paid it without saying too much, but feeling a little duped.  It turned out the trip was a full day excursion, complete with lunch, and was worth the cost.  However, we made a mental note to not assume when it comes to prices.  Also, in the rush to get ready, and hustle down the road to the boat, fighting through the crowds watching the race, and then have them quickly take our bags for loading on the boat, I suddenly could not remember what I did with my camera.  I took it with me to park the car, and could not remember what I did with it.  I thought I might have left it in the car, which we did not lock on the advice of the
rental company.  I asked the tour guides if they could call their office and make sure they secured it.  I would have felt sick if it was lost.  Soon after we departed, they opened up the hold for us to retrieve any bags we wanted, and there was my camera.  In my haste, I must have handed it in along with the
beach bag we had.  The excursion was wonderful.  We saw a pod of dolphins swim with us, and one of the three places we snorkelled exceeded my expectations.  We had lunch on an island used by the university for nature studies, and we found a green vine snake as well as some bats in an abandoned cabin.  Jo enjoyed the snorkel but made good use of the washrooms at lunch.  On a sad note, BIL purchased a new camera for this trip, complete with zoom lens. Somehow, during the boat ride, water go inside the camera.  By lunchtime it no longer worked.  He put it in a bag of rice for a few days and we hope it will recover.  In the meantime, it looks like I am taking telephoto pics for four.
For dinner we went to a local restaurant Dave had recommended because the food was good and the music was great.  The local group's manager was a manager for Martha and the Mandellas and another famous group.  His wife, a violinist, played backup on many famous artist's recordings.  The place was awesome!  The food was really good and we loved the music.  A great day again, but we were wiped out!