Quetzals Part Tres

Sunday, February 26
I don't know what is going on. I go to bed earlier than at home, often between midnight and 12:30, but I wake up at 6:30 or so and am ready to get up. That doesn't happen at home. Perhaps it is the anticipation of what wildlife may be walking or flying around, since the amount drops steadily from early morning until about 8:30 when it is already pretty hot. I roamed around at 7AM but did not see much new. It was getting harder and harder to see new things the longer we are here. After breakfast we were feasting on some papaya on the deck when an aracari came swooping past us, right over the pool. Unlike other sightings, this time I got a good look at it, with its bright red upper toucan-like bill and distinct lines. We were excited! A nice way to start a Sunday. We spent the day hanging around the pool. I did drive to a grocery store in Uvita, and nearly got in an accident. Drivers here do as they please. Some drive old beaters and putter along under the speed limit. Others pass on curves, double yellow lines or any time it is convenient. I came around a corner to find a car in my lane. He clearly was completing passing about six or seven cars and I had to move to the shoulder to avoid a head-on collision. It is now after midnight so I think we made it through the day without any incidents, breakdowns, etc. I did try to listen to a sermon from the church's website, but it was not updated for two weeks so there was nothing new since we left. Not impressed. I was all set to overlook our fantastic view, with my earphones on and an iguana at my side. I played crosswords instead.

Monday, February 27
Another hot, 32+ degree day. We hung around until after lunch. Hanging around involves all of us sitting on our outdoor bar stools with cameras ready, reacting to the slightest movement in case we see a new bird, or, the elusive aracari which flies by like a bullet once every few days but never lands near by. We also check several times per day in the tree where the sloth hangs out, but none of us have seen him since the first day. A neighbour said there were two sloths in the tree last night, but of course we never are around to see. After lunch, I am becoming accustomed to eating papaya, we went to Uvita playa, a beach in Ballena Marine Park. The beach had a very long shallow stretch, so you had a long way to walk to get waste deep, making it a good beach for kids. However, the waves were pretty high. Every now and then there would be a large wave with a second larger wave only two feet behind it, giving you a double wallop. On several occasions they almost took my shorts off, leaving me with a plumbers crack. We then got a nice, big mango smoothie in town before heading back home. I absolutely love Costa Rican mango smoothies.
We got lots of messages from kids and facebook entries about snow in Vancouver. Winter continues to defy global warming on the west coast. We related to the bad weather. When we got home, we went into our pool to cool off as it was hot. Soon, a rain storm moved in, pelting us with cool rain drops, the first rain since we got here. It lasted about 25 minutes, drenching everything, but then the skies cleared again. However, the temperature dropped significantly, perhaps 10 degrees. By 9:30PM, I actually put on a sweater to sit outside.

Tuesday, February 28
Our day started at 4:30AM. We were on the rad by 5:00, taking a two hour drive to Carara National Park. There we met up with our guide, Victor Chavez, who I had hired online based on TripAdvisor recommendations. Victor led the four of us on a two and a half hour walk through the park. He had a biology degree and a love for birds, and said he could identify about 80 percent of the bird calls. We found lots of small birds, two kinds of bats and the scarlet macaw. We really enjoyed Victor. For once we had a guide who spoke English, (self-taught), and was personable, joking around lots. By 9:30 we finished our walk and drove a short distance to where we were picked up by bot along the banks of the Tarcoles River, which skirts the park. We had the boat all to our selves and Victor and the boat operator gave us a personalized tour down the river, spotting many, many birds and crocs, including many varieties of herons and egrets and the most beautiful little bird, the pygmy kingfisher. We came almost within reach of a black hawk which had just caught an iguana and was starting to eat it, even though it was still moving. We got amazing photos. After the tour Victor gave us some water and fresh fruit and shared his testimony of how he had suffered cancer and was expected to die. He had an out of body experience where he saw heaven and met Jesus. It changed his life. He fully recovered and pursued his love of wildlife, going to university. He also was married with two girls when his wife one day said she did not love him, and left with one of the girls. He hung on, praying for reconciliation, and eventually she returned. They are now happily reunited, and he works hard at fixing what he knew were his own deficiencies in the marriage. It was very moving and we all hugged it out before we departed. Afterward, we went to a small villa we had been to in 2007 a few km. away. It was now fully converted to a hotel so we left. We Stopped in a small town just before Jaco to go to  restaurant Victor recommended, el Pelicano, which was on the beach. There I had a so-so mango smoothie, while the rest had large margaritas with a corona in it. The food was very good but it was fortunate none of them had to drive. We decided to drop by Jaco on our way home. Jaco is a surfer's town and probably the most modern place we have been to on this trip. There are modern high-rises lining the long beach and actual souvenir stores. No sooner did we get there and Jo discovered she had lost her glasses, she was wearing sunglasses. G and BIL stayed in Jaco to shop while Jo and I drove back to where we came from, about a 10 minute drive, to try and find the glasses. They were not in the restaurant, but Jo had switched glasses to take a picture on the beach. Sure enough, she found them lying in the sand. Quite a relief! We returned to Jaco to do some souvenir shopping souvenir and then returned home, arriving at sunset. The evening was spent struggling to stay awake, and reviewing the good, and even many more bad photos we had taken. We were in bed by 11:30. What a great day!

Wednesday, March 1
This was a relaxing day around the unit. The only excitement was when Jo was in the pool and tried to clean up some leaves at the bottom by grabbing them with her feet and raising them to her hand. The last one was difficult to pick up. When she did, she realized it was a dead mouse. She freaked out and did not go back into the pool the rest of the day. This was the last day in our place, unit 28. Tomorrow we move to unit 22, which has a nice infinity pool and is supposed to be roomier. I hope we do not get a repeat of the problems we faced in this unit.

Thursday, March 2
The move from unit 28 to 22 went very smoothly. We were told that the cleaning staff would clean unit 22 first and then come to do unit 28 where we were staying. When they arrived, we could move into unit 22. By 10:30 we were moved in. We were amazed and happy with unit 22. Everyone said it was nicer, but I was trying hard not to get my hopes up, since so often that leads to disappointment. We walked into a spacious place with a more modern kitchen, better utensils, another dynamite view of the beach from three sides, a larger upper deck for sitting on, more spacious bedrooms with more modern looking AC, nice bathrooms, a king bed in one of the rooms, and an awesome infinity pool with a view of the beach and ocean. The pool was three times larger and nicer looking. It felt like we were staying in the lap of luxury here. The water temperature of the pool was very warm, in fact, I could have enjoyed a few degrees cooler. After lunch, we went and did some grocery shopping in Uvita, then spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool. The yard had high trees beside and over the pool and they were always filled with little birds. At sunset, a number of white-faced capuchin monkeys came down to visit up, coming within perhaps five feet from the upper deck.

Friday, March 3
The day started early again, as we got up at 5:45 so we could get an early start on visiting Manual Antonio, one of the most popular parks in the country, about 47 km. away. It is already hot at sunrise, so early morning is very important for bird watching. As we step out the front door to our car, Jo spotted a bright red bird in the tree. It was larger than a robin, a trogon, and we took a few, ok a lot of pictures of it. Then two aracaris, the bird that had evaded us since we were here, landed in the tree behind the trogon. What a great start to the day. Driving to the park took over an hour due to construction and traffic in Quepos, the town outside the park. The park involved walking down a main trail for quite some distance, and then you could veer off to other trails that climbed up and down to viewpoints. The main trail ended at a beach. There were many guides at the main gate, offering their services. They led groups of 8-12 people for 90 minutes or so, stopping frequently to discuss plant life, point out wildlife and show them on their scope if possible. We chose not to use a guide. The first 800 meters or so of the trail was very busy with groups of people starting out, but it thinned out the further you walked. Whenever a group gathered somewhere to see something, we could just wander up and find out what they were seeing. During the day we saw four different sloths, groups of capuchin monkeys and howler monkeys, a lot of crab-eating raccoons, (identical but slimmer than our raccoons), several coatis, a agouti and a number of different birds. It got very hot by the time we reached the end of the main trail and took a side trail. By now BIL's shirt was thoroughly drenched in sweat, and his shorts were not much better. I wore swimming trunks. We hiked for about three hours. By then, everyone's water supply was almost used up, there are no vendors in the park, and the complaining about the heat and climbing of stairs on the trail flowed as fast as the sweat down people's arms, legs, foreheads, etc. I must admit that while I too was hot, I am able to stand the heat fairly well, and sweat far less than everyone else. By 11:15 we had completed the trail and we walked to the beach, a gorgeous sandy cove with that wonderful greeny-blue colour. We took turns watching our belongings while the rest swam in the warm water. This was the first beach where there were no big waves and you could stand in deep water without being hit by waves. While we were all in the water, sister G was on the beach guarding. An aggressive raccoon came and tried to open our backpack. She frantically tried to shoo him away, while a few people stood by taking pictures but not helping. she ended up hitting him on the side which resulted in hissing, but he did leave. There were many capuchin monkeys in this area who will get into anything and steal what the can if you are not careful. After cooling down, we ate the sandwiches we brought and then stated our final walk, a loop around a peninsula at the end of the park. My t-shirt was dry, but BIL's clothes were still drenched. The trail had a lot of ups and downs, and soon everyone was super hot again. By the time we returned to the beach, BIL looked like he was on his last legs and ready to keel over, and, much to my chagrin, the rest were more concerned about getting more water than a second swim as we had planned. We walked back to the main gate out of the park and bough bottled water from vendors on the street. Then we found a hotel bar that served smoothies, and ordered mango smoothies. We were more than half done when the server asked if we wanted more. Jo said she might, thinking he meant selling us a second round. However, he came around with the rest of the smoothie he had made, and refilled our glasses for free. Wonderful. Jo and I wanted to go to the beach across the street from where our car was parked to swim, but G did not show much enthusiasm for it because she did not want to go home wet, and the BIL informed us he did not thing he could go swimming. His legs were too tired, and he had no energy left. He was wiped! We drove home and went into our bathwater pool instead. (The ocean was not much cooler than bath water either.) We went out for dinner to the same restaurant we went to last Friday, enjoying the local group that played there. It was quite busy and it took over an hour to get our food. But, pura vida. A great day, despite some very hot, tired people.

Saturday, March 4
It was a very hot, muggy day today. The temperature reached 36 degrees in the afternoon. After a relaxing morning where we hung out mostly indoors with the AC, we decided to get out for a while and go to the beach in Dominical. Several days ago we asked Jou if he could get us some beach towels as the towels we had were not good for the beach. He said he would, but of course, it still hadn't happened so we picked up a few towels from the vendors on the beach. The beach was pretty much deserted because of the heat and the red flags posted. Even the beach chairs and umbrellas were packed up. We had to abandon our swimming plans and instead went for some smoothies before heading home and to our pool. Even though the pool was very warm, it was still refreshing enough in the hot weather. At night we were sitting outside when we heard a rustle in the bushes, and then a little head poked out of the frons of the little palm tree beside out deck. It was a little mouse opossum. He sat for a long time near the railing and the poor little guy probably got blinded by all the flash photograph going on. Another unexpected critter sighting.

Sunday, March 5
I got up late, at about 7:45 and found sister G all excited. She had been desperately trying to photograph a good toucan or aracari picture and was a little jealous that I had better shots. Our aracari sightings so far had been at a distance or in the shade. This morning she spotted one sitting in the sun in a bare tree near our pool and she got some good photo. She said she was so excited she was almost shaking and nearly dropped the camera. After breakfast we tried going to the beach in Dominical, but the red flags were still up. Then we drove about 30 minutes south to the town of Ojochal where the beach was supposed to be good. We found only narrow, pot-holed dirt roads that led to a beach where mostly locals seemed to hang out, and where the only shade was far from the water and the it would take forever to get to reasonable deep water. We decided against it and went home to our own pool. We face-timed with our kids and then went back in the pool. Soon, we saw two toucans sitting in a tall tree overhanging the pool. They flew up the hill, and in trying to spot where they went, I discovered instead a aracari sitting in a tree. More photos! Then I spotted something. On investigating, I found a baby sloth hanging in a tree only about 5 feet from our upper deck. More photos. We BBQ'd hamburgers but the briquettes, which are flat pieces, burn so poorly that they cooled down long before the burgers were cooked. We had to fry them partially. Later in the evening, while sitting on the deck, we again had a visit from the mouse opossum, who just sat there looking at us for quite some time. A good wildlife day!

Quetzal Part Deux

Monday, February 20
This was not a red letter day! G and BIL were forced to sleep in the living room, one on a short couch and the other in a lawn chair, because we could not unlock their bedroom door, which also contained all their clothes, medicines, etc. Needless to say, they got very little sleep. Jo and I were hot and sticky because our AC not only did not work properly, but the air it did blow out went over the bed and we did not feel it. We both woke up very early, around 5:30, and only dozed after that. I was tempted by the many bird sounds outside but resisted getting up to because my camera was in the living room. I did note that the bird sounds at 5:30 - 6:00 were quite different from the bird sounds later in the unearthly morning hours. So, not all birds get up at the same time. We still had a problem with a water leak in the kitchen and the handyman, Jou, showed up after 10:30. By then we had mopped up the floor with all the towels we could find three times. Any time we used the tap and it seemed, even when showers were done, we had a lake in the kitchen. Jou acknowledged that the AC in our bedroom was broken, and a portable unit had been installed. However, it seemed someone, presumably the cleaning staff, had disconnected it and put it away. He promised to have it installed before bedtime. He opened the bedroom door quite quickly, using an knife. He did some work on the plumbing, went away to complete a few other tasks and get some supplies, including finally giving us some toilet paper, we had one roll for three bathrooms, and returned later in the early afternoon. Meanwhile, we could not wash any dishes or use the water anywhere just in case. We hung around the pool, took photos went for a short walk and had happy hour. He finally said he had fixed a clogged pipe and left. BIL and I proceeded to wash a few dishes and soon we had another flood. Now I was very upset, and sent an email to the owner, Dave, explaining our dilemma and stated we wanted this addressed ASAP as not being able to use the kitchen or shower was unacceptable. Soon Jou was back and worked the rest of the afternoon on the plumbing. Supposedly, there was a major clog somewhere in the system out of reach of his plumber's snake. He said he would arrange for a plumber to come tomorrow or find another solution if the plumber was not available. So, we basically lost the use of our kitchen (small bathroom sinks are not conducive to dish washing) but the showers, toilets, etc. were OK. We had to go out for dinner so we drove to Uvita, a town about 12 km. away, and settled on an Italian restaurant. Here's hoping tomorrow is a better day and our plumbing problems get fixed. It's a good thing we have an extended stay here, so are not as concerned with losing a day. Pura Vida, as they say here.

Tuesday, February 21
Surprise, surprise, another beautiful, sunny day. In fact, while it is quite hot, our patio, where we live all day long, has a nice breeze that keeps it quite comfortable. Our portable AC helped Jo and I get a good sleep, although it created a huge pool of water in our room. The plumber arrived in the morning and worked for several hours with a snake before drain leak was fixed, we hope. I got up early, at 7AM and wondered around with my camera, as I am want to do here. It produced quite a harvest. Besides some of the little birds I saw, we had  number of toucans come for a visit. I spotted four in one tree across from our driveway. That was really special. It is always a thrill to see toucans. Then I saw two large birds, known as guans, who swooped down in front of our house. A neighbour three houses down saw me and called me over. He asked if I knew about the sloth. He showed me a three-toed sloth in a tree beside his property. It would have been hard to spot if you did not know he was there. Apparently he lives in the tree and comes down occasionally. (No Wade, Jo has 10 toes.) I then saw a caracara, a type of eagle-like bird, land in a tree by our property. All before 8AM! We spent another day lazing by our pool, which was warmer than on our last trip. Still no questral though. We decided that next week we would try to hire a guide and take a bird watching trip in Carara park. The bad side of this was that the park is 1hr and 47 min. away per Google, and birding generally start at 7 or 7:30AM. We would have to leave home at about 5AM! Insanity! We shall see.

Wednesday,, February 22
Update alert for Tuesday night. We thought we were done with leaks. Wrong! After running the dishwasher with no problems, G turned on the tap later and soon found water everywhere again. The drain pipes were sitting on the sink down pipe and held for a short time, but then with added water, slipped off the sleeve because it was not securely attached, so that the sink pipe was open and water just ran directly out. I contacted the owner again, and told him the beer I owed him for being $5 short on my money transfer was no longer owing. He agreed and said he would arrange some compensation when he returns back from Colorado. Jou, the maintenance guy came by again this morning and secured the pipes with glue and tape. He felt very bad about all the problems.
We got up early, for a 7AM drive to a local road leading up the river above the town of Dominical. This was supposed to be a great stretch for seeing wildlife early in the morning. We did see some toucans and other less exotic birds, but then also found a pair of fiery-billed aracaris, a type of toucan I had not seen before and was happy to finally see this trip. No questrals though. Apart from that, the walk was uneventful. We returned home for breakfast and coffee time before heading to Dominical for a walk around and swim at the beach. Dominical is a surfing town. Its few streets are dirt with potholes and ruts. Many of its building would fit perfectly in a Mumbai shantytown. The beach is large with dark grey sand and the palm lined edge was interspersed with little pup tents and vehicles. The dirt "front street" was lined with makeshift tables displaying wood work, shot glasses, homemade jewelry etc., and clothes lines covered with t-shits, beach towels, etc. The vendors were not overly aggressive as in many other places. Perhaps those funny cigarettes made them more mellow. We went to a restaurant/bar called Tortilla Flats, across from the beach. We were fortunate to get in. It looked like there was a strict appearance policy: dreadlocks and funny clothes like knitted wool pants, (who wouldn't want to wear those on a hot 35 degree day), and bare feet. We saw one young guy with a table of dreadlocked friends. He wore ordinary trunks and a t-shirt and a regular haircut, so to save face, he wore a nice long scarf around his neck. We felt a little out of place but what the heck, Pura Vida. Everyone here is very nice, always greeting you. The best part of this restaurant was having my first mango smoothie. They are my favourite and I have never been able to reproduce a Costa Rican mango smoothie at home! After eating and browsing, we spent the afternoon on the beach playing in the surf. The waves were very high. Rip tides are a major concern in Costa Rica, and over 250 people drown each year from them, mostly due to panicking. We were careful and once we felt the waves were beginning to push us sideways along the beach, we decided it was time to get out.
I was unable to connect with the guide I wanted for a trip to Carara, I found one which started at 5:30AM, which would mean leaving here before 3:30 to get there on time. After some thought, I decided I just couldn't do that. Tonight I found a guide offering walks starting at 8AM, a more doable time. We will see.

Thursday, February 23
I think I may need to rename this blog Water Stories from Costa Rica. After a relaxing morning, we drove down our steep, pot-holed gravel driveway, (4x4's are required for the last stretch), and across the street to Playa Dominicalito, the beach we overlook and marvel at each day. It may be my favourite beach for scenic effect. There the long, sand beach that defines the cove, lined with palm trees that offer shade, little fishing boats moored out in the water, rocky lava outcrops along the northern and southern borders of the cove and very few people. The waves are high, making it a good surfing beach, but there are danger signs posted about rip tides. We waded along the edge of the water for an hour and a half, walking the length of the beach and enjoying the waves crashing over rocks. We then drove to Uvita, 12 km. down the coast to scout out where we need to report tomorrow morning for a day excursion by boat to Corcovado National Park. This park is incredible, with a huge diversity of wildlife not found elsewhere, including many cats, pumas, jaguarondi, ocelot, and others, plus exotic animals like tapirs, two varieties of anteaters, and much more. However, after our experience in Monteverde, we are not coming with high expectations, especially since we are just doing a 4 or 5 hour hike, while it is recommended you camp over night at least one night to see wildlife early in the morning near sunset. We went shopping for some groceries and then settled into our pool with Imperial beers to cool off. Afterwards, as I toweled off and took the towel away, I felt something at the back of my neck. I grabbed it and threw it down. It was a lizard 6 or 7 inches long that must have crawled into the towel.
Which brings me back to water stories. When they finally installed the portable AC in our bedroom, the unit went in the middle of our sliding doors to the outside, and pieces of cardboard were duct taped to the doors to cover up the open space between the sliding doors. The tape let go several times and I had to find ways to keep the cardboard in place as best I could with no tools. Jo was partially through her shower when we lost all our water. Fortunately we stocked up on wine so we were not concerned about dehydration. Water did come back on shortly thereafter.
The neighbour we met from Toronto, who had been coming here for 9 years said there were lots of aracaris, an unusually coloured type of toucan, around, and he put out papaya rinds to attract them. We tried it but so far, the best we got was a quick sighting as one did a fast fly by. On our last trip we saw a similar glimpse, but never saw them long enough to get a photo. We shall be patient and see. Perhaps we could attract a resplendent quetzal.

Friday, February 24
We were up early, at 5:30AM, to catch our trip to Corcovado National Park. This huge park is world renown and has an amazing variety of wildlife, enhanced by the fact that it is difficult to access, only by boat or a very long hike, or by airplane. The best way to see it is to spend several days hiking or at the least, camp overnight at one of the ranger stations and do a late afternoon and early hike. Not wanting to camp, we chose instead to do a boat trip from nearby Uvita, a 90 minute trip, and then do a morning and after lunch walk. We arrived at the meeting office at 7AM as instructed, but it was not until after 8AM before we left. Not a good omen for seeing birds, that are generally only active until it gets hot in mid morning. While we were not wanting to get our hopes up based on past experience, I was hoping for a chance to see a tapir or anteater. During our boat trip, we spotted a pod of spotted dolphins and took a few pictures. Our morning walk began at about 9:30, and it was already very hot and humid, even in the forest. We heard a troupe of howler monkeys and spider monkeys making a lot of noise. Nearby we came across a puma, as they call it here. It was very close by and even the guides were very excited. One had guided in the park for over 10 years and this was only his second sighting. The cat seemed very calm at our presence and made no effort to run away. It was difficult to get good pictures but we did manage, with the help of a guide. I doubt we will ever see one again in our lives, so this alone made the trip worthwhile. After that however, there wasn't much from a wildlife point of view. We saw no exotic birds until near the end of the day when we saw a currasow, a large, odd looking ground bird that stood in the middle of our path. As expected, it was too late to see much bird activity other than a few shore birds like blue herons, pelicans and a tiger heron. I was sad to hear on the trip back that one of the two guides, who had led the other half of our boat, saw a tapir crossing a stream we had been at not 5 minutes earlier. He also showed me a photo sent by a friend on his cell phone of a boa constrictor strangling what looked like a chicken in the middle of the road near Uvita. In the afternoon, we walked to a waterfall and then to a small pond downstream, where we could take a cool dip if we wanted. We had an older Swedish couple and an old German couple with us. Before you could say "Get me outta here" the one lady stripped down to her panties and bra. The other couple got fully changed right there. One minute I am looking for white rumped tapirs and the next I am staring at a white rumped German. Later the Swede woman in the panties decided to change into dry panties right beside me. Not what I bargained for. All in all it was a good day, although if we had not seen the puma, I would have found it disappointing. We got home at 3:30PM to find the tree by our house full of howler monkeys. We went for dinner at a local restaurant we visited last trip, where they have live music on Friday nights. The band was the same as three years ago. Apparently, sometimes famous musicians who travel through the area come for dinner and get on stage for a few numbers. Not this time. Music was mostly 70's rock. A good evening but some people were fading due to the early morning and active day.

Saturday, February 25
An uneventful day. we relaxed by the pool and waited for toucans and aracaris to show up. They never did. In the evening we played cards because we had all day to play ipad games and update blogs, etc. I even did my monthly banking online. Nothing interesting to say today except that our portable AC was fixed again and hopefully will hold together this time.
PS> I wrote too soon. During our card game on our deck, at about 10:00PM, we saw the electrical transformer at the end of our driveway blow with a loud bang. Suddenly there was total darkness. Power outages are common here and some people never adjust their clocks on the microwave, oven, etc. because they are constantly going our, often for just a few seconds but enough to reset the clock. This seemed more severe. Of course, for some this might mean a perfect time to go to bed, but for us that is just foolish talk. Bed was still hours and a few wines away. We did find some candles and matches and on the good side, our neighbour came over to borrow some matches, and invited us over. They were from Toronto, and the couple visiting them, who own a unit in the complex as well, were from Kelowna. We had a nice visit for a while until our wine glasses were empty. The aracaris I had wanted to see and what Ron said were often around here eating fruit off of their deck were actually seen more frequently in January. Of course, not while we are here. Surprisingly, power was restored in about 90 minutes because we were contemplating a very hot night with no AC. Evening temperatures only drop to about 22 degrees. It is a surprise every morning to get up in a comfortably cool room and then step into a hot bathroom.

The Quetzal Search

Saturday, February 4, 2017
As I gaze out at the another in a long series of snow storms, I can't wait for our next Costa Rica adventure, now just over a week away.  This will be an extended trip and one of my goals is to see and photograph a resplendent questral, considered one of the most beautiful birds in Central America.    This has been in the planning stages for over a year when I first started looking into accomodations. This was almost in jeopardy before the quest began, since I receive notice yesterday that our accommodations in Monteverde, home of the questral, was cancelled due to legal issues.  After quite a scramble at the last minute, this reservation having been made early due to the popularity of the region, I did mange to find a rental near the cloud forest reserve.  So, arrangements are made, most of my clothes and assorted supplies are laid out on the bed, and it is a waiting game until I can escape to warmer climes.  Since early December, we have had so many snow storms and sub-zero temperatures, that it reminds me of the sixties.  The forecast calls for several more snow storms over the next three days.  Maybe its time to move to Costa Rica.

Monday/ Tuesday February 13 & 14
Its finally here! After a year of planning and wondering who was going the day arrived.  After a long day of cleaning, packing, and just killing time, we left at 8:30PM for the airport and our red-eye flight to Montreal.  The airport is much quieter after 9PM.  The flight was only half full and went on time.  Service was minimal as expected.  I discovered that it is difficult to sleep for more than a few minutes, unless you are like some people I know, when you are slouched forward and your head is dangling in front of you. Perhaps I got an hour or so sleep all told.  We arrived in Montreal at 7AM local time and since we weren't sure how long it might be before they served us a meal, and we had over an hour between flights, we picked up some breakfast at Tim Hortons.  We ate quickly and arrived at our gate to only a few people sitting around.  We leisurely took turns using the washroom and then we noticed that the gate was almost empty. Just as we decided to investigate, we heard the announcement for final boarding call, and our names mentioned. Perfect. No need to sit around needlessly at this time in the morning. Our flight from Montreal to Liberia, Costa Rica was on Air Canada Rouge, which we discovered was your very basic flight.  Not only was there no meal, unless you wanted to pay double to buy it, but there were no tv screens either and we were too tired to bother renting a ipad.  Further attempts at sleep were marginally better but still I was groggy the rest of the afternoon and evening.  We left with snow on the ground in Montreal and arrived to 32 degrees
C.  We found our driver who drove us the 85 km. to Samara Beach, which took two hours of slow driving.  I tried to make conversation but soon decided I was far too tired to work at it, and I didn't understand a word he said.  I often nodded when I actually had no clue what he said. At one point I think he said something about Winnipeg and ice trucks and big women you could snuggle up to!? 

Our 2nd floor condo was a little farther from the beach than the photos indicated and involved walking down hill a ways.  The safe I thought we had did not exist, so my millions of colones had to be hidden. After stripping of the home clothes for lighter items, we walked to the beach, enjoyed a happy hour offering of two half pints of beer and a pizza (the men drank the beer and the women had margaritas), picked up a few groceries and headed up the hill for an evening of zombieing.

Wednesday, February 15

Today was a travel recovery day. We all zonked out instantly when going to be at the unearthly hour of 11PM.  I was awake at 7AM, and went for a stroll around the general neighbourhood, looking for birds. I did find a few, although most I had seen on our previous trip.  We had a leisurely breakfast and walked into town to see what there was there. It was already very hot at 11 o’clock. We went to a bar where the women had margaritas and I had a nice, manly creamsicle concoction. Since we have not completely acclimatized to Costa Rican time, we were drinking at 9AM PST. We did grocery shopping and found someone to drive us home for 2,000 colones, $4. After lunch it was off to the beach. Despite Samara being quite protected by a reef, there were some pretty wild waves. It sure was nice to be able to walk right in the water and not even feel a chill when the waves went higher than my shorts. We returned to our condo, which overlooked the beach, and spent time in our infinity pool, which also was nice and warm. There we, the men, got into a conversation with a American from Cincinnati who soon started espousing the virtues of Donald Trump and the fact that he is unjustly persecuted by “fake news”. Apparently he is just enforcing laws that have been on the books but not followed by that incompetent Obama guy. His also thought police should shoot to kill rioter as a lesson to others. It took me quite a while to make my way to the shallow end and out of the pool, since there was never a break in the lecture.  Bedtime again came early since we needed to be up and out of the house by 6AM for an excursion. Surprisingly, I did fall asleep.

Thursday February 16

We had an excursion booked by someone recommended by the manager of our condo, for a day trip to Monteverde, home of the resplendent questral. Emails to Daniel were responded to in proper English, but when he arrived at 6AM, he could not speak any English, except a word here or there. It was going to be a long, quiet drive as I had no desire to play charades to communicate. We had arranged to go to Monteverde, a very popular national park that included canope walks, hikes, hummingbird gardens, etc. Daniel as what we wanted to do in Monteverde, and rattled off some things in Spanish that I had no clue about. I said we wanted to walk on canope. He nodded and we were off. The drive took 3 hours, with the last hour being a very rough gravel road up the mountain. It took over an hour to travel 34 km. Daniel did point out a couple of toucans and a beautiful motmot bird on the way. When he drove us to the place for the canope walk I had my doubts that we were in the correct place as it had no semblance of being a national park, and there were no guides for hire. There was a name as well that was not Monteverde Park, but we really didn’t know better. We took the walk, which cost $35 each. We saw a few small birds but not the real exotic birds and beasts we hoped to see. First attempt at spotting the questral, failure. We did see an armadillo at the end of the trail which was exciting. The walk was beautiful through the cloud forest, over 9 bridges, but the lack of birds was very disappointing. We also went into the hummingbird garden, basically just an area with a bunch of hummingbird feeders. It was amazing though to see some many beautiful varieties of hummers there. We were home at 5:30, a long day, and when we checked the map, we did indeed get taken to a private facility, not the national park that we wanted. Daniel asked us to write on his website, I think because he said it in Spanish. Not a good idea.

Friday, February 17

Its birthday day for both Joanie and BIL. The early morning yesterday caught up to us and we all slept in, sort of.  I woke up at almost 9AM. We had a great birthday breakfast of one-sided toast, (only the burner on one side works), and a variety of toppings, including Nutella, jam or peanut butter. Okay, just 3 toppings and the bread here is very little. Yum. We are saving the few eggs for tomorrow. We relaxed for the morning and then took the city bus up the coast about 7 km. to Carrillo Beach, purported to be one of the most beautiful beaches in all of Costa Rica. It was very nice, with a huge sand beach lined with a strip of palm trees with lots of room for sitting in the shade. Whether it was the most beautiful may be debated, but it was great. The sand was super hot and G burned the bottom of her feet. We played in the surf for hours and caught the bus back home. Then we got a beer and hung out at our pool. Not a bad way to spend a birthday. In the evening we played a card game. Of course, a lot of time is also spent downloading and reviewing photos taken, posting photos on Facebook, etc.

Saturday, February 18

Another sunny, hot day. Today we just stayed at our pool, since we were getting a car dropped off in the afternoon. By now our food supply was drying up, so lunch consisted of a diabetic granola bar. The car came after 3PM, but we had an agent who was doing this for the first time, so it took forever, as he checked his notes and sample copies of completed forms. The vehicle was a seven-seater Mitsubishi SUV, a large car which could be a challenge when driving down some narrow, crowded small town streets or parking in the small lots. For dinner we went to a local Mexican food restaurant which was very good. We were approached by a very young Niko, or Nicaraguan, who was selling little items made from palm frons. Joanie of course could not resist, and for the next 15 minutes this kid hung around our table, looking for money. He joked around, offering to buy back the fron flower we bought for 1/10 the price, then offering to sell us the hot spices on the table, etc.  He just wouldn't quite until we left.      

Sunday, February 19

We left for Dominical at 8:30 after our traditional Sunday morning cream of wheat. The drive went smoothly and we arrived at our unit at 3PM. While there was no toucan to greet us, we did see a few different monkeys and later did see a toucan. The day was going very well, despite the leaky water bottle we bought after grocery shopping along the way, which dampened a few things in the car. Then it fell apart. We were warned by the cleaning staff who were still finishing up when we arrived, that there was a leak in the dishwasher and we should report it to Dave, the owner, who was in Colorado skiing, just don't let him know the cleaners told us about it. We each chose our bedrooms and later discovered that when G & BIL left their bedroom, they closed the door since they had turned the AC on. The doors had buttons on the inside to lock them, and you needed a key to unlock. They found two keys by the safe in the room. The button was in lock position, and they were locked out of their bedroom. Being Sunday, no one was around, and not only could they not get in to sleep, but all their belongs were in there too. On top of that, after dinner, BIL was rinsing dishes to put in the dishwasher, and in no time at all, we had a giant puddle, with water leaking out from under the washer. Someone was not pleased!!! I contacted Dave by email to explain the situation, and I got a response very quickly saying he would try to contact the manager in charge if he could be located, but otherwise he may not show up until tomorrow. Not good news. The manager did not drop by, so G & BIL had to sleep in the living room. I did meet our neighbour, a couple form Toronto, and the fellow did check the pipes under the sink, which were dry, before concluded the leak must be somewhere under the dishwasher. We spent the night on our patio enjoying the night air and bugs.  I did not tell Jo about the spider I saw walking under the roof. It was only slightly smaller than a tarantula but less hairy.