This was our last day before the tour, and
we ended up staying around the resort. I had some work
still to cleanup, and Pattie plugged away at her
needle-work. We had one last dinner with Leo's family
before crashing and getting ready for...
Embarking on our VENT Tour: Toucans to Quetzels,
February 17 - 23, 2008
The first day of our
formal birding tour -- the first that
we've ever been on. We meet up with
Andrew (Andy) Whittaker and
Gustavo Orozco Sovalbarro, our guides, Oscar our driver,
and 12 others who will be our fellow travelers this week.
Our guides were excellent -- although it was our first trip,
and can imagine enjoying many a future expedition if either
are at the helm. Their ability to manage a diverse
group, trip logistics, keep us (well!) fed, and dig up a
cornucopia of Costa Rican specialties at the same time was
worth it.
As it happens, I don't have many pictures of anything but
birds and other animals, but here is a smattering that will
give some flavour about the trip.
February 17, 2008
On our way to our first evening at
La Quinta resort in Sarapiqui, we stop at the
La Paz Waterfall Gardens.
This is a beautiful spot, and we are introduced to the colourful birds of Costa Rica in a big and almost
overwhelming fashion. The fruit and hummingbird
feeders attract a diverse variety of birds.
Pattie and I
decide to hike down to the first set of waterfalls, and is
our first time in the rainforest. I end up taking a
few pictures of birds along the way but only end up
identifying them when we get home and I review them :-)
A sour note:
Andy and Gustavo note that a new monkey house and
parrot/aviary (with endangered Scarlet Macaws) have been
built since they last visited. It is very disturbing
to them as they believe the animals will have been wrenched
from their natural habitat, with collateral kill of family
groups in the process. (Express your concern should
you happen to visit.)
Later, we drove to another cafe
(La Mirador) which looked back at La Paz, and we could see
the largest of its waterfalls from here.
This place also had fruit tables and hummingbird feeders,
and we saw some new birds that we didn't see at La Paz.
February 18, 19, 20, 2008
Up at 4:30 every morning, breakfast at 5,
and leave for our birding spots by 5:45. We spent the
bulk of these three days at the
La Selva Field Station for
Tropical Studies. It is smack in the middle of
the Caribbean lowlands, and very rich with its biodiversity.
On Tuesday morning we drove to the Virgen de Socorro.
It was a damp, wet morning, but as it is mid-elevation
between La Paz and La Selva we saw a few birds we hadn't
before.
This mists gave us a good taste of cloud forest for the
first time.
As we left Virgen, rather than turning around we decided to carry on the other side of the river, hoping to
meet with the main highway again. Construction workers
convinced Gustavo that an impassable road was now quite
passable. It was harrowing for Pattie, reinforced our
faith in Oscar as a great driver, but eventually
we came to a dilapidated bridge whose centre wheel boards
might have been solid enough (but not wide enough for our
bus), and the cross boards were rotting. We had to
turn back (to Pattie's relief, I think). But not before
Oscar and Gustavo tried to figure out how to get across
though, and we finally sent Andy hurrying back to stop them!
