We had to leave Tilajari and I was sad…good bye San Carlos River, good bye to the gazillion Iguana and Red-footed Honeycreepers, Great Kiskadee and Collared Aracari. Well, we were off again at the crack of dawn for another long road trip. We were going to Flamingo, which was a resort with a beautiful tropical beach, and they did not lie. It was quite beautiful.
The drive to Flamingo was interesting. Carlos jumped up and told Mario to STOP THE BUS. Mario pulled over and Carlos told us there was a three-toed sloth up in a tree. He invited all those interested to come out of the bus. Naturally, I was one of the first out. I stood there searching and could not see the sloth in the tree. However, I did see a funny looking lump. Whoops, the lump started to move and it had legs and a nose. I was amazed at the excellent camouflage. After slothing, we all hopped back on the bus and Mario took off again.
I must mention that there was a landslide and a flood and we had to take an alternate route, which was a bit more primitive than the original route. This was another test for the fearless. The roads were really narrow and curvy. Sheer drops were right at road edge. Although the valleys were beautiful, I wasn’t interested in being in the bottom of one. Don kept saying that these were great Harley roads and I kept thinking…yes and all by yourself. We had an interesting stop at a rehab center. Now, a rehab center in Maryland may have some bunnies, ducks, a Red-tail and a Robin or two. This rehab center had Howler Monkeys, White-faced Monkeys, Spider Monkeys, Scarlet Macaws, Toucans, tiny little white tail deer and other assorted jungle creatures. It was quite clean and a nice place to be if you are an injured bird or mammal. Some animals would be released when rehabilitated and some would have to stay.
Flamingo
was quite a beautiful area located in a
tiny little village. It was right on the beach in a lovely cove. If one does not
like the beach the pool was right next to the beach. Breakfast every morning was
open air and one could share breakfast with the crazy White-throated Magpie
Jays. One morning Don noticed a funny lump on a palm tree right by our table. I
went to explore and discovered the lump was actually a bat. The Magpie Jay saw
it and started harassing it. The bat was fluttering on the ground looking for
safety after the Jay poked at it. I felt sorry for it and scolded the Jay and
then he left it alone. Shortly after one of the guards came by with yet another
type of bat, which may have been a brown bat. I went to examine it and the poor
thing was struggling and I asked the guard if he was going to release it. He
said yes and I hope he did. Need less to say that some of the other hotel
breakfast crowd found it a bit disconcerting to have bats and birds accompanying
them for breakfast. I thought it was great. It was at this breakfast patio as I
was leisurely drinking a cup of Costa Rican dark roast coffee that I spotted the
Rufous-naped Wren fly onto a nearby tree branch…a very handsome bird. The
Nicaraguan Grackles and the Great-tailed Grackles had daily voice exercises,
which were unbelievably loud.
Finally
the long awaited day arrived that I had been waiting for. Don chose to stay at
the pool the day of the Rainforest Canopy Escapade. This was one of the side
trips I especially wanted to do. Those participating arrived at our destination
and many looked hesitant. The guides place a harness type affair around you and
buckle it around your waist and legs. Then at the launch site, you are attached
to a wire with a pulley and they shove you off a landing and you pray that you
have enough good sense to remember what they taught you…like how to stop so you
don’t crash into a tree. It was during the first swosh across that I knew why
Carlos told me to leave my binoculars home. What an adrenalin rush. Some of the
men that went and a bunch of the women had to have the guides go with
them…tandem because of the last minute fear factor. We did 6 platforms. It was
great fun and a real adrenalin rush. I was in wonder over the engineering of
this huge cable structure. As I was standing on one of the platforms waiting for
my turn, I felt someone staring at me. I looked around and this dark shadow was
peering at me…a howler monkey. There were several more spotted along the way. I
thought I would see a lot of birds but no such luck. The folks had a butterfly
area and that was neat. There were many gorgeous brilliant blue butterflies. I
also saw an animal that is a cousin to our raccoon. It was quite tame and
friendly. We headed back to Flamingo and lounged around the pool for the rest of
the afternoon. Don and I took a walk into the village. I was in a little shop
and Don came over and said he thought he heard an owl. When we went out I heard
the owl hooting and it was from a very dense thicket. We tried to locate it by
going around the thicket but it was futile. I have no idea which owl it was. It
sounded similar to the Barred but not as loud. The owl actually answered when I
did a soft Barred call.
One
of the places we went to was a ranch. It was an incredibly beautiful place. An
American gal came to Costa Rica many years ago and bought land with a friend and
started a ranch. She had several degrees and gave up everything in the US and
settled in CR. She wanted a horse ranch. She fell in love with her Costa Rican
veterinarian and married him. They both have the ranch now and breed beautiful
horses and many are pintos. We had a tour and a horse show and she showed us her
house. Everyone in CR cooks outside. There are pavilions at the homes and folks
eat outside. We had a wonderful lunch at the ranch and her cook showed us how
she made tortillas.
As we traveled on one of our bus trips, I saw a kettle of Black Vultures and I was watching them circling and lazily flying on the wind currents. I noticed a huge bird flying with them that was black and white. As we got closer, I could see it was a King Vulture…a very striking large bird with bold markings.
Our group was to move on the next day to new adventures.
B.A.R.B. at SongStar SongStar home
Copyright © 2005 by Abbie Banks and Richard L. Becker