Mario, our fearless driver, took us on another road trip that definitely would have won him awards for driving. But, at this point I was getting accustomed to thinking there was no room for the wheels on the edge of the road when in fact there was at least an inch. We were traveling over the mountain range that I mentioned previously and heading to the Pacific coast. Every time we reached a crest you could hear the ohhhs and ahhs because the views were the most breathtaking that we had seen.
We stopped at a pottery factory in the tiny village of Guaitil. The “factory” was a large hut with open sides and many shelves on the sides with rows and rows of stunning decorated earthy pottery. They let some of us try our hand at molding a piece of pottery. The clay used is found right in the region on a nearby mountain and carted down to their work area. Very old techniques are used to create and decorate the pottery. The designs tell the early history using animals and symbols.
A previous side trip we had made, which I forgot to mention was to a flower farm. This was quite interesting as the flowers grown were huge succulent plants like ten inch ginger blossoms on five or six foot stalks in varying colors and other unusual large plants with flowers. At this site I wandered away from the group and found a hummingbird nest and watched the female land in the nest and then fly away. In addition, I hunted down a call in a thicket to find a White-shouldered Tanager. I told Carlos about the nest and he and some others wanted to see it. Many had never seen a hummer nest. We went in a primitive wagon pulled by a tractor and rode through the fields of flowers which grew like corn on acres and acres. Carlos stopped the wagon and yelled back to me to look to the left and I saw the neatest heron…a Fasciated-tiger Heron…very striking.
After the pottery factory we stopped at another artisan shop. This time it was a craft shop with several Indians from Panama who had nice weavings and paintings. Also, the very bold designs of Guatemalan craftsmen were in many of the shops. Believe me, I left all places with representative art work from all aspects of this lovely country.
We arrived at the Los Suenos Marriot which was the fourth segment of exploring Cost Rica. This Marriot which is a five star hotel, was gorgeous. The grounds and pools were lush with tropical vegetation…just beautiful. The Pacific Ocean, which was a bright green bordered the entire property and the marina. The breakfast buffet (my favorite meal) was the most incredible eating experience. Oh grief, I was trying to be careful not to gain too much weight on this trip.
Well, we were up early again to go on an
optional trip to the Artola Rain Forest. We were to go on a tram, which held six
people and went 130 feet over the rain forest. I thought it amusing when the
refuge guides placed us in trams according to weight. Don does not like heights
but agreed to go on the tram. I think he was glad he went, as it was stunning to
see the forty-foot cascading waterfalls and dense tropical growth from this
height. It was hot and humid in this area and t
he slight breeze on the tram felt
great. Our particular guide stopped the tram often to point out things and ID a
couple of birds for me. At this point everyone on the trip kept saying to me…did
you see this bird or that bird. I kept jumping up to see things in the tram and
Don who sat very still kept telling me to sit down. After the tram ride we had
an in depth tour of many areas of the rain forest which included, magnificent
flowers and plants and a huge array of reptiles that were in captivity. This
side trip brought a Black and White warbler, White-faced monkeys (along the tram
ride), Chestnut Mandibled Toucan (awesome), Golden-hooded Tanager, Boat-billed
Flycatcher and heard a Crested Guan. I had to ask the guide who kept making that
racket and it was the Guam. Earlier in the day when we left the Marriot, I saw
Northern Jacana, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Barn Swallows and Blue and White
Swallows.
Don and I explored the village of Jaco (yaco) one afternoon and in the evening we, along with some of our group went to a delightful dinner and dance interpretation of the history of Costa Rica.
Well, it was up early again as we were going on
what would turn out to be one of my favorite expeditions. We went to Carara
National Park to the Tarcoles River which flows south into the Pacific ocean. As usual, Carlos gave us the do not have high expectations message, so, I had
none. Thankfully, it was a little overcast because the heat and humidity were
higher on this side of Costa Rica. I loved this area as it looked like something
out of a Crocodile Dundee movie. We were not in the boat and on the river for
three minutes when herons, crocodiles, kingfishers appeared. Good grief, what
should I look at first? The boat owner…another Carlos, was wonderfully patient
finding the nooks and crannies where much wildlife was. Many crocs, Great Blue
Heron, Little Blue Heron, Great Egrets, Anhinga, White Ibis, Yellow-crowned
Night Heron, Tri-colored Heron, Snowy Egret and Green-back Heron were on the
sand bars, banks and in the trees. We saw Willets, Black-necked Stilts,
Whimbrel, Greater Yellow-legs, Spotted Sandpiper, Upland Sandpiper,
Yellow-headed Caracara, Common Black Hawk, Osprey, Mangrove Swallows were
everywhere flitting over our heads. We saw the Amazon Kingfisher, and the Green
Kingfisher. Carlos pulled the boat right up to the bank and told us to look at a
particular tree. I looked at it and saw little black dots lined up along the
trunk…oh neat, they were teeny tiny bats. They were the tiniest bats I have ever
seen so neatly in a row.
I have never seen crocs in the wild before and I have to tell you that they are some kinda big with huge mouths and big teeth. There are many signs warning not to swim in the water.
Suddenly, Carlos heard a very loud call from the jungle. The two Carloses now had heads together and I could see a plan coming. The boat started heading into a dark and narrow mangrove covered creek. The calls were getting very loud. Carlos was even getting very excited. Suddenly through the jungle vines and trees, we could see a bright red flash…then another and another. I was getting excited because this would be my first Scarlet Macaw. Something unusual was going on. The macaws were all screeching and flying back and forth displaying the gorgeous blue, yellow and red wingspread. Carlos was telling us that he had never seen so many macaws and never had seen this strange behavior. There must have been fifteen or twenty macaws and they were all flying from limb to limb screeching. I was on my knees now for a better view and not taking my binoculars from this scene. What gorgeous creatures they are. I was ecstatic. Finally, they settled down and it was time to back the boat out of this little hideaway.
We moved back to San José and were to catch a plane the next day. The group had a going away dinner and we said our goodbyes. Our group came from California to New England to Florida. We did many more activities on this trip then I wrote about and there isn’t anything that I did not enjoy. In addition, Grand Circle donates ten percent of the fee to each country and that goes to schools or the arts.
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I saw 80 birds on this trip, 48 life birds.
Lifers; Red-footed Booby, Olivacious Cormorant, White Ibis, Green Ibis, Fasciated Tiger-Heron, Northern Jacena, Sungrebe, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Fulvous Whistling Duck, Upland Sandpiper, Crested Guan (heard), Common Black Hawk, King Vulture, Yellow-headed Caracara, Scarlet Macaw, Crimson-fronted Parakeet, Orange-chinned Parakeet, Groove-billed Ani, Mangrove Swallow, Blue and white Swallow, Amazon Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher, Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, Yellow-eared Toucanet, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Hoffman’s Woodpecker, Red-crowned Woodpecker, Golden-bellied Flycatcher, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Tropical Peewee, Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet, Rufous-naped Wren, Clay-colored Robin (Costa Rica national bird), White-throated Magpie-Jay, Spotted-breasted Oriole, Great-tailed Grackle, Nicaraguan Grackle, Olive Tanager, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Green Honeycreeper, Golden-hooded Tanager, Blue-gray Tanager, White Shouldered Tanager, Scarlet-rumped Tanager, Buff-throated Saltator, Lesser Goldfinch, Rufous-collared Sparrow.
B.A.R.B. at SongStar SongStar home
Copyright © 2005 by Abbie Banks and Richard L. Becker