My friend Stephanie and I have arrived in beautiful Costa Rica for a trip focused on birding and nature that we started planning over a year ago. We flew in to San José yesterday evening, coming via Los Angeles, on Alaska Airlines flights that were full but on time and trouble-free. My checked bag even appeared on the airport baggage carousel relatively quickly.
We traveled to the San José hotel via taxi and Stephanie had a good conversation with the taxi driver, mostly in Spanish, along the way. I was too tired to function in Spanish because I hadn’t slept well the night before, so I was happy she could carry on the conversation. We spent the night at Hotel de la Rosa de America after a late dinner at a nearby restaurant recommended by the taxi driver.
We woke up early this morning to singing tropical birds and were excited to go out into the hotel gardens to see them.
The hotel breakfast buffet started at 7am and we enjoyed gallo pinto, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, coffee cake and guava juice. About 9:40 our driver came from Costa Rica Drivers. Rolando greeted us and loaded our suitcases into the SUV car for the 2.5-hour drive into the mountain village of San Gerardo de Dota.
During the congested drive through San José and into the Talamanca Mountains, both Stephanie and I conversed in a mixture of Spanish and English with the very friendly and knowledgeable Rolando. We arrived at Miriam’s Quetzals restaurant and cabins about noon and we invited Rolando to have lunch with us there. Just outside the restaurant, on a deck overlooking a forested valley shrouded in clouds, were several bird feeders that attracted a swarm of hummingbirds and other birds. We learned that Rolando loves to watch birds too, so before and after eating, we enjoyed the birds together with a couple other groups of birdwatchers and photographers.
Our cabin for the next three nights was 500 meters down a steep and winding road, where Rolando drove us and Liliana, an employee of Miriam’s. She checked us into the cabin and explained everything we needed to know.
It was cool and showery in the cloud forest, so we added a layer of clothes and then explored the area, finding some great birds along the way.
Then we walked up the hill to the restaurant about 4:30, enjoyed fruit batidos (milk shakes) while watching and photographing the birds on the deck. When it began to get dark, about 6pm, we went inside and ordered a delicious dinner of trout in passion fruit sauce with French fries. Afterwards, we returned down the hill in the dark, guided by our flashlights.
Lori's Travels 