Author: lori977987136

It rained most of the night last night and continued this morning. After donning our rain gear, we met the lodge’s birding guide, Mario, at 5:45am. We had requested a guided walk on the trails of Bosque de Paz because someone familiar with the calls and locations of local birds can enable us to see so many more.

Mario’s English skill wasn’t strong, so we switched to Spanish early in the walk and communicated better. Over the next 2.5 hours we walked the trails through primary (never previously cut) and secondary cloud forest in the rain, seeing and hearing quite a lot. Early on, we were lucky to see a group of white-faced monkeys high in the trees, which was exciting. (We had heard a distant group of howler monkeys yesterday morning.) But the birding was challenging because the foliage is so thick and the overcast sky didn’t provide much light. Mario could hear much more than we saw. It was too dark and wet to take any photos. Nevertheless, it was fun to be out with him.

We returned about 8:15 and went straight in for breakfast. The food was similar to yesterday’s: scrambled eggs, gallo pinto, fresh fruit and also one slice of French toast with freshly made fruit juice. As we ate we watched hummingbirds at the feeders in front of the restaurant windows and a coati eating corn that had been scattered on the grass by the staff.

After breakfast we collected a bag of our dirty clothes for their laundry service and a staff member brought them back clean, dry and folded about 3 hours later. It’s too humid here for hand-washed clothes to dry in the room, so we were happy they offered the service.

Lunch was a pork chop in a tomato, onion and mushroom sauce, rice, beans, green salad and pineapple ice cream with blackberry syrup. We vegged out in the room for a while and then went for a walk around the grounds, including their extensive orchid garden. But the orchids weren’t in bloom yet; they’ll start blooming later in April and in May.

As we were returning to our room, we saw Mario looking at something. He motioned us over and pointed to a faraway tree, saying there were howler monkeys in it. He got out a spotting scope so we could see them better, but even then they were just black round blobs in the tree. Evidently they were eating and they soon moved away. Then Mario took us out the driveway gate onto the road to look for birds. We didn’t see any, but we took advantage of the opportunity and took a picture of him in front of the reserve’s sign.

About 30 minutes before dinner, we sat outside in front of the restaurant, with bottles of Imperial beer in hand (a Costa Rican beer), looking for the Black and White Owl to return to perch in the tree where he was last night. He didn’t show up, but we enjoyed the darkening skies and the fireflies as we drank beer.

Our final dinner at Bosque de Paz was baked chicken, rice, cauliflower and broccoli in white sauce and a cake roll for dessert. Afterwards we went outside to look at the moths and bugs that were attracted to a white sheet lit up by a black light as well as the regular exterior lights. We saw two beautiful brown moths that were huge, about 5 inches across! Stephanie took pictures of many of them.

It was a cool and quiet night last night, which permitted a good night’s sleep for both Stephanie and I. The low temperature was perhaps in the high 50s, humidity about 85 percent, and we only heard frogs all night. All outside lights are turned off on all Bosque de Paz buildings at 9pm every night so to not disturb the wildlife.

This morning, we awoke very early again and each indulged in very nice hot showers. We took a walk on a short trail before our 7:30am breakfast and saw a coati (animal) near the restaurant that was following the staff around as they walked around outside. They had named her Lolita and as one staff member took the hummingbird feeders down to refill, she followed him and he let her lick the sugar water from the feeder. It was cute.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs, gallo pinto, little round toasts, fresh fruit and fresh tropical fruit juice. We decided to walk a couple of the trails around the lodge today and go with the birding guide tomorrow. So after breakfast we gathered our binoculars, cameras and rain coats, then chose a trail from the map they provided. It was raining a little and windy, but walking in the forest kept us fairly dry.

We saw several new birds and a hummingbird nest hidden under a banana leaf with two babies in it. Cicadas were singing and so were the birds. It was a very pleasant and relaxing walk on a very nice trail, although a tree had fallen over it at one point so we had to double back instead of completing the loop.

We returned for lunch at 12:30, and saw that a tour group of 12 people had arrived. The reserve owners, Señor Gonzalez and his wife, also ate lunch in the restaurant after greeting all the guests. After lunch, we chose another trail to explore, walking for around an hour. Then we returned to the room to read and relax.

After it got dark at 6pm, we walked in front of the restaurant and found Mario the birding guide. He was excited to show us the Black and White Owl perched high in a tree overhead. It evidently perches there often at sunset, but hadn’t been there last night. It was a beautiful bird and we got good looks through our binoculars. Fireflies were out again too.

Dinner was fish with really good tartar sauce, carrot and broccoli soup, mashed squash, herbed zucchini and a molded pudding for dessert. It was a relaxed and satisfying day.

We woke up with the birds again this morning, nearly an hour before the 6am sunrise. The instant hot water head for the shower proved to be finicky for me, so I took a cold and minimal shower. It was sunny by 7am when we walked up the hill for breakfast. As we ate, our guide from Friday, Alex, came in after guiding a French couple and he greeted us warmly. We returned to our cabin and packed up in preparation for a 9am pickup by a driver to take us to our next location, Bosque de Paz.

We were worried when the driver hadn’t shown up by 9:20, but he came a few minutes later, apologizing because he went to the wrong place in San Gerardo. Carlos helped us load up the large tourist van he was driving with our bags and we departed.

I was especially anxious that we depart on time because today was the day we had arranged to meet my longtime Costa Rican Spanish conversation partner, Yeinel, and his wife Laura. We were set to meet them for lunch at a San José restaurant at 11:45. It all worked out and we got there on time and Yeinel and Laura arrived soon after. We invited our driver Carlos to join us too.

We had a very pleasant lunch together, speaking nearly totally in Spanish. It was so very nice to meet Yeinel and his wife in person after talking to him via Skype for about 4 years. After lunch, we both drove to a nearby shop for some ice cream and a little more conversation. Then we said goodbye and Carlos, Stephanie and I got back in the van to continue the trip to Bosque de Paz.

The nature reserve of Bosque de Paz is northwest of San José and is located in a cloud forest at lower elevation than San Gerardo de Dota. It’s a private reserve, lodge and restaurant located quite a ways from any city or town. The temperatures are warmer and it’s more humid, resulting in different vegetation, birds, and animals than where we had last been. We were greeted by the owner, an older man. Immediately after we got settled in the room, we went outside and saw new birds, bugs and some agouti animals. Then after dark, while we were waiting for a 6:30pm dinner, we saw fireflies and pacas, which are bigger animals than agoutis. Our room was nicer than at Miriam’s too.

Dinner was very good: chicken with gravy, fries and green beans plus fresh juice and a pastry in syrup for dessert. There was only one other couple in the dining room, indicating that only two of the rooms have guests.

As I write this, we can hear frogs croaking outside our room in the small pond. Very relaxing!

Today, Saturday, we spent the day in and around the cabin at Miriam’s Quetzals. We woke up before sunrise, got dressed, and walked up the hill to the restaurant about 7am. We were the only ones there and took advantage of that to watch the birds at the feeders on the deck after eating. I took a video of the scene.

Returning to our cabin, we decided to hike the loop trail through the forest on the property and look for birds and animals. We saw three additional bird species that were new and some interesting animal scat. Just as we were returning to our cabin it started to rain.

We managed to mostly dodge the showers on our way up the hill again to eat lunch and return. We bought a few snacks at the mini market on the way back down. Then we spent the rest of the day in the cabin reading and resting. Dinner required another walk up hill to the restaurant, but it was no longer raining. We both enjoyed arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) that came with fries, salad and a dessert of half an ice cream sandwich each. It was a relatively restful last full day at Miriam’s in the cloud forest.

Overnight on Thursday, a dark and very quiet night resulted in a really great night’s sleep for both Stephanie and I, which made us really happy. We woke up at 5am to get ready for a birding trip with a guide named Alex who was going to pick us up at 5:30 to go and see the Resplendent Quetzal, a spectacular bird that many birders come to Costa Rica to see. Alex drove us down into the valley below Miriam’s several kilometers to a known spot for the quetzals. When we got there, all three of us were unhappy to see a crowd of people on the road already looking at the birds. But Alex parked a ways away from them and found both the male and female quetzals for us through his spotting scope. And they are beautiful birds! Google them to see a photo of the gorgeous long-tailed turquoise and red male.

Alex was a really great guide who spoke good English, was very knowledgeable about birds, plants and the area, and had lived in San Gerardo de Dota for more than 20 years. Plus, he was patient with our slow and mistaken Spanish as we used it for much of the conversations. He answered all our questions about birds, nature and living in Costa Rica.

We spent 2.5 hours birding in the valley and finding lots of birds that neither of us had seen before. Along the way, we also saw a small group of horses being herded on the road by a man in a pickup truck, which looked strange but worked well. They were being brought from their pasture to a place where tourists would be riding them on trails through the forest, according to Alex.

Stephanie and I also wanted to see birds in the páramo, the highest part of the mountains at about 12,000 feet of elevation. Alex had told us that viewing would be best there in late morning after the clouds burned off. So we ate breakfast with Alex at Miriam’s restaurant and then he drove us up to the páramo near Cerró de la Muerte. There we saw the Volcano Junco (a bird) and a couple others plus great views of the surrounding forested mountains and the high-altitude, low-growing vegetation. He returned us to Miriam’s about noon and after we thanked for a wonderful morning of birding, we bought ice cream bars at the mini market that Alex and his wife Liliana (daughter of Miriam) run.

We then spent the afternoon relaxing and talking in front of our cabin, reviewing the birds we had seen. For dinner, we walked up the hill to Los Colibríes Pizzaria, run by a friendly man named Victor who we had met the day before when we made the evening’s reservation. Los Colibríes means the hummingbirds in Spanish, and Victor had created a flower garden with a feeder to attract the birds in front of the restaurant. So we sat at a table next to the windows overlooking the garden to enjoy beer and pizza while watching the hummers. It was a very pleasant dinner.

As we walked back down the hill in the dark to our cabin, we wanted to spot Dusky Nightjar birds, owls, or other night creatures using our flashlights, but disappointedly we saw nothing. Back in the cabin, we heard what sounded like an owl outside. So we rushed outside with binoculars and flashlights to see if we could find the owl, only to encounter a man who apologetically said that he had been playing an owl recording to see if he could attract one to the area of our cabins. It was a funny moment since he had attracted us instead of the bird.