Author: lori977987136

Today, Monday, was a day with no scheduled walks, no plans. In the sunny morning before breakfast, we walked up the rocky dirt road into Braulio Carillo National Park to see what was there. Eight Great Green Macaws flew overhead during the walk and we learned later from Jeremy that there are only eight of the endangered birds in this area, so we saw the whole population at once. We also saw an open space in the park’s forest where almond trees had been planted for the birds, their favorite species of tree.

We returned to the dining area for a great breakfast of scrambled eggs with spinach and peppers, sausage, croissant, carmelized plantain slices, yogurt and juice . While we were eating, a pair of Great Curassows walked within view, which was a treat because we had been hearing the male but hadn’t seen them yet.

We sat in the wifi area to read email and news, then returned to our cabins to rest and enjoy the sounds of the forest. I saw three howler monkeys high in the trees outside my cabin plus a White Collared Manakin bird snapping its wings to court females. And there was the frequent sounds of droning cicadas.

Several more guests are coming this afternoon. The dinner tables are already set, at 2pm, for fourteen people. Stephanie and I will eat dinner here tonight and then repack, preparing to leave tomorrow morning for our next location.

I slept pretty well under the bed net in the rainforest last night. As usual, I awoke early to prepare to look for birds. We had requested to go on a 6am bird walk this morning, so I prepared for that: bug spray, sunscreen and boots for the muddy road. Jeremy, the guide, led Stephanie and I and three others down the very rocky road we had come up yesterday after the car was unstuck. We saw a few new birds.

After 90 minutes we returned and ate breakfast in the dining room. The other guests eating with us included three Germans, a man from the Netherlands and his Canadian girlfriend.

Then at 9:30, we joined Jeremy again for a 3-hour nature walk on a trail on the grounds. It was a lot of steep trails, with Jeremy always leading and looking for snakes. There are venomous snakes here, including the aggressive and deadly fer-de-lance (terciopelo in Spanish), so we were happy to let him go first. But we didn’t see any snakes. Mostly frogs, birds, and trees that Jeremy explained for us.

Stephanie and I were the only ones at lunch, which is an extra charge outside of included meals. Then we took advantage of the wifi being available and few people around to do some internet stuff, including this blog. We have nothing else planned for the day except dinner and, hopefully, another restful night in our cabins.

We started our Saturday in a leisurely fashion, although we still got up around 5am. We took showers and packed our bags because it was time to move to our next location: Yatama Eco Lodge. We enjoyed our last breakfast at Chilamate and another walk around the grounds. We checked out around 10:30am and a Chilamate staff member loaded our suitcases into a wheelbarrow for the departure through the horse pasture and across the wooden planked bridge to the parking/pickup area. Pedro, the owner of Yatama Eco Lodge was due to pick us up at 11.

He came in an old Isuzu 4×4 and we loaded our bags and departed for the first part of the trip. We drove for about 25 to a restaurant named Palmitour, which specializes in dishes made from hearts of palm. There, we met Stephanie’s Spanish teacher, Carlos, and his girlfriend Alejandra. We enjoyed a 2-hour lunch and conversation, mostly in Spanish, with them. Then we rejoined Pedro in his 4×4 for the remaining 40-minute trip to Yatama.

The narrow, private dirt road from the town of Horquetas was very rough, steep and slick from rain. We picked up a German couple along the way, who were going to Yatama too, because they were reluctant to drive their rental 4×4 up the road. It was so rough, rocky and slick, the car had a hard time. And then we got stuck, jammed on the edge against a grassy bank. Pedro tried to get the truck out for 15 minutes, but he wasn’t successful. And he didn’t have a phone to call for help. He sent the German couple to walk the remaining kilometer up the road to ask for help. Then I remembered I had my burner phone and a Costa Rican SIM card that could call. Pedro used that to call someone for help. One of his employees drove another 4×4 down from the lodge and pulled the Isuzu out. Yay, we could finish the trip!

Stephanie and I are in separate cabins in the rainforest. There are bed nets, wooden walkways between cabins, and a dining room that’s separate. Internet is very limited, so there may not be photos in my blog entries for a few days.

We had a good dinner of fish, then went on a night walk with Pedro and another guide and the German couple, where we saw a tarantula, eyelash viper and one other snake, and more bullet ants. I stepped on a leaf-cutter ant trail and had many ants crawling on me, but they didn’t bite, thankfully.

Afterwards, we went to sleep in our cabins in the very dark but noisy jungle.

We had no plans for today, Friday, but we still woke up near sunrise, hearing birds and howler monkeys. Before breakfast, we walked out to the road to see what birds might be there. Then about 7:30am, we went to the breakfast buffet for a satisfying breakfast that included lots of fresh fruit, pastries and gallo pinto. We spent the morning and much of the afternoon lounging around, either on our second floor deck, next to the river, or near the dining room, finding a few new species of birds too. Chilamate has been a great place for birds.

In late morning there was a downpour that lasted maybe 15-20 minutes, with water streamed off the corrugated metal roofs of the buildings and walkways,

As an aside for insect lovers, there are a few pathways for leaf-cutter ants on the grounds at Chilamate. Here’s one of them:

Before dinner we went to the bar to get a bottle of Imperial beer for each of us, the Costa Rican national beer. Then we helped ourselves to another delicious buffet dinner that included two salads, chicken and fish, rice, vegetables, beans and very sweet pineapple for dessert.

As we walked back to our room, we could hear something calling from the forest that we hadn’t heard before. When we asked the Merlin app to analyze the sound, it told us it was a Crested Owl, which was exciting for us. Then we returned to the room and noticed it was noticeably hotter and/or more humid suddenly, which was similar to what we had experienced last night before it poured down rain. It will be interesting to see if it rains overnight.

Yesterday, Thursday, Stephanie and I were up before sunrise again after a very warm and humid night. We ran our two room fans all night, blowing directly on us, to be able to sleep. We could hear some distant howler monkeys and nearby birds upon waking.

We had scheduled a bird walk to start at 6am, before breakfast, so we got dressed, geared up with binoculars, cameras and water, then walked to the reception area of the lodge to meet our guide. He was an older gentleman named Jaime, a native of Sarapiquí. We began our walk together on the retreat grounds, then next to the river and on a dirt road that led to a rural residential area. Jaime was a wonderful guide whose English was very good and his knowledge of birds, other animals, and the area was extensive. Over the next two hours, we saw 47 bird species and learned a lot about natural things in the area. All of it was accomplished at a very slow, leisurely pace in the 80+ degree heat and humidity. After we returned to Chilamate grounds, Stephanie and I ate breakfast from the buffet. Jaime, who had stayed around on the grounds while we ate, then showed us where he had found some small white bats sleeping under a large leaf, which was very interesting to see. He also explained about the tiny, colorful poison dart frogs that are plentiful on the grounds of Chilamate. They’re poisonous to eat or lick, but not to touch.

Stephanie and I spent the afternoon on the deck outside our room, looking at birds, horses in the adjacent field, and taking short walks around the ground. In the afternoon it reached more than 85 degrees and very high humidity under partly cloudy skies. When there wasn’t a breeze it was very hot. My phone’s weather app said it felt like 100 degrees due to the humidity and I’d agree. Chilamate doesn’t serve lunch and there aren’t other restaurants within a short walking distance, so instead we snacked on cookies, fruit and chocolates that we had on hand.

After a 6:30 dinner, we met our second guide of the day, Jon, who took us on a night walk through the trails on the grounds of Chilamate. He is a young herpetologist who is very enthusiastic about snakes, lizards and such. He walked up to meet us with a very slender long brown snake. Great way to immediately grab our attention. It wasn’t a poisonous but both of us declined his invitation to hold it. Thankfully, we didn’t see any other snakes during our walk through the jungle. We did see two different species of opossums, many lizards, spiders and frogs, a mouse balancing on fence wire, and bullet ants which can sting very painfully. We also heard two different calls of a Great Potoo, a nocturnal bird, which were very cool to hear. But it was so hot and humid during the walk, I was mostly thinking of how nice a cold shower would be. We finished the interesting and enjoyable walk after two hours.

In our room afterwards, we showered and went to bed. Moments later, it started to pour rain on our metal roof and the rain continued for much of the night. We were so lucky that it had held off until after our walks!