Friday 18th November - The Real Macaw (Director's Cut)

Before turning in last night R had decided to skip today's early morning birdwalk to give her ankle a bit of rest.

Therefore it is D, and D alone, to blame for the fact that he slept through the alarm and did not wake until a few minutes after six. A quick scramble to dress etc gets him to the rendezvous where Roberto, today's guide is waiting patiently. The birdwatching gets underway without delay as a Toucan is pointed out in a large tree above the car park as well as a small troop of Aracaris.

We move away from the buildings and the spots come thick and fast. Roadside Hawk, several small Woodpeckers, agutis, a couple of White-nosed Coatis (Woozles) that refuse to stay still for photos, and a Green Iguana with a bright orange head. Roberto's eyesight is amazing as he picks out a Crested Caracara on a distant tree as well as Brown Jay. A couple of pairs of Scarlet Macaws fly overhead and he says that he hopes we will see them in a tree soon but it is not to be. We move onto a section of track that has been planted to attract Hummingbirds and there are a few busily moving from flower to flower. Noises from some tall trees call us and we see the troop of Fire-billed Acaris that were above the car park earlier. This is a different species to the one we saw at Tortuguero.

It is now getting rather warm and Roberto explains that the birds tend to hide from the heat so it is probably time to head back. Onthe way his eagle eyes spot a Capuchin monkey high up in a tree.

When D gets back to our chalet R is ready for breakfast. We have become very used to eating under a roof that has no walls here in CR, provides shelter from sun and rain, lets the breeze through and allows one to hear the birdsong. The breakfast omelette here is a world beater. Avocado should be compusory in omelettes.

R's ankle looks quite a bit better this morning and we take a stroll around the gardens to test it without any ill effects. Roberto was right about the birds hiding from the sun. We see a single aguti, the mammal a bit like an overgrown ginger guinea pig. We decide to do the tourist thing and head into Dominical, the nearest town, which has a reputation as a surfers' hangout. It is busy but we find a parking spot at the top end of the Main (only) Street and take a stroll. We soon spot some kind of Craft Market and we head in. There are lots of men with ponytails,  blond children and exotic food stalls. R decides that she has finally found the Haight-Ashbury that we were a couple of decades too late for in 1998.

D considers us to be very fortunate to have only bought one pair of earrings before we leave. We continue down to the tourist tat market on the street behind the beach. D is forbidden from adding a Pura F*/%#^* Vida t-shirt to his collection, not that he has any intention of so doing. It is R's turn to drive today so D is allowed a beer at lunchtime. We find a brew pub with the bar aloft on stilts among the trees and the brewery on the ground floor below. The beer keg light fittings should win some kind of award.

There is a nice atmosphere with some ska type music and thd service is excellent. So good that one beer becomes two and we order a bowl of patacones with mashed beans, guacamole and chopped tomatoes.  A bit like nachos sin carne o queso. We ask about patacones which are fried plantains that are squashed flat then fried again. Our waitress, Fernanda, carefully writes out the cooking instructions for us. Now we just need to find plantains in West Lothian.

After lunch it clouds over a bit and cools down. R feels fit enough to do a bit of walking and we set out to see if there are still humming birds where D saw them this morning. A few hundred metres along the track we see a brown hawk like bird that we have not seen before. As we watch we become aware of debrris falling out of a nearby tree. We move on a little and spot four Scarlet Macaws in an almond tree. New pairs keep flying in and there are at least ten birds in the one tree. We've already posted a close up so here's what they look like in bulk.

It starts to rain and we congratulate ourselves on having brought umbrellas. We move on to the humming bird alley and a few of them are braving the rain.

Eventually the rain gets harder and we beat a retreat. Time to pack, which is complicated as tomorrow we are going to a place only accesible by boat and we are urged to travel light. Ha ha. The rain eases again and we get some more time in the pool. To satisfy our reader here is a picture of said pool. Our cabin is the furthest away one on the right.

Supper is splendid particularly as it comes with a complimentary glass of Malbec. We haven't been drinking much wine lately so this is a treat. As we finish supper it begins to rain hard and this time we haven't got brollies so we get a bit damp. It is still raining at 4 a.m.