Tuesday 15th November - Cocktails Included

First the answer to yesterday's homework.

Commiserations to all of you who leapt to the wrong conclusion.

Today we are moving on to the Pacific Coast but before we depart there is an appointment with the birds. It's a bit wet and misty but the birds are not deterred. We spend half an hour on the balcony watching the endless tooing and froing of Melodious Blackbirds, Great Kiskadees, Tanagers of all different colours and varieties and a striking newcomer, the Baltimore Oriole.

To us it seems a bit strange to name a bird after a rounders team but that's Merka for you.  La senora de la casa tells us that she has never seen one of these on the Arenal Lodge feeders before but our book suggests that they are common migratory visitors to Costa Rica. We tell her the name and she mis-hears, thinking that we have said Oreo, and wants to know why the bird is named after a cookie. (Trans : biscuit)

Breakfast is at a table overlooking the bird feeder tables and the action never stops. We have enjoyed our stay even if the weather has been a bit damp. Best bit of all was our private Humming Bird, who perched just outside our room between forays. These tiny birds need to collect nectar fom 2,000 flowers daily which keeps them busy.

We are on the road by 08.00 and on the way down to the gate have a close encounter with one of the woozley things but it doesn't hang around for a photo. Our tour organiser has recommended a route that goes east back into La Fortuna and then south. Our guide book recommends the drive west along the side of Lake Arenal and we can then pick up the Pan-American Highway to head south east, more or less parallel to the Pacific Coastline. We go west.

 For the first 60 km we follow Route 142, the only major road that there is. The weather steadily improves. In the first town we come to D decides to refuel the car.  We cannot remember the last time there was a pump attendant at a filling station at home. D had a summer job as one in 1972 and even then it was a bit of an anachronism. It is lucky that there is an attendant here as D has no idea how to open the fuelling flap but the chap has no problem finding the required lever. D has spent the last 10km learning the phrase " Lleno por favor, gasolina regular".  This works surprisingly well and the tank is topped up with the required type of petrol. At around £1.15 per litre fuel here seems like a bargain.

We may not have mentioned that our Mitsubishi came complete with a Wi-fi gadget that seems to connect in most places that we go. As we get towards the Pan-American Highway we switch on the map app and invite Gertie Google to provide directions. She promises us a route that has no tolls and which will avoid a blockage on Route 1. D immediately signs up for toll free travel but is a bit dismayed when Gertie directs us to continue straight on under the highway onto a narrow but serviceable road. She then trills "Turn left onto Sea Canal Sewer." We pass a dirt road on the left and immediately get recalibration noises. We drive on for about half a mile with regular suggestions that we turn left into fields. Eventually D sees somewhere to pull over so that the map can be consulted. 

R immediately spots a bird in a tree and goes to get a closer look. D checks the map, decides to turn round and then looks up to see a Grackle on the verge in front of the car. The photo through the windscreen isn't too bad and makes up for R not spotting anything in the tree. As we approach Sea Canal Sewer again Gertie gets very insistent so we give it a try. As dirt roads go it is not too bad and quite wide. At regular intervals there are 40 kph speed limit signs. After a couple of km we close up behind a big truck which comes to a stand at a barrier. A uniformed man from a hut by the barrier comes out and starts spraying the wheels of the truck. R sees a sign which suggests that we are at the entrance to some kind of fish farm. The man in uniform comes to speak to us and despite No habla Ingles he persuades us that there is no access to Route 1. His demeanour suggests that we are not the first.

We find our way back to Route 1 which is just a linear building site, more like Pan-American than Highway. Kids ask your grandparents. The traffic keeps moving most of the time in our direction but there are some horrendous northbound queues, presumably all of the people heading from South America to Texas in order to fulfill Republican dreams. In due course we turn off Route 1 and take a road along the coast to Tarcoles. This goes quite well until we arrive at a tollbooth and have to scrabble around for change. No tip for Gertie today.

 Our hotel is well signposted and Gertie tells us to turn left off the main road, then announces that we have arrived at our destination. This is clearly untrue. There is nowhere to turn round so we drive on for half a km or so until we see the gateway to our hotel. Our journey today was 213km. At this point the heavens open. Villa Lapas is on a bigger scale than any of our previous digs in Costa Rica but it doesn't seem too busy. By the time we have checked in and had our room allocated the rain has eased. We get our bags sorted and then set out to recce our excursions for the next two days. These are both quite close but it does set the mind at rest to know where we need to go at stupid o'clock.

Back at Villa Lapas we take a turn around the grounds. There are not too many birds to see but we hear Macaws overhead. When we opt for a cocktail at the bar we are stunned to lesrn that our inclusive deal includes meals, beer, wine and cocktails. And we only have two nights here.

Adios. Hasta luego!