Whew, getting up at 2:30 to leave at 3:15 was a challenge, but the flights to Miami and then into San Jose were both uneventful. I read a book; David watched a movie. We arrived early and had no problems going thru immigration, etc. Costa Rica does not even require covid tests. We are traveling with Matt & Emily McClung and their children Lauren, 16, and Daniel, 12. This will be fun!
Matt had arranged for us to be picked up at the airport. It was a people mover van. The only thing was that the man was confused and thought it was just 4, not 6, but everyone fit in with the bags anyway. It only took about 20 minutes to reach our destination of Villa San Ignacio, which to my eyes is like a retreat center/resort. Our bedroom is like a hotel room with 1 bed; the McClungs has 2 sets of double beds I think, and they are in a different building. But the main building – no more than a few minutes walk from the rooms, has a restaurant for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, with bar, a play room with pool table and
The McClungs friend, a doctoral student theyve known for a long time, Fabian, came and spent the afternoon with us.
The grounds are extensive and we are so very excited by the birding possibilities. Some may be the same as weve seen in FL or TX, like the black vultures and tropical kingbird, but most are SO very different we can immediately say they are new. Wild and crazy colors. So far 4 new lifer birds for the Fells!
Its 2 hours behind Cleveland, so we will likely wake up very early tomorrow for some more birding and walking the trails, with better light. It did rain on and off late afternoon and evening, but we hardly noticed, but it would cramp our birding tomorrow if it continued.
We are being driven to the Pacific Coast tomorrow – over 4 hours away. Hopefully well have some stops. Everything is fascinating.
So, what have we observed? San Jose and the airport sit on a high mesa surrounded by mountains. Houses and schools like to be surrounded by high
walls topped by barbed wire. It was a bit disconcerting but and not meant to look like a prison! The drivers are pretty wild and the roads narrow, at least so far.
