I woke up at 5am to go birding with Kevin Martinez, Alex’s son, who received a degree in ecotourism from ITCR. This would give me an opportunity to chat about my ideas for the study abroad program and ask him about ecotourism/agritourism in the Sarapiqui area. It had rained intermittently during the night, but it was dry when we started. It did not stay dry for long.
At the entrance to the trail, a pair of Black-striped Sparrows were foraging. Without Kevin, I would have assumed they were Olive Sparrows and just moved on. Although they look very similar (genus Arremonops), the Black-striped has a grayish head (rather than beige) and a yellow patch on the wing. We did not get much farther when it started to drizzle. Then rain. And then torrent. It rained so hard, it turned a noun into a verb.
As we huddled under leaf cover, I was the first of five Crested Guans fly from their perch in one tree, across a wide open field and into another tree. Their black, crested silhouette against the fog and rain was eerie, but beautiful.
After only 30 minutes or so, Kevin headed back, but since water was already soaking through to my drawers, I pressed on. Nothing good came of this until the rain finally stopped. But when it did, anything relying on insects for sustenance had a field day. Tropical Pewee and Southern Rough-winged Swallow were numerous. I finally took the time to sort through the collection of flycatchers and noticed a Grey-capped Flycatcher perched next to a Social Flycatcher (both genus Myiozetetes, the former has a grey head, narrow white superciliary and pale eye, while the latter has a dark brown head, wide superciliary and dark eye). I also noticed several odd looking Yellowthroats. One had only black lores, instead of a black mask. Another had a black mask, but no white border. Although both birds are related to the Common Yellowthroat found in the United States (genus Geothlypis), the former was a Grey-crowned Yellowthroat and the latter was an Olive-crowned Yellowthroat.
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| Grey-headed Yellowthroat |
On the walk out, Kevin pointed out a Red-billed Pigeon in the distance, which did not interest me as I had already seen one and already had a bad picture taken from too far way. Coming back, I also noticed a large, plump bird on a distance branch across the field. Although it had a red bill, its chest was much more intricately patterned than what I remember from the Red-bill. Indeed, upon checking my guide, it was a Scaled Pigeon.
I was back to Andrea Cristina by 8 soaked to the bone. After a warmish shower and several cups of coffee, it was time to pack for the trip via bus to…well, I didn’t really know where. I kinda, sorta knew the general area and thought that would be enough. While I prepared for the next leg of the trip, I started chatting with Alex’s brother. I described my reason for visiting and he was quite interested. He owns a coffee roasting operation in British Columbia, and is preparing a proposal for environmental conservation projects funded by the Japanese government. Just by chance, I actually learned quite a lot about the conservation process in the country. It appears that most of the good work that actually gets done in the country is through the dedication and passion of individuals working with private donors and foreign governments. The result is patchwork progress that occurs often in spite of the Costa Rican government. Before leaving, I quickly emailed my contact at the Soltis Center, Eugenio Gonzalez, that I was coming by bus and would make my way to Finca Luna Nueva.
I walked to Puerto Viejo and ate lunch at Pollo Rico before catching a bus to San Carlos (aka Quesada). A highlight of the trip was driving past the church in Venecia where Rich Woodward was married (he met his wife while working in Peace Corps). In San Carlos, the wheels started to come off. I was exhausted. My Spanish was starting to fail me (it seems to get progressively worse over the course of the day as I get tired and my brain rebels). I went from bus to bus asking for Chachagua. I didn’t know if I was actually supposed to go to Chachagua, but it at least seemed in the general direction of what I wanted. A driver told me he did not go all the way to Chachagua, turning away at San Isidro. This name rung a bell, so I asked if Finca Luna Nueva was in San Isidro. He respond, “Yo creo, yo creo.” This is all I needed to hear. I paid my 500colones ($1) and happily exclaimed “San Isidro!”
Of course, there were no seats available, so I stood. On my Google maps app, San Isidro did not correspond to the junction I saw in my guidebook. This worried me. As we drove out of town, it did not take long for us to disappear onto a part of the map with no roads. It was just me and a lonely blue arrow moving through emptiness. I did not know where I was going or how I was getting there or really where in the hell I was at the moment. Fun.
People started to get off the bus. Then more people. And I kept waiting for us to get onto a Googleable road. And I kept hoping to see a sign for the Finca. None of this happened. Instead, I moved to another part of the bus for a better view. The driver quickly pulled over and came to the back of the bus, “San Isidro, si?” When I responded, “Si,” he replied with something that obviously meant, we passed that long ago. We actually were only 3km outside of town and I quickly found a cab that knew precisely where I needed to be. Saving only cost me 4000colones ($8), but it took nearly 5 hours to cover the distance between Puerto Viejo and the Soltis Center, 126 miles.
The finca called Eugenio, who came and picked me up. The Soltis Center is impressive, both in design and location. I was quickly settled in and walked around the grounds. Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds were active in nearly every flowering plant, but a smaller hummingbird stood out and I eventually captured a Violet-headed Hummingbird.
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| Violet-headed Hummingbird |
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