Monteverde bird tour

---

I like walking around places on my own... reading tour guide books, exploring, reading maps - so when my daughter told me she had met a guy named Freddy on her previous trip to Monteverde, and that he did bird tours for $25 a person, I was a little skeptical.

I'm not a birder. I'm not really into trying to identify lots of birds. But I did make a major effort to see the elusive quetzal in Guatemala years ago. I wanted my wife to see one. Sunia saw three quetzals when she went with Freddy, so I agreed to the plan.

In Monteverde, the "touts" meet every bus, "helping" tourists find accommodations. As we emerged from the bus, tired, sore, hungry, thirsty, and just wanting to get to Don Tacos... there was Freddy, greeting the folks getting off the bus, trying to get them to come to stay at his hostel, Tina's Cabinas. (Why isn't it "Freddy's Cabinas"? - I don't know... maybe because it is still in some tour books as Tina's???) Freddy saw Sunia and the scene that ensued was reminiscent of Times Square on VE day. I love the effusiveness of Costa Ricans, but for a papa those hugs with daughters sometimes seem to go on a little long!

After extracting ourselves - he was hurt that we weren't staying with him, but I'm just a little too soft to go with a cold water hostel when I could have Don Taco's for $50 for three - we agreed to call him the next day to arrange a bird tour.

Early in the morning of our second day, Freddy picked us up, along with a man from Canada, and drove us out to see birds. First he took us to see hummingbirds. We then attempted to see quetzals - we heard them, but could never see these elusive sacred birds with the extraordinary colors and long tail feathers. We then went several places and watched birds.

This convinced me of the value of a local guide. Freddiy had good binoculars for all of us. He had a good telescope. He knew where to go and how to keep us engaged. One of the places we spent some time was basically the back yard of one of the hotels I had looked at on the internet. I could have sat in that yard for a day and probably would have seen three birds. Instead, with Freddy's help, we saw dozens of different kinds of birds.

I was able to get a few pictures through Freddy's telescope. My favorite was the Trogon... a relative of the quetzal... some of the bright coloring but not the long tail. And, of course, the green and the black toucans were special. At one point, my wife asked if we might see a sloth. Freddy thought a second, walked us about 90 seconds down the road, and set up his telescope. There was a sloth! A few minutes later, as we walked up the road, he looked up at a gigantic tree right on the road with a huge side branch. He set up the scope... there was a mama sloth with a baby on her back. Just too cool.

If you go to Monteverde, find Freddy when one of the buses arrives or at Tina's cabinas. His guiding is truly a "value-added" experience!

---