May 25, 2023

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Well we managed quite well to sleep under the mosquito netting. We actually used a light blanket because of the fan. Never did see a mosquito either.

Up at 5:15 but David heard the howler monkeys while dozing before that – thought it was wind kicking up! I forgot to mention that yesterday it did thunder around us at 4ish but must have jumped over this mountain – it never rained then. Yet the weather forecasts always say it’s raining, every day.

Just coffee and ½ nutrition bar before meeting Wendy at 6, though she also brought us 2 bananas. Hiked just down the road and across into the neighbor’s area, slowly and listening the entire way. The dogs came with us. We learned a lot from Wendy. She explained that they only spot birds in their natural habitat, not drawing them in with feeders, etc. (though we do love those feeders!!). 8 New birds from this Morning: roadside hawk – actually saw 2 of them; Mistletoe Tyrannulet; Common Tody Flycatcher (which also builds pendulous nests); Red-lored parrots; White-crowned parrots (you must see David’s photo of the parent feeding the 2 young ones, Southern Roughwing Swallow; Olive-throated Parakeet, Western Wood PeeWee (which sings pee – weeee, just like our Eastern one). There may even be one more.

We learned the trick to getting the solar-warmed water in the shower – last night was refreshing, to say the least, ha ha!

AFTER birding we returned for Dona Rita’s breakfast (her mom). Oh my, photo included just for you, Lucy, and if we keep eating these meals I don’t know what we’ll look like. Most Ticos are small people. How’s that happen? We couldn’t be late for breakfast, as Wendy said her mother was very picky about being on time. We suggested that “particular” might be the better, more complimentary word.

Breakfast: Cheese empanadas, my guess, cheese omelette, tons of fruit, 2 banana pancakes served with probably home-made strawberry jam, and fresh coffee made the drip through style they do here. We now have Tupperware containers of last night’s shrimp-fried rice, and another full one of fruit, 2 empanadas and a pancake! Evidently they buy special milk just for the tourists, as they drink milk from the goats, raw. We must buy some coffee if we want to make it other than breakfast.

After Wendy had milked the goats and fed the chickens, she walked us about 6 houses down the road to see where the Montezuma’s Oropendolas have their colony. They build hanging nests – we counted over 50 of them in one tree. They are pretty birds but sure move fast, and when they sat still they were in the shadow. We also saw a macaw, but David didn’t get a photo.

After a bit of a rest we had a 1 pm reservation at the Chocolate Tour. It was very informative. Who knew that cacao pods grew only at the trunks/large branches, and not at the “ends” of branches like most fruit. Of course it was the elixir of the gods restricted to shamans and nobility when the Spanish arrived, but modifications have been made since then, including adding sugar (remember, no sugar cane was natural to the Americas). We were the only 2 on this tour by Jayner. This company demonstrates how the chocolate is processed in the traditional way: pick the pods when they are exactly ripe (too long and they rot on the tree), open up and put the juicy seeds to dry (reminded us of the insides of tropical mangosteens), then they let it ferment for 7 days to bring out the natural sweetness, then ground in something like a meat grinder (I did this on a modified bicycle!!), and then you pour the schnitzles from a cup while creating a breeze to blow the chaff away. Then it’s ground finer in another meat grinder – and what comes out is very creamy. Evidently Mr. Lindt was the first person to “over” grind the cacao – by accident – thus creating an incredibly smooth chocolate. Evidently there’s more value in the cocoa butter than in the cocoa powder. Our guide was very critical of most chocolate manufacturers – who resort to chocolate flavoring. While we were there we also saw a green poison dart frog and a “Jesus Christ lizard” – so named because he can run across water, thanks to his very big feet.

After the coffee tour we stopped at the bank of the Sarapiqui river to observe more birds, including NEW ones: green kingfisher and Amazon kingfisher – a number of them!! And a gorgeous Russet naped Wood Rail. And a young man coming across the river in a metal cage because the bridge was out there!!! We watched some rubber rafts coming in at that spot too – the river is very very shallow and rocky from our bridge to that one. The Yellow-throated Toucans were everywhere - making so much noise, plus the gorgeous Scarlet rumped Tanagers.

So we are at AT LEAST 22 new life-birds. David's original guess was 40 and Jean's was 50. Wonder who will win!!!

By the way, the other fun sounds of the night are cicadas, and what we call Chi-Chas - the little lizards that crawl up walls and nettings.

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