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May 22:
Up at 4:30! Good thing the electricity was off only a few hours last night and we had packed up already.
We left the house early in the AM to drive to Columbus for our 10 am or so flight to C.R. We caught a shuttle, driven by very friendly man recently emigrated from Afghanistan. Flew to Hobby, Houston. Uneventful, but disappointing that the Pappadeaux Restaurant there had closed! But we did get to enjoy at least an hour of a stringed quartet playing in the concourse. We lucked out on that leg, keeping the seat in the middle free. Boy it was cold – must remember a jacket next time!
Compared to the first leg, the second one WAS eventful – lots of lightning and actually going around the ash from recent erupting volcano in Mexico! The steward was very funny, and boy could he speak fast in Spanish. The faithful Adobe people were there to pick us up, one hour late. Now the challenge – driving to our first Hotel Pibi Boreal in the dark in very narrow streets with deep storm drains! We could not have done it from the printed Google Maps
directions, so we thank the Good Lord for allowing us to access Google Maps. About a 20 minute drive. Lovely bright room with huge windows and door to veranda.
May 23:
Our hosts delivered a marvelous croissant/toast; variety of tropical fruit; jams; fresh coffee by 6:30. We had already walked the steep path down below – in fact it was getting light by 4:30 and the dawn chorus was in full voice then so we got up. Body time was 2 hours “later” anyway. It all tasted great out on the veranda. When our host heard where we intended to drive to see some birds, he said nothing but his eyes spoke volumes – you’re crazy!
Indeed, the first 50% or more of the drive was thru the tiny neighborhood streets, and very slow traffic, but we still made it in 1:30 hours. The second half was a “major highway,” where we paid the exorbitant toll of less than 50 cents. Sometimes 2 lanes in our direction, sometimes one. Lots of trucks as it’s the main road to the Caribbean coast.
Miguel (at Nectar and Pollen Reserve) was very welcoming and knew his stuff, even though
he’s only been seriously birding about 6 years. He walked us around and pointed out many hummingbirds, all attracted to his flowers and mimosa tree. The only feeders were bananas and papaya. We enjoyed a cup of coffee there too. So far we know for sure that we picked up 7 new life listers, but 2 more suspected, if we could get Merlin to identify the photos. After about 3 hours Jean was growing weary and we all 3 went to lunch at the nearby Argentinian “soda,” or café. Had the usual casada – rice, salad, black beans, and ribs. That and a water or soda each came to $28! Had to add a tip, good grief. We had a good conversation and we both got to practice our Spanish. We may have insulted Miguel when I asked if he was retired – after all, how are you so flexible as to meet us all day? But evidently being retired means drawing a pension, and he is only 54. He was shocked that David was 20 years advanced of that. Well, gray hair can do that.
The highpoint of the lunch was that they kept some goats there, and
one, a baby still, Tota, was begging like a naughty dog. I even got to feed her a bottle of quite hot milk (goat milk?) and a package of buttery crackers.
Got home by 4:00, thinking I’d get a little siesta but, no, had to walk the grounds and darn if we didn’t find a keel-billed toucan – the largest there is. Using Merlin to identify calls is very helpful! Dinner was just some cashews and a bar and leaving our left-over coffee in the freezer to be iced-coffee. And – our good fortune – it only rained a tiny bit as we left Miguels and then poured once we were sitting out on the veranda sorting through the photos.
For those who grow tired of BIRDS, just skip thru the photos starting with D - i tried to separate out the birds from flowers and insects and other stuff 😊
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