Nov 1: we drive 155 miles to Tamarindo today. should be about a 5-6 hour drive. Well it took us 5.5 hours. Of course there was rain and very slow moving trucks on a one lane highway. We stopped twice for about 15 mins but the rain was relentless until we arrived at the condo.
The condo was still getting cleaned so we went to lunch at Cala Luna Hotel. Wonderful sea bass tacos.
Walked the beach then carried all of our "stuff" up to the 5th floor, (elevator). parking is covered.
Unpacking did not take too long as we only have 3 suitcases and one of them was filled with dirty clothes. So started a load of laundry! took awhile to figure out the A/C. Enjoyed sitting on the balcony.
Sun Nov 2: our big trip today was 2 miles to the grocery store, We found the fitness center here at the condo, walked to the estuary where we found a few birds. And a fun little bar. Temps are 75-85 with 75 degrees dew points.
Crazy looking squirrels...
Groved Billed Ani
Got our 1000 life bird in the World today!
We had heard what we thought was a dog howling with a very sore throat from our balcony this morning. But on our morning walk we found this Mantled Howler monkey hanging on the wires! He was the one calling! or Howling!!!
We found one of our nemesis birds! The Mangrove Cuckoo (we looked in Florida many times for this elusive bird....
Tues: Today we walked to Tamarindo beach, which is more sand less rocks. Also where most of the surfers and people hang out. We walked the beach to the end then took the road back to the condo. We met a tour operator that will take us by boat into the estuary tomorrow. Our walk was about 4 miles today..
Dinner at Langosta Beach Club. Tables right on the beach, great food, good service and wonderful
people watching.
Full Beaver Moon at night
next morning
Wed Nov 6; after our short morning walk to the beach we headed into town. We had a boat ride scheduled for 11:00 (high tide). Not too many birds but a fun 2 hour ride on the river.
Palm Tanager from our balcony
back to the grocery store since we were so close then pool time. Pura Vida!!!
Beach day on Thursday, we walked to Tamarindo beach where it is less rocky. it was about a 10 min walk. brought our lunch and enjoyed a quiet morning lazing around...
Rufus backed wren eating breakfast
Friday we head to Flamingo Beach, it's only 16 miles but expected to take us about an hour to get there. we did it in under 40 minutes as the traffic was going the other way. Beautiful beach, we walked the road as it had trees on both sides with a number of birds.
Mangrove Warbler
We went to the marina expecting to see some water birds but no luck.
We really like the pool in the afternoon (2-4 pm) right now. assuming it will begin to get crowded as the month wears on.
Sat: we headed into the middle of the peninsula, as we have been walking along the beaches all week. We found a delightful wooded area with so many birds!
Dinner at Surf Club, my hamburger and Eric's shrimp burger were beyond expectations. Service was great and of course the food was outstanding. one week down, 3 to go here on the coast.
Mon Nov 11:
a drive to Playa Grande for a walk through the woods and onto the beach
We stopped at two grocery stores then lunch at the Witches Rock. Eric had the traditional meal while I had the shrimp rice. Both were very good
these 3 on the branch (actually 4, as the one on the left has a baby to her breast)
We took an afternoon walk to the beach. I actually finally got my feet wet!
Thurs we went to Fish and Cheese for a delightful dinner! ran into our neighbors while there.
pasta and clams
Friday we got up at 4:30 to catch some early morning birds in town. too far to walk that early, took the car, found a few new ones but no owls!
good day to hang by the pool, we pretty much own it until about 3:00 when a few loud mouths show up, but we are ready to head upstairs.
collection of different beers
fireworks off of our balcony
found a new place to walk on Saturday, up the hill on a wooded road.
monkey ladder??
and then went to the Tamarindo airport to look for the Double Thick-Knee, took us awhile but we found one then the cattle was running through the fields and kicked up 6 more!
I was in the car already! afraid we were going to get stampeded by these crazy cattle!
Monday we went to Tandoor, an Indian restaurant. the food was fabulous. especially the homemade lemonade!
rice fields for lots of birds
Tuesday Nov 19: we drove about 30 miles (1.5 hrs) to the north to some rice fields. Lots and lots of birds! got a few lifers! including the Jubarui, but no picture... it was hot and sunny and of course forgot the sunscreen. we walked about 1.5 miles around the fields. The drive back took over 2 hours as we had to go past a cemetery where there was a funeral, so stop and go traffic for about 45 minutes
Thurs we headed south to Nosara. A cute lodge that has access to a Biological Reserve. It took 2+ hours to go 40 miles, 2 hours for our bird walk with a guide and 2+ hours to get back home! Except for the pot hole ridden roads it was a great journey.
We got two new year birds but no Lifers...
striped flycatcher
Fri we walked around the hood! no more driving for a few days.
For dinner we went to Nougi's Restaurant on the beach. We got there in time to see the sun set with everyone else on the peninsula! Food and service were both good, view fantastic
Sat we took a 4+ mile walk around the area, needless to say we were a bit worn out. A little nap, a little pool time and then off to town to have a pizza. We really enjoy our condo and the surrounding area. Very easy to walk anywhere, lots of restaurants and of course the beach. the weather has been about 85 in the day to 75 at night with high dew points. We do get a nice breeze on our balcony and of course always jumping in the pool is an option to cool down.
Turquoise browed Motmot
We have a little over a week left in this part of Paradise. People are friendly, weather is great, (at least for this month), great food, great birding and so comfortable. We are getting the hang of grocery shopping, we have a few stores that we found that has what we need. Prices are a bit higher than at home on most items and gas for the car is about $5 a gallon. of course we don't drive too far but it takes at least 60 minutes to go 20-25 miles.
Mon Nov 24, our final full week here on the coast begins this morning. Need to clean out the fridge, not much in there but we don't need to bring cold stuff from one house to the other. We will do a Walmart and grocery store run when we get to Liberia and closer to the house.
orange fronted parakeet
Disaster on the beach today! as we were walking the beach my right shoe fell apart! What! my Keens are at least 30 years old and good for water and sand shoes. Gonna need to find some super glue to see if I can repair them. Not sure if we want to order anything from Amazon down here... I have a hard time getting packages in Wisconsin! I am still missing a package that was supposed to arrive in Sept. I am sure it's out there somewhere! maybe by the time we get home in April it will show up!
met a new neighbor,Tim who is a resident here but comes from Houston. We had a nice chat in the pool.
Lunch at Little Lucha's. wonderful tacos and great service!
Happy Thanksgiving! 4 full days left to enjoy the coast. We did get my shoes fixed, got some Locktite at the hardware store. Everything is good again!
The trade winds have been playing havoc on our sitting on the balcony. the ceiling fan (on the balcony) lost a blade while the wind was blowing really hard. Eric managed to get it back together with a bit of swearing. the bedroom balcony seems to be slightly blocked from the winds so we can still sit out.
Saturday. 2 more full days here on the coast. We have become accustomed to the weather, walking and restaurants. will miss them but... we need to check out a new area.
we can not get enough of monkeys!
beach in the morning, we found some shade to lay under, the tide was at its highest for the morning so we did not have to worry about moving. pretty quiet, as we owned that part of the beach. a few walkers but no swimmers, surfers etc. had our lunch on the beach then went back to to the condo for a proper nap! dinner at the Surf Club was shrimp. been packing a bit more stuff...
Sunday Nov 30: our final full day on the coast. we really do like this area and the weather in November. Our pool was pretty empty the last few days. We do enjoy having the pool to ourselves. So our condo is on the 5th floor. there are 6 apartments on each floor (except for the 7th which has a penthouse). We have owned the 5th floor, never had a neighbor on our floor. assuming the others do not rent out? won't show up until next month or later? It's a very quiet building, comfortable furniture, of course it needs updating but what doesn't? we would stay here again...
Packing is not as difficult as it was at home. We just take everything we brought, no questions about "do you really think we are going to need this?" Dinner on the beach, I tried the Caiprinah (the national drink of Brazil). it was pretty good and refreshing. we split a hamburger that was really good and wonderful fries!
our birding has gone well, we missed a few birds that we will not get anywhere else but that's okay. so far we got 98 new Costa Rica life birds and 33 world life birds. and 126 year birds. a bit confusing but all in all we are doing pretty good!
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