We started the morning with breakfast and a walk on the beach. Normally this would have been a rest day, but we decided to venture out and have our last day be at the beach. So off we went to the Carara National Park to see the Scarlet Macaw(parrots). As we entered the town of Parrita, there was a policeman in the road flagging us to go over to the side of the road. This was a bit scary, especially when we noticed the large machine gun strapped across his chest, but he was very nice and asked for my passport. When I asked what I had done wrong, it became clear that he did not speak much English. He said something in Spanish that sounded like it was just routine, and sent us on our way. Very tense moment!

When we got to Carara, we hired a guide to take us though the park. This helped both of us to enjoy the experience, as I am a bit nervous in the forest (extremely jumpy). Enriqué was our private guide. We saw many birds, a baselisk lizard, and a little tiny Stripe-throated Hermit Humming Bird that lives on the ground and chirps beautifully. Here we definitely needed the guide’s super magnified sighting scope. The iPhone camera was not able to get many of the pictures. So our regular camera was needed. Unfortunately that means no pictures of the monkeys or Scarlet Macaw until we get back and can upload to the computer. But I was able to get a picture of a Ghost Bat and some scenery.

After the tour we headed to the Tárcoles Bridge where the crocodiles hang out. This was quite a sight. There were many (Bill counted 40) giant crocodiles lounging in the sun. As we headed back to the car, we heard a screech. When we looked up, we saw three Scarlet Macaw flying across the river valley. This was incredible to see. (No picture, unfortunately) They were so fast, we just enjoyed the sighting.

We stopped for dinner at a place that overlooks Hermosa Beach and then headed back to see the sunset. Great day!

Monkey on Bill’s head

This is one of the cute videos we took on the mangrove tour. Please leave a comment to let us know if it works.

Thank!

Having a great time!

Went on a tour of the mangroves today. It was a perfect morning to be on the boat. We saw many different kinds of birds: blue herons, great blue herons, kingfishers, egrets, osprey, sandpipers and many others that we can not remember the names of. A large boa constrictor, yellow in color, was in one of the trees(picture included). Can you see it? The amazing part was the white-faced capuchin monkeys. There were a number of them in the mangrove trees. Not only did one monkey like our camera, but he also sat on Bill’s head! It was so cute!

We saw many baselisks, which are called, “Jesus Christ lizards”, because they can walk on water. Actually, they can run sixty feet on the surface of water without sinking.

Bill had a massage today! We both walked the beach and swam in the pool. I finished by book today, and continued with one I had started before the Holidays. Watched the sunset and stalked a crab. Overall, a great day! More new adventures tomorrow!

Today we drove to the town of Uvita. Beautiful drive through this area (1 1/2 hrs). This area is mostly African Oil Palm tree plantations. The orange-red fruit is harvested and transported by cart pulled by the oxen. Heading back, we stopped at the hippy town of Dominical. The one place Bill can wear his tied-dye and fit in (walking the streets we noticed he forgot to wear it). We have traveled to many places outside the USA, most have been English-speaking, with most posted information also written in English, but not so here. We are starting to think that maybe a lot of US tourists do not come to this part of Costa Rica. It has been so amazing that Bill has been able to figure out what they are saying with just what he learned of Spanish before we left home. Next, we took a little side trip up a mountain 3 minutes on an unpaved road with hairpin turns to a restaurant at the top that Bill had read about that had great hot sugar cane wings. Got to the top after some bumpy rocks and the place was closed.:( But the view was awesome. Our next stop was the Hacienda Barú National Wildlife Refuge. First stop there was lunch. Then we walked the trails to the beach. We started down the trail, and coming across the path was an incredible line of ants, miles long, carrying cut leaves. Then we heard noises in the trees. Looking up, to our wondrous surprise, we saw monkeys. I was so excited! We watched them for a long time. As we continued along the path, I was frightened many different times by small animals scurrying across the trail. As we got closer to the beach, I could hear the surf and I knew we would make it out alive. We came across a turtle hatchery, just as a lizard was running across the top of it. We finally made it back to our car, hot, sweaty and ready to head back to the resort. We again had an amazing sunset! What an awesome day. Tomorrow is a rest day… so excited! 🙂