02/10/26 – Just get us someplace warm!
This morning we bid farewell to the cool, misty mountainous jungles of Costa Rica as we head downhill to the amazing beach town of Quepos. Along the way, we stopped a couple of times to see amazing sights. Our first “holy cow!” moment was when the bus pulled over to let us gawk at a (Monte) Python in a tree along the road. NObody expects a python! The story apparently was that a nearby farmer caught the snake near his chickens and relocated him to the tree. We obtained this information by tying a (dish) rack to the farmer and hitting him with pillows.
The next “even holier cow!” moment was when we pulled over to see a Resplendent Macaw! And resplendent he was. All red and yellow and blue. He was magnificent!
We made it down to our hotel in time to go kayaking in a mangrove forest. We had a burrito lunch on the muddy island before making our way up the slow-moving river. We started off at a fishing town where there were dozens of black vultures and frigate birds looking for throwaways. They were not disappointed. We also saw some white ibises, an osprey and some herons. The guide explained the importance of the different species of mangroves and how they can survive in these brackish waters. Since the river flows to the ocean, and the ocean rises and falls with the tides, there is an area of mixed saltwater and freshwater at the junction. These mangroves are great at filtering the saltwater and also stabilizing the soil which is extremely muddy as it absorbs the water.
In the evening, we took a nighttime boat trip into another mangrove forest. There we also saw sleeping pygmy kingfishers, crocodiles, bullfrogs, Jesus Christ lizards (so named because of their ability to walk on water!), a turtle, a green heron, a duck-billed heron, and a kinkajou. After that trip, we had a nice dinner provided by the tour provider.
All in all, it was a nice, yet long, day!
02/11/26 – La Cucaracha! La Cucaracha!
We got up in the morning and had to walk to the bus stop to catch a ride to Manuel Antonio National Park. Dave was lolly-gagging in the room, thinking we were meeting at 7:50 am. With 10 minutes to go, Kathy reminded Dave that we were meeting at 6:50, and if he wanted to brush his teeth, get dressed, and get packed, he might want to start soon. Rushing around like a hedgehog, Dave threw on his sneakers as he was headed out the door. His left foot felt a little larger than usual, but he thought he might have picked up a stone. He would take care of it later. After getting seated on the standing-room only bus, Dave felt the “stone” wiggling. Detective Dave concluded that the “stone” might be something else, he took off his sneaker and found a cockroach the size of Rhode Island sharing his footwear! Okay, it was only a little over 2 inches long, but he was pretty fat. He calmly shook the critter out, snapped a picture, and sent it to Kathy who was seated a few rows behind him. He made sure those standing in the aisle were aware of this freeloader so as to not step on him and ruin his day. Surprisingly, no one was surprised at our visitor.
We got to the National Park and walked up less than a mile to a small café set inside a cage. Yes, it is inside a cage, or else the monkeys who roam freely about the park, would be the size of apes from eating everyone’s food. So the park management cages the humans and lets the monkeys gawk at them from the free world. Kathy was nursing her injured knee, so Dave went solo on a walk to a viewpoint. Dave did not see much wildlife, but there were moments along his hike that he was the only human in sight and he could enjoy the precious peacefulness of a national park full of birds singing away. And the monkeys…oh, did we mention the monkeys? Yes, Dave heard howling monkeys a few times and had a family of Capuchin monkeys swing over his head in the tall trees. They were not visible for long periods, but seeing them going about their lives from a vantage point of not being seen himself was sublime.
Dave made his way back to Kathy at the café and they walked back down to town together. Along the way, they spotted a mother and baby sloth is the trees, moving ever-so-slightly as they do. They enjoyed lunch alone together before the rest of their tour partners arrived at the designated pickup spot for our ride to the next event….the Party Boat!
The catamaran tour wasn’t quite what we expected. It was packed with people and they blared music the entire time. With Kathy’s knee in a brace with metal hinges, we felt that snorkeling in the briny ocean waters would not be the brightest idea. We did enjoy seeing a whale briefly and a dolphin who raced us, just ahead of the catamaran’s front left hull. They had free soft drinks (and a limit of four free alcoholic drinks per passenger) and included a meal. Unfortunately, we were denied the chicken dinner we had ordered. The hotel had given us wristbands for the tour and apparently gave us bands for a fish dinner, not chicken. They did give Kathy the chicken after she advised them that she had an allergy, but Dave was denied. “No chicken for you! Next!” The highlight of the experience was a fantastic sunset.
Once back at the hotel, our group trekked over to a nice restaurant for dinner as a group. It was a nice way to end the day and it was going to be our last meal together as a tour group.
02/12/26 – Do you know the way to San Jose?
Our last full day in Costa Rica started off with a nice relaxing breakfast at the hotel, followed by some relaxing time at the pool on the roof. Kathy soaked her legs in the tepid “hot tub” while Dave enjoyed conversation with the others at the pool. Finally it was time to load back up on the bus for the ride back to San Jose. There was a lot of traffic and it was slow going, but we did stop at a roadside shop for a break and to see a couple of fairly large crocodiles. We arrived back out our San Jose hotel about 6:30 pm. A few of us opted out of the group dinner since it was going to be a late night and we had early flights. Kelly, Lorraine, Kathy and I enjoyed one of the best Chinese meals we had ever eaten cooked right there at the hotel by a third generation Chinese-Costa Rican. It was super fresh and had just the right amount of spices. Yum!
02/13/26 – Will we make it home alive?
The alarm yanked us out of bed at 1 am so that we could catch our ride to the airport at 1:30. Along the way, Dave was desperately trying to find his lights and siren to pull over the driver of the shuttle van. He was weaving in and out of his lane and would speed up and then stomp on the brakes to come to almost a complete stop. He was honked at by several other drivers on the road and was passed by many others as he was driving so slowly. At the airport, he started turning left before veering right across three lanes and in front of another driver. Dave did not detect the odor of alcoholic beverages, but there was obviously something going on with him, whether it was intoxicants, a medical issue, or drowsiness. We just thanked God that we arrived safely to the airport. We were advised to arrive at the airport 3 hours ahead of our scheduled flight. At 2 am, three hours early was a little too early. We got checked in, through immigration, and passed security in about 7 minutes! Well, that gave us plenty of time to grab a bite to eat. Our motto is always “Better to arrive hours early than be one minute too late”, but this was a bit much. Still, we were happy to be waiting patiently for our flight rather than rushing around or figuring out how to get home after missing a flight.
The flight to El Salvador, San Salvador was short and easy. We had a 3 hour layover where we got a proper breakfast. Well, proper maybe isn’t the word… for Dave anyway. He saw something on the menu right next to the milkshakes that had peanut butter in it. That sounded sooo good right then. So, he ordered the peanut butter frappe. ICK! Dave will never confuse frappes with something edible again! Who knew that frappes taste like coffee?!? Not Dave, for sure. (For those unfamiliar, Dave abhors coffee!) The flight to Washington Dulles and then finally to Buffalo went smoothly and we were home before 8 pm, much to the delight of Navin and Tipsy, our cats who missed us.
Next trip…. France!
