Apr 3, 2013 Hotel Pullman 5km from Madrid Barajas (MAD) has got one big pro: you can stretch your legs in Parque Juan Carlos I.

Apr 3, 2013 The park is very Spanish dare I say. Huge artwork bordering surreal. Walkways of royal dimensions. Sporty people with a character.

Apr 3, 2013 All of a sudden, two parrots! My first ever in mainland Europe. Most likely escaped from captivity. Another nice sighting: Green Woodpecker.

Apr 3, 2013 It’s good to have a bottle of rum in the luggage. The concoction of heat, moist & bugs in the rainforest easily overwhelms one’s nerves.

Apr 3, 2013 The rum of Costa Rica is Rum Centenario but it’s hard to come by abroad. At MAD, we bought instead Nicaraguan 12 yro Flor de Caña.

Apr 3, 2013 This time, IBERIA flew us via the coast of Venezuela, the land of lost nature tourism opportunities.

Apr 3, 2013 Costa Rica smells of burning trash and wild coriander.

Apr 3, 2013 You know you are in Costa Rica when in Alajuela, 30 min drive from SJO, you hear the lek song of Long-tailed Manakins while you eat breakfast.

Apr 3, 2013 After Pital, the dirt road via Boca Tapada to Laguna del Lagarto Lodge was bad but better than in 2007. 3.5 hr drive from Alajuela.

Apr 3, 2013 German-born V. Schmack bought this 100+ area in the 80’s for $5K. Son of a farmer, his plan was to use the land for cultivation.

Apr 3, 2013 First he tried pineapple (a success), then black pepper (world trade prize was soaring).

Apr 3, 2013 The trouble with pepper is that you cannot hurry. When the first crop was ready, the price was down again.

Apr 3, 2013 Schmack selected tourism thanks to an advice of a friend. He could’ve just as well cut all trees, and planted cocoa. Luckily not.

Apr 3, 2013 The lodge was opened for the winter season 1992/93. German tourist groups started to check in on a regular basis. Pura vida!

Apr 3, 2013 Then, on the night of 1.1.1996, a group of masked Nicaraguan guerrilla came with machine guns to the lodge.

Apr 3, 2013 They where after money, mostly. Strategy: hostage & ransom. The group took two women, Schmack’s Toyota, and left.

Apr 3, 2013 The drama lasted over 2 months. At the end, the ransom was paid and the women were released.

Apr 3, 2013 All of this was of course a disaster for the business. The lodge was closed for a year. German tourist agencies said they’d never return.

Apr 3, 2013 Schmack is bitter on German media. He was accused for cowardice during the armed incident, and the lodge was described as a hellhole.

Apr 3, 2013 Schmack has recently published his memoirs in German:”Der lange Weg von Oberschlesien nach Costa Rica”. My tweets here are based on it.

Apr 3, 2013 Today, Laguna del Lagarto Lodge is just about the only place in Costa Rica where you can see Great Green Macaws.

Apr 4, 2013 At dinner time, dozens of wood-colored junebugs arrive, circle around the whitest bulb, land on the green tablecloth, and stay put.

Apr 4, 2013 This has been a productive year for horse-flies. Handsomely black and orange. Work between 8 and 16. Bite like little devils.

Apr 4, 2013 Cover song of today: “Me and Pumilio down by the schoolyard”. Dendrobates pumilio aka Strawberry poison-dart frog is common in Costa Rica, like in here.

Apr 4, 2013 The male has an “insectlike buzz-buzz-buzz” as someone has said, but in my ears the sound is more like a tiny engine.

Apr 4, 2013 Wikipedia features an all-red species but local ones don’t have the nickname Blue-jeans frog without a reason.

Apr 4, 2013 Frogs in Costa Rica are usually nocturnal but Pumilios hop on the forest floor and on moss-covered logs and trunks in daylight. Photogenic fellows.

Apr 6, 2013 From my notes 4/2007:”Bats (16) fly out of the restaurant roof at 6:30 pm every day” Now: new roof, no bats. With all due respect – pity.

Apr 6, 2013 “Costa Rica represents 0.03% of the world’s land surface but is home to about 12% of the world’s bat species” https://www.nhbs.com/the-natural-history-of-costa-rican-mammals-book (good book)

Apr 6, 2013 There are bird feeding platforms in front of the restaurant. Every morning, birds find a fresh bunch of bananas. It lasts until lunch.

Apr 6, 2013 Today is an exception. Banana is served all day, and the platforms are decorated w/ twigs. Professional bird photographers are here.

Apr 6, 2013 They’ve been lucky: Brown-hooded Parrot, both Toucan sp, Collared Aracari, many Honeycreeper sp etc. The most spectacular ones.

Apr 6, 2013 Another banana station is located at the entrance to forest trails. That one is on the ground level.

Apr 6, 2013 No surprise that Coati cannot resist a free banana lunch but surprisingly, also Great Curassow tiptoed out from the dark.

Apr 6, 2013 Another flash-rich day has dawned. Whenever Palm Tanagers or Clay-colored Robins land on the bananas, burst shooting goes silent.

Apr 6, 2013 Strategic thinking is not restricted to humans. A nesting Cinnamon Becard has a security deal with Great Kiskadee https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_kiskadee#section_2

Apr 6, 2013 It’s comforting to see that Central American Spider Monkey seems to have it OK here. One reason: a national park on the Nicaraguan side.

Apr 6, 2013 A new verb from the book: to brachiate means “to swing hand to hand beneath branches like a gibbon”.

Apr 6, 2013 Did you know that spider monkeys are next to thumbless? I didn’t (pic from Wainwright p. 146)

Apr 6, 2013 A group of spiders has been several times on top of the tall trees easily visible from the entrance of the lodge. Several youngsters.

Apr 6, 2013 Female w/ a young come often to fruiting trees near the river. It looks like they’d throw fruit down but I guess they just spill a lot.

Apr 8, 2013 The soundscape of the night is cosmic. Frogs, insects, owl. The rest is dark matter that is hard to locate, could be inside my own head.

Apr 8, 2013 Hard to tell apart here: thunder, jet, volcano. All pulsate with a deep echo. Maybe swampy areas have special acoustical qualities.

Apr 8, 2013 It’s unlikely though that you could hear the active Arenal volcano from here. The distance is over 50 km.

Apr 8, 2013 The lodge lagoon houses a number of individuals from the only member of the Alligator family found in Costa Rica, Spectacled caiman.

Apr 8, 2013 Likewise, from the Crocodile family, only one species: American Crocodile. The lodge doesn’t have them on their list.

Apr 8, 2013 If either one swims towards you in some resort, look if it has a curved ridge in front of its eyes, like a bridge on a pair of glasses.

Apr 8, 2013 Also, if the mouth is closed (probably is ‘cos the reptile is swimming) no teeth protruding from the lower jaw? Relax, it’s a caiman.

Apr 8, 2013 Anyway, “only the African Nile crocodile and the Indo-Pacific crocodile are known to include humans in their diet.” (Leenders)

Apr 8, 2013 Chestnut-colored Woodpecker has the trendiest hairdo: chestnut rasta dreadlocks that stay in horizontal position with x-strong gel.

Apr 8, 2013 The only cicada sp I’ve ever identified in Costa Rica by the sound is the Sprinkler. Truly miss the Asian singing cicadas. Beautiful, varied songs.

Apr 8, 2013 A couple of days ago, before noon, a group of German tourists had seen a Tayra up on a tree in the forest.

Apr 8, 2013 Our stats since 2000 is one Tayra / trip (all about 4 weeks in dry season) on average. All but one sightings in Corcovado National Park.

Apr 8, 2013 The book tells how A. Skutch had seen one climb 30m up a clean, vertical trunk to get at a Laughing Falcon nest.

Apr 8, 2013 In January 2004, we were honored to meet Skutch on his farm, Los Cusingos, near San Isidro el General.

Apr 8, 2013 He watched politely the short video we’d filmed in Sirena, Corcovado, feat. an ocelot walking along a river bank at noon.

Apr 8, 2013 Fragile as he was, we didn’t stay long. Sadly, he didn’t see his 100th birthday, the preparations of which were under way.

Apr 8, 2013 The visit was arranged by Pieter Westra, son of the then owner of Talari Mountain Lodge (new mgmnt now).

Apr 8, 2013 Pieter started his own birding tour company shortly after https://www.aratinga-tours.com/ Warmly recommended, Talari too I hope & believe.

Apr 8, 2013 On the 7th, just before dusk: a big, loose flock of migratory raptors heading West. I lost count but easily more than a hundred.

Apr 9, 2013 First encounter with a snake this year. Length ~1m. Frog-eating Snake, maybe?

Apr 9, 2013 Zoologists haven’t been able to fully explain why there seems to be more adult oropendolas coming out of the nests than going in.

Apr 9, 2013 Animals who pay attention to humans: spider monkeys (threatening gestures), howler monkeys (stare), Hermit hummingbirds (hover close).

Apr 9, 2013 “I smell rain”, says the US-Taiwanese guy who volunteers here for some months. Ex-software engineer, and a keen photographer. Nice chap.

Apr 9, 2013 He has been eg to Borneo (Kinabatangan River). From here, he’ll move to Ecuador. I’d expect more people like him follow suit.

Apr 10, 2013 Pasture. On one side, a herd of mooing cows. On the other, howler monkies. In the middle, a lone, tall, white tree w/ macaw nests.

Apr 10, 2013 Standing under a cow shed surrounded of all sides by wet, red mud and fresh cow dung, you cannot avoid some Sunday philosophing.

Apr 10, 2013 During the past 10 nights, we haven’t heard the remarkable, otherworldly call of Great Potoo. In 2007 we did.

Apr 10, 2013 It was full moon, and the bird began to roar at a treetop, few meters from our cabin. I seldom say “awesome” but – double awesome.

Apr 10, 2013The audio file in https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_potoo is uploaded by me – but it gives only a faint idea, unfortunately.

Apr 10, 2013 Another non-seen: Agami Heron, the star on the lodge’s bird list. It dons a suit that would make every colorist green with envy.

Apr 10, 2013 Corcovado Info Center has a new set of shots from Sirena on their Facebook page. Many tapirs again. Sirena is like that, still.

Apr 10, 2013 The Mono forest trail drops momentarily down to a small swamp. Beneath the wooden bridge, old tapir tracks in the mud, filled w/ water.

Apr 10, 2013 We were told that, while canooing on the Second Lagoon (2 km from the lodge), a tourist had seen a tapir’s head on the shore.

Apr 10, 2013 Baird’s Tapir suffers from illegal hunting and deforestation.

Apr 10, 2013 Time to leave Laguna del Lagarto Lodge, the simple yet practical cabin, no-nonsense food and Macaws. Next: La Selva Biological Station.

Apr 11, 2013 Although w/o armed forces, the 11th April is a national holiday to celebrate the war hero “The Porcupine”.

Apr 12, 2013 Early morning in Caribbean lowlands is not far from a Turkish hammam.

Apr 12, 2013 Two-toed Sloths do are slow. One was up on the same tree than six years ago.

Apr 12, 2013 On the 7th, tracks of two jaguars were seen ~2km from the station. Still, herds of Collared Peccaries roam the camp. Too few predators.

Apr 13, 2013 Things happen when you least expect them. Last night, in the dark, while walking back from dinner: eyeshine ~4m above the trail.

Apr 13, 2013 A Central American Woolly Opossum was showing “monkeylike specializations of its arboreal lifestyle” as Wainwright puts it.

Apr 13, 2013 With its delicate fingers and toes, it had a good grip from a twig. The partly naked, prehensile tail hang free. Pink ears, pink nose.

Apr 14, 2013 Guided night walk on the 12th. Highlights: sleeping Casque-headed Lizard; one big Fer-de-Lance (1,5m) and one much smaller, both coiled.

Apr 15, 2013 “Poisonous snakes are relatively abundant” says the La Selva welcome leaflet and doesn’t exaggerate at all.

Apr 15, 2013 In April 2007, during 5 nights, we were lucky to see 2 different venomous snakes: an Eyelash pit viper (yellow) and a big Fer-de-Lance.

Apr 15, 2013 My husband had extra luck. He almost stepped onto them both.

Apr 15, 2013 Cabins are 1 km from the station, at the end of a 1,5 m wide concrete walkway, mossy and partly covered with fallen leaves and twigs.

Apr 15, 2013 It was just before breakfast. A 10 minute walk through a cool tropical forest is the best hors d’œuvre. We were chirping like Manakins.

Apr 15, 2013 After the old iron bridge, the last leg is straight ahead. Good spot for sloths. In the distance, one corner of the soccer field.

Apr 15, 2013 We look back. On his side of the walkway, resting against the edge of concrete, a spear shaped head of a snake.

Apr 15, 2013 He stops, mid-sentence.”What was that?”

Apr 15, 2013 The Fer-de-Lance wasn’t after us. Slowly, it came up to the concrete and slid over it. 1,5 meters. The width of the walkway, exactly.

Apr 15, 2013 It is still 2007. Next day, next concrete walkway (in total, 60 km of it in the park). Guided walk on the other side of the river.

Apr 15, 2013 Midday is approaching, temperature rising. He films a Pumilio. I am half present, in lazy thoughts. The guide is a bit further away.

Apr 15, 2013 “Is that plastic?” On the ground, between his legs and the tripod, something bright yellow. Unusual color on the forest floor.

Apr 16, 2013 Why none of us saw the snake a) coming or b) being there to start with – I honestly cannot comprehend.

Apr 16, 2013 Madventurism and crocodiledandyism are not our cups of tea. I got pretty scared. One side step, and his boots would hit the viper.

Apr 16, 2013 It is in the interest of snakes not to spend the venom in vain. Would this one consider being stomped on a serious threat?

Apr 16, 2013 I signalled him -> he understood at once -> did not panic -> stepped away -> happy end.

Apr 16, 2013 The viper’s stomach was bulging and it moved clumsily, inasmuch snakes can be blamed clumsy.

Apr 16, 2013 Stars were in favourable constellations; the snake was not alert and fast but probably quite drowsy after a good meal.

Apr 16, 2013 The guide was a bit shaken about the incident. So were we. Visitors sign a liability waiver but in the end it’s just a piece of paper.

Apr 16, 2013 “Many changes in La Selva”, answers the guide when we asked about what’s been happening here since our last visit. “Global warming”

Apr 16, 2013 “Draught has become more common. We have seen many starving snakes for example, maybe because rodents are moving to higher elevations.”

pr 16, 2013 Service has improved: free WiFi in cabins; fresh fruit on every meal; restaurant area more comfortable; staff more relaxed.

Apr 16, 2013 The amount of wild life here is still staggering, changes or not. You only need to take a few steps away from the A/C-ed reception.

Apr 16, 2013 Abundant right now: Motmot (both sp found here), Great Curassow, Crested Guan, Mantled Howler Monkey.

Apr 16, 2013 Talking about reptiles, in the scope right now: a hunting Bird-eating Snake.

Apr 16, 2013 Again, it crossed the walkway very close. Below dark yellow, green above with yellow spots, > 1m (wifi courtesy of one of the labs)

Apr 16, 2013 Actually, >2 m.

Apr 16, 2013 A Snowy Cotinga! All-white with big dark eyes. Always at tallest treetops.

Apr 16, 2013 Taxi is coming soon. This is the hardest time; I want to stay here! But – next: Monteverde via San Jose.

Apr 18, 2013 Only it wasn’t via San Jose but the scenic, winding Arenal route.

Apr 18, 2013 Rd 4 ->San Miguel, 140 ->Fortuna, 142 ->Tilarán, and gravel road via another San Miguel and Turin to Santa Elena. 5 hrs.

Apr 18, 2013 The top of Volcán Arenal was in clouds, water level in Laguna de Arenal very low.

Apr 18, 2013 The souvenir shop that shares premises with Aroma Tico in Tilarán, sells local art. One oil painting features a wind turbine.

Apr 18, 2013 This is windy area. On the other side of lake Arenal is a wind farm of several dozen mills.

Apr 18, 2013 All the way from Fortuna, Toad Hall has sprinkled rd 142 with well over 100 signs of WORLD FAMOUS and MUST SEE.

Apr 18, 2013 When the target is behind, a subtle change in tone: YOU JUST MISSED TOAD HALL

Apr 18, 2013 A piece of personal nostalgia: Villa Decary some km’s before the town of Arenal.

Apr 18, 2013 In year 2000, on our first trip to Costa Rica, we spent there some nights. Back then, all was new (not any more) and wonderful (still is).

Apr 18, 2013 Alex, the driver from Costa Rica Anywhere, lives in Tamarindo, one of the beach hot spots on the Pacific side.

Apr 18, 2013 Before St Elena, Alex starts to wave to ppl. A sunglassed look in the rear mirror. “My mother, father and brother live in Monteverde”.

Apr 18, 2013 Costa Rica is constantly on four wheels. People, cattle and goods are transported from coast to coast. There is no railroad.

Apr 18, 2013 A set of mountain ranges runs from N to S through the country. It splits the country in two slices.

Apr 18, 2013 At dawn in La Selva, you hear heavy trucks change gear on rd 32 that climbs up to Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo.

Apr 18, 2013 When Alex turns off the engine of the van at the entrance of Casa Hiro Rosa, we immediately hear two familiar bird calls.

Apr 18, 2013 Three-wattled Bellbird belongs to that avifauna that migrates latitudinally. In April, it moves up here.

Apr 18, 2013 As its name implies, Black-faced Solitaire is relatively hard to see, except in springtime.

Apr 18, 2013 If you haven’t heard the song/call of these birds, google and do.

Apr 18, 2013 Monteverde has a cute phone directory. 14 pages of the size A5.

Apr 18, 2013 Browsing the directory, you wouldn’t guess the US Quaker background of this area; a clear majority of surnames are Spanish.

Apr 19, 2013 Here, biting the dust is not yet another saying. Roads are unpaved, and in heavy use.

Apr 19, 2013 Monteverde is a top tourist attraction. Letting roads be on gravel, the Quaker community balances between income and sustainability.

Apr 19, 2013 On the premises of the Casa nests a Blue-crowned Motmot. Favorite spot: electric power cable in front of the living room window.

Apr 19, 2013 At the moment, this is the only house in Monteverde which you can rent for a couple of days. All other accommodation is hotels.

Apr 19, 2013 Sonia, the owner, is a friendly lady. Elegantly gray-haired, she must have been a ravishing beauty.

Apr 19, 2013 How many kilos fudge am I allowed to import tax free to EU, I wonder. The brand made by Monteverde cheese factory is delicious.

Apr 19, 2013 Another noteworthy product of the factory: guava cheese.

Apr 21, 2013 The wooden electric pylon number G-6 in a dusty curve, 2 km before the Reserva Biológica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde, has a resident.

Apr 21, 2013 The middle-elevation cousin to lowland toucans, Emerald Toucanet, has got all the characteristics of a cover bird.

Apr 21, 2013 The size of the bill is in perfect proportion to the body, and the guacamole feathering looks very nice in every lighting.

Apr 21, 2013 The nesting tree isn’t much but it comes w/ a view: a wide valley w/ a blanket of forest and its broccoli canopy in all shades of green.

Apr 21, 2013 For a long time, the Toucanet peaks out of the hole, just like woodpeckers do. I don’t know what’s the point, but it looks funny.

Apr 21, 2013 Is a cloud “a cloud” if it crawls towards you on ground level? Aerosolic rain. Metronomic, never-ending call of Highland Tinamou.

Apr 21, 2013 Every naturalist guide can imitate the call of a Resplendent Quetzal, a short nasal yapping. A bit irritating, if I may say so.

Apr 21, 2013 In Guatemala, Quetzal is an icon: the national bird, and the name of local currency.

Apr 21, 2013 In Costa Rica, the bird is a genuine object of attention (and source of tourism income). Quetzals mostly eat wild avocados.

Apr 21, 2013 A fair amount of plastic waste in tropical forests are caps of water bottles. They’re also useless; fall of in 5 secs from the opening.

Apr 21, 2013 Sometimes changes in nature happen as we speak, and can even be a bit symbolic if you like.

Apr 21, 2013 The Monteverde area – from about 1400 to 1800 m above sea level – was free from venomous snakes until about 10 years ago.

Apr 21, 2013 The info leaflet of the hotel Monteverde Lodge & Gardens (where we checked in yesterday) has a matter-of-fact section about snakes.

Apr 21, 2013 “Probably due to global warming,we are seeing Eyelash Vipers around the lodge. They’re leaf green, and in vegetation about shoulder level”

Apr 21, 2013 Other fairly recent comers are spider monkies. In 2007, only few had been seen. Tomorrow we’ll hear more news; a tour w/ Ricky Guindon.

Apr 24, 2013 On a clear day like this,when you stand at the Continental Divide and look W, what you see in the hazy horizon, is the Nicoya Peninsula.

Apr 24, 2013 On 5th September 2012, at 08:42, Nicoya was the epicenter of the 2nd heaviest earthquake ever recorded in Costa Rica.

Apr 24, 2013 “It lasted maybe 30 seconds but felt like forever”. Ricardo Guindon stands on the brink of a vertical slope in the Curi-Cancha Reserve.

Apr 24, 2013 “I stood right here when it started. Because I was afraid there’d be a landslide, I moved here”. He takes few steps away, and looks up.

Apr 24, 2013 “Those big trees were shaking wildly above my head (grimace) and I thought, well, there is nothing I can do.”

Apr 24, 2013 Curi-Cancha is recently been opened for public. Earlier, it was there only for the guests of the now ex-hotel El Sapo Dorado.

Apr 24, 2013 “Last Friday, on Monteverde Day, we celebrated here the 60th anniversary of buying the 5000 ha from a gold mining company.”

Apr 24, 2013 We are looking for Bellbirds. In Monteverde, there are few (you can hear them) but hard to see because they stay up in the canopy.

Apr 24, 2013 We were told that most of the Bellbirds are one ecozone lower – here, roughly 100 m. “You’ll see them everywhere in Curi-Chanca.”

Apr 24, 2013 Some claim that Bellbirds can learn their song.

Apr 24, 2013 Fact or not, one thing is clear: there are different calls.

Apr 24, 2013 A QUACK! from above. Ricky shows his ambient smile. “That’s the Talamancan dialect”, he whispers.

Apr 24, 2013 “The one on the George Powell trail in Monteverede Reserve is bilingual I think. It knows also the Monteverdian BONK!”

Apr 24, 2013 In fall 2010, one special wild avocado tree species was fruiting here like never before – and brought Oilbirds http://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/2010/08/23/oilbirds-in-costa-rica/

Apr 24, 2013 “It was such a big event that they named this trail after the Spanish name of the bird, Guácharo”

Apr 24, 2013 In her best novel so far, Sand (1986), Ulla-Lena Lundberg describes a homecoming from the wild.

Apr 24, 2013 Shower, clean clothes, a cold beer from the fridge. Everything is nice, easy, urban.

Apr 24, 2013 “Then, after two weeks or so, I started to miss back to the desert again”, she writes. I know what she means.

Apr 24, 2013 Onboard, IBERIA doesn’t offer newspapers nor a private entertainment console. So, for this return flight I’m better prepared.

Apr 24, 2013Sonia, I promise to bring back The Tailor of Panama by John Le Carré you had on the bookshelf. Gracias!