Another 6 AM pre-breakfast walk, with some good birds. After breakfast, we slowly birded our way out of Esquinas through the village of La Gamba.
Then a long-ish bus ride up the coast to the Tarcoles River for a river cruise. We had lunch in the same restaurant and rode with pretty much the same boat company as we did 15 years ago. Much better birds this time, including a Boat-billed Heron, seemingly in the same roost as in 1998, but with better views.
A few notes here on Costa Rica cuisine: it's beans and rice although, in fairness, sometimes it's rice and beans. Every meal it's a part of the plate. Again, in fairness, there are different kinds of beans, cooked in different ways. And there are some very good sauces to improve the flavor. Or, if you prefer, to give the rice and beans some flavor. Especially including Lizano Salsa, a/k/a "Lizard Sauce." But breakfast, lunch and dinner: beans and rice. It won't make you forget Ecuadorian cooking.
Anyway, after a very nice cruise in the fiberglass dugouts along the Tarcoles, we drove back to San Jose through brutal traffic, strangely timed construction projects and San Jose's insane traffic congestion. As a result of two or three different traffic jams, on completely different roads, we had a late arrival and supper.
We're at the Hotel Bougainvilla, in the suburbs. Very posh. And ten acres of manicured grounds to bird tomorrow morning.
But a sad farewell to the Haennis and the Blunts. I wish we could persuade them to invest another week of leave in these trips. As it is, they will be up at 3:30 AM for the long taxi ride to the airport and a flight back to Missouri.
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