1st E-mail.
Hello everybody,Well today went a little diferently then anticipated. I had been planning on catching the bus to tarcoles at 10.>30 but that all changede when I went looking for money. I ended up sleeping in til 7>30 this morning even though i tried to go to sleep at 8>30 last night, my rooms not very soundproof ad it was quite loud in the lounge area. My room is also lacking such things as windows and a fan. but thats ok. This morning I went exploring and ended up at a park on the small river that runs a couple blocks from the hostel. There were a few birds here, i visited it again in the afternoon and ther were more then. after the park, at around 9>30, i went in search of a bank as \i had only 1000 colones, not even enough to buy lunch with. The first bank i went to i got my card stuck part way into the machine and had to get a police man who was next in line to help me. I was afraid that if my card went all the way in, i may never see it again but he just used his card to push it all the way in and it worked...up until the point where it said invalid transaction, so i tried a different bank, with the same result so i went inside to see if i could get mey through them. No we dont take debitbut Banco San Jose does(in spanish). So on to Banco SAn JOse where they said...No but Banco Banex does. At banco Banex I finally got my money (50 000 colones, equal to $100US). Hopefully I wont have this much trouble in other places. at this point it was 10->30 and I'd missed the bus, I could have taken a later one but I wanted to make sure that i got to TArcoles with plenty of daylight left to find a place to lay my head. So I decided to go to the University of Costa Rica, which i'd read was a good spot to bird. After a quick lunch I caught a taxi for $2.50 and arrived at the university after a little confusion on the part of the driver after I had asked him if there was a forested area here. He didnt understand the word in the phrasebook for forest (bosque) and i didnt understand his subsequent questions. At the University I found a flock of 50 or so warblers, most of which stayed well hidden in some sort of conifer that wasa all over the place. I did see a few and also found a few other nice birds including a very tame Blue-crowned Motmot, a very pretty tropical species. Also, much to my surprise I saw a SLOTH in one of the trees. very cool. After wandering around the campus for a while and getting a little lost then re-orienting myself (i hoped) I headed off back towards the hostel, I wasnt sure I was going in the right direction til about 20 mins after I left the campus, but fortunately yes, I was heading the right way and i ended up back at the park where i'd been in the morning. I birded here for the next hour and ahalf. I saw lots of birds between outbiursts of rain. Then Iheaded back to the hostel where i lounged, resting my tired legs, before going out to find some dinner. i bought a phonecard, $20 for only about 1-2 hours. apparently itrs a lot cheaper on the weeken so I'll give someone a call on friday from (hopefully) Tarcoles.Hasta Luego,Gump