2nd email
Hi everybody,I hope things are going well in canada, they certainly are here! After leaving San Jose on Thursday I arrived in Tarcoles around 1 oclock and spent the next two nights at the Tarcol Lodge which caters especially to birders! It was very cheap, only $6 a night , though there was no hot water which in the end was ok as it is hot enough that you dont want a hot shower. Fortunately there was a fan in my room. The only cool part of the day is from about 1am - 6am, other than that the days are hot, but not so hot that you cant do anything. I spent the two days in Tarcoles birding and seeing muchos pajaros! The Scarlet macaws fly over the area every morning and afternoon. They are VERY loud and very big, fortunately they generally are only in pairs, if they were in a flock, they could burst your ears! They only drawback to the Tarcol Lodge was that it is about 5 kms from town and offers no food. There is a very small store where I picked up breakfast/lunch of stale bread, cream cheese a carrot and some very poor corn chips. I had to go without dinner the night before, alll in all I have been getting only about two meals a day down here, which is ok, just means you have to eat alot when you can. I am probably going back to Tarcol Lodge tommorow and this time I will bring some food. More on that later. Also at the Tarcol lodge I saw Crocodiles and a Pygmy owl my first night there, (very cool!) as well as over 60 other species of birds! All the Ticos (costa rican people) that I met there were very freindly, sa have been most f the ticos I have met, but there thye seemed esecially amiable. On Saturday I caught the bus to Puntarenas, 40 kms north. I got to the bus stop at 6am but didnt get a bus til after 7, as all the busses that passed, I guess, were full. from Puntarenas I caught the ferry over to the Nicoya Penninsula and took a taxi (bad idea, as it cost me $15) to Curu wildlife Refuge. I spent the afternoon walking the trails which were very pretty, but very birdless. The habitat there was mangrove coastlines and semi rainforest inland, broken by small savanah like areas and pastureland, lots of habitat=lots of birds and the following morning i did indeed see lots of birdsincluding Black-headed Trogons and Turquoise-browed Motmots, both very aesthetically pleasing birds aswell as a couple Macaws that gave me very good lokks as they inspected a cavity in a deadd tree(i got pics, though not spectacular). There are also lots of Butterflies, and i saw Blue Morphos which are 6 inches across and violently bright blue! I also saw a couple Owl Butterflies whiach are equally big, though not as spectacularlokking. There were also Howler Monkeys which sound more like lions than monkeys as well as White-faced Capuchin Monkeys which are very cute and quite freindly. Raccoons and similiar creatures called Coatis came around once in a while to and there were lots of lizards and Iguanas all over and I saw one Agouti which are funny little rodents about the size of a cat that look like rabbits with big assses and no ears. The afternoons werent very birdy so I spent it walking the beach and lounging about my cabina. 2 dats at CUru cost me $36 including two meals. So far I have spent on average less than $20 per day, which was my goa,l and this is only so high because my day getting from Tarcoles to Curu was so expensive. I think that most days I could verywell get by on $15, unless I am at one of the more expensive National Parks, which can charge up to $15 for entrancce. At Curu I met three volunteers, one American, midddle-agedman and two younger women, who were very nice, one was from Spain and I suspect that theother wasa Costa Rican. The guy was a typical down-south american, bush supporter(though he seemed to disagree with his environment policy which was a step in the right direction), nice enough though. The women were very nice and aI got to practise my spanish with them. For the most part I can communicat what I want to, but understanding the ticos can be difficult to down-rigt impossible. Some of the ticos are definately used to foreigners and speak in simpler language. Today I spent from 6am til 9:30 birding Curu, then caught a bus to Paquera to take the ferry back to Puntarenas where I am atthe moment. Tommorow I am going back to Tarcoles and will probably stay at the Tarcole lodge again. This time I will go to Carara National Park ad will probably spend a cuople days birding there. Thanks everyone for your emails. Mom, if you havent alreadey booked the tickets, I am planning on getting off in Seattle, so a ticket from there wuld be good. Adios, I miss everyone at home,Gump