Day 11: To Rincón de la Vieja

05:00. The alarm clock sounds, and we know: it is time for us to get out of bed as we have a busy day ahead of us.
First, we will be picked up at the hotel at 05:30 for a morning bird watching tour, and after that we’ll have breakfast.

The tour takes place not inside the Monteverde Reserve, but just outside in a privately held piece of forest of which the sole destiny is to be turned around from secondary forest into primary forest. Along the way, naturalists guide tourists on tours to view the wildlife which is becoming ever more present.
This morning, it looked like the forest was completely empty! We heard some birds sing their songs, but they would not show themselves.
Until, in the final half hour of the 3 hour tour, a parrot!
Our very first in Costa Rica!
The guide had to sneak us into the adjacent property (a hotel) through some barbed wire sneaking around in the bush, but finally we got a good, clear view of it and we just loved the experience! It is a white fronted parrot, completely new to us!

Right after this, an Emerald Toucanette and even a female Quetzal showed up and made these final moments a real treat. What an awesome way to end the tour.

After breakfast, we checked out, jumped into our car and drove back to the entrance of the Reserve, to spend some more time with the hummingbirds at the Colibri Café. We spent another hour and a half practicing our skills trying to take a picture of a hummingbird in flight or while hovering. That is really, really hard! We found out that the lighting conditions were better yesterday, but still think we managed to get some great shots today. Furthermore, the garden is such a nice place to be, as the hummingbirds are zooming around like bumblebees and because of the low season, nobody is there.

Finally, we decided it was time to go, and embark on the journey to Rincón de la Vieja National Park which is about 120km or 3.5 hours away. The road took us over about 30kms of untarred, very bumpy roads, and the Panamerican highway which has been under construction over the length of 50kms for at least a year and a half. I guess that just is the way things work around here. 🙂

After arriving at the B&B Aroma del Campo (which is really rural!) we decided today has been long enough and just relaxed at the B&B. They have a small pool, some resident animals, a few hammocks and enough space to just linger around and do nothing. Add a nice 35 degrees Celsius to the mix, and you’ll understand it has been a nice afternoon. 😉

Tomorrow, again a full day ahead of us! We are going for a walk in the park to see the park’s famed volcanic activity with fumaroles, mud pools and much more.