Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 8 - Quepos, Costa Rica
Our final stop before the cruise that began in Panama City completed was at Quepos, Costa Rica. Here we'd signed up for the " Concierge Collection: Rainforest Extravaganza" excursion. There was fairly limited information about the excursion, so we didn't know what to expect.
We got off of our tender into a marina where we were met after getting of the tender by Rudy from Esquipulas Bird Paradise. He pointed out some Iguanas along the shore as we walked toward the bus that would take us to our destination.
Naturally, I also did some bird spotting and snapping as we walked along. Not all of these photos are as in focus as I'd like. I'm sharing anyway because they are either new (to me birds) or they show interesting bird-personality.
We then got into the bus to drive to Esquipulas. Rudy talked to us about Costa Rican culture and conservation along the way. In the past Costa Rica had done quite a bit of deforestation. After the Costa Rican Civil War in 1948, Costa Rica abolished its military. This, Rudy said made Costa Rica appealing to American Hippies in the 60s, who came and shared knowledge of the countries vast biodiversity. The Costa Rican government has embraced the value of environmentalism and ecotourism, providing grants to people creating private reserves and preserving the natural habitats on their properties. There are qualifications that must be meant in order to qualify, these included educating visitors on the ecological importance of Costa Rica's biodiversity.
Additionally, Rudy familiarized us with the phrase "Pura Vida" which translates to "Pure Life" in English. However, its much closer in usage to the way that Aloha is used in Hawaii. It can be used to say hello, goodbye, thank you, you're welcome, have a good day, and so on.
Along the journey, Rudy pointed out interesting properties and land features to us. He also had our driver stop the bus when there was wildlife to be seen. Our first surprise stop was for a Scarlet Macaw! I mentioned in my last post that I didn't get a photo of the Scarlet Macaw at La Perica so I was excited to hop off the bus and get a reasonable shot of this big beauty!
Our next stop took us to an overlook just before we reached the preserve. There Rudy heard and pointed out a troupe of Squirrel Monkeys to us! These little ones are so small and fast moving. Alek found and got photos of one monkey carrying its baby. I'm sharing that here even though its not my photo because its amazingly adorable!
I also got some fun snaps of other monkeys without babies.
After this stop we drove a little further up the road to the preserve. There we met Rudy Sr who talked a bit more to us about the location and animals who live there. During that talk, I took the opportunity to get some hummingbird photos from the entry pavilion.
Unfortunately is quite hot and afternoon so we didn't see much wildlife on our hike up to the top of the site. One of the drawbacks of ecotourism from a cruise ship is that you are not in control of whether you get out first thing in the morning in search for wildlife.
When we got to the end of the hike, we stopped at the visitor's center and watched a presentation about coffee and then had lunch. For the vegetarians, the meal was rice, beans, and tortilla chips. Importantly lunch introduced us to Lizano*, the national salsa of Costa Rica. Lizano is a tangy sauce that added a non-spicy kick to our food.
Lunch overlooked a beautiful garden with bird feeders, so we saw butterflies, hummingbirds, and Euphonias. Costa Rica has over a dozen different types of hummingbirds, I really enjoyed trying to get photos of them. They are fast and adorable.
The younger Rudy also pulled a frog from a pond and into a small aquarium earlier in the day so we could see it. He then put it back near the pond as we were on our way out.
Quepos is near the very popular Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica. While we didn't really get to go there, on the way back Rudy had our driver swing by to see if there would be any Capuchin Monkeys. There were not, but we did get to see another Scarlet Macaw.
Once back at the marina we stopped to enjoy a cocktail and spotted a few more birds before heading back to the ship for our final night of sailing.
We ended the day as we started, walking past the habitat the the iguanas love.
