Affordable Costa Rica Day 11
Affordable Costa Rica
DAY 11 - March 24, 2005
Tidal Estuary Cruise on the Río Tarcoles/Search for Scarlet Macaws
As we had switched itinerary due to the Semana Santa and the upcoming Good Friday, we were able to sleep in a little later this morning. Breakfast was at 7:30 and our departure for the Rio Tarcoles and crocodiles was at 8:30. There were many birds, lizards, here in the grounds of the hotel and the bird watchers were having a great time identifying all of the new species before and after breakfast. After a ten minute drive we arrived at the Jungle Crocodile Safari for our 2.5 hour ecological trip. This is the only rain forest area on the Pacific side of the country. There are three major habitats that coincide in this very remote area.
On the Río Tarcoles, a natural habitat for crocodiles, our naturalist Trip Leader Eddie, gave us an introduction to these "prehistoric" animals, which can be up to 20 feet long. (Some scientists believe that the crocodile has had no morphological changes for over 300 million years!) The mangrove forest of the Río Tarcoles is also home to many other creatures. Eddie explained to us that in 1980, there were only 38 pairs of scarlet macaws found here. At that time, National Geographic began a captive nesting program and now there are over 700 couples. They are counted in couples as these beautiful and colorful birds mate for life.
We boarded our Tarcoles River boat with Juan Carlos, our pilot. We made several frequent stops along the mangrove swamp and tidal estuary, spotting various birds and animals we wanted to see. Most are very cooperative and not afraid so they lingered for us to get good shots as they know we will not bother them. We saw all of these this morning:
Mangrove swallows, snowy egrets, great egrets, great blue herons, roseate spoonbills, tri-colored herons, little blue herons, common mangrove hawks, black vultures, ringed kingfishers, American pigmy kingfishers, tiger heron, white ibis, northern jacanas, whimbrels, brown pelicans, fish eagles (osprey), purple gallinule, wood stork, boat billed herons, and green back herons. We also saw many large and small crocodiles.
At 11:30 we arrived back at the dock and after an opportunity to shop in their little gift area, we got into our A/C bus and drove to Jaco for lunch on our own. The roads through this portion have been repaved so it was an enjoyable ride of 25 KM. Upon arriving we saw a city thriving with holiday and tourist traffic with people enjoying the 90+ degree day in the sun and water. Eddie showed us some possible restaurants and we were on our own for 2 hours. Gennie and I took the time to go to an internet café to upload our Day 10 and do some other email business. Our hotel is somewhat remote so there is no public internet here. We then went to El Barco de los Mariscos for lunch. Gennie stopped at the Heladeria El Barco for a chocolate ice cream. We walked to where we were to meet the bus, got in and returned to the Villa Lapas for a couple of hours to take a siesta and work on our pictures before our adventure in search of the Scarlet Macaws.
We were greeted with severe thunderstorms throughout the afternoon and we were fortunate that we did not lose our electricity as we had twice during the night. At 4:30, with the storms having passed through, we boarded the bus and were on our way to the Carrara National Park area. Carrara means "river of crocodiles" in the local Huetar language. Gennie spotted two scarlet macaws sitting at the top of a tall dead tree and Mario stopped the bus on the road with Eddie taking out his high power telescope so all of us could see them in their glory. They sat there preening, while all of us had a close look. With my telephoto lens they were still very small. Traffic had to divert around us and Ticos do not seem to mind people blocking the thoroughfare and having to go around. After 30 minutes, we continued on and arrived at the bridge over the Rio Tarcoles where the alpha male crocodile was in the water with his harem of over 20 females surrounded him. Quite spectacular! While we were on the bridge, six pairs of scarlet macaws and two singles flew over us on their nightly ritual of going to the coast. In the morning they return to their rain forest home.
At 6:30 Gennie and I went to Santa Lucia dining room for dinner and an optional show. Twelve of our group were seated right on the edge of the dance floor and while we ate we were entertained by a three piece combo that played great music and when we were finished with the dinner portion we were able to dance. At the end of their set we were in for a real treat. We saw the Santa Lucia Heritage - a floor show based on the history of Costa Rica. The dancers had magnificent costumes and began with Indians, the coming of the
Spaniards, the Catholic Church, and the Colonial Period, the Caribbean influence, followed by the Costa Rican era from 100 years ago to the present. In each, the dancers changed clothes and were back on the floor. We have seen some dull and hokey shows, this one was spectacular and all the dancers glistened from their performance and none had an ounce of fat. This is really worth seeing - we were glad to have this opportunity here on the west coast of Costa Rica.
Accommodations: Villa Lapas
Meals: B, D
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