Friday, January 20, 2023
I went out with Johan at 5:45 to try for a final hike, while Teri decided to stay back and start packing. We walked some hotel trails, finding both Black-billed and Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrushes which we’d been missing up to this point. We also got a quick look at a Buff-fronted Quail-Dove, the last "lifer" of the trip. Most fun was watching a group of three Spotted Wood-Quail scratching and feeding from a distance of no more than ten feet away.
We had a quick breakfast at the hotel and were in the car at 8:00 for the trip into San Jose. The drive went smoothly and we arrived at the airport around 11:00. We said our fond farewells to Johan and headed inside. We were at our departure gate in less than 10 minutes and had plenty of time to relax before the flight. Teri did a bit of souvenir shopping at the airport as we'd not had many opportunities while we were out on the road.
We left on time to Miami at 1:30 and we arrived at 5:30 EST. Immigration went pretty quickly as did bag pickup and drop off, but the wait to pass back through security was over 30 minutes with a "special" inspection of our carry-on containing all of my camera gear and the binoculars. The whole thing seemed a bit absurd but we had plenty of time for our connection and were in our next departure gate with almost two hours to spare. Travel days are definitely the least fun days of a vacation!
We landed a bit after midnight in San Antonio, caught an Uber to the La Quinta where we'd stayed the night before our trip and where we'd left our car, and checked in for a welcome night of rest before heading home the next morning.
Teri's purchased souvenirs:
We were surprised when Johan dropped us off at the airport and gave each a Costa Rican flag pin and a beautiful Toucan magnet!
Final Thoughts:
It was a wonderful trip for our 40th Anniversary!
Costa Rica never fails to come through with great birds, great lodges, and amazing guides. This was our second trip with Costa Rica Focus and they get an A+ for everything. From assisting us during our ridiculous first travel day with the airlines shut down to making all of the arrangements to, most importantly, hooking us up with Johan who was just a delight to travel and bird with. We'd never travelled with a full-time guide in Costa Rica before, but we'd certainly love to take another trip with Johan!
For the trip we saw 308 different species of birds, of which 13 were life birds, meaning species that we've never seen before. I got photos of probably half of the species, though I haven't really counted them.
This was our sixth trip to Costa Rica and we've spent a total of about eight weeks birding the country. While there isn't the potential for hundreds of new birds like there is in many other countries, we've come to think of Costa Rica as our favorite country for tropical birding because of the easy access (usually!), amazing number of excellent birds and birding sites, opportunities for photography, and friendly people. No doubt we'll be back!
What a great trip. We are glad your 40th was so enjoyable. And thanks for taking us along to share your experience. These blog posts were well done.
ReplyDeleteJohan does sound like a perfect fit for you. Our singular experience in Costa Rica was underwhelming (of course our experience was brief and very different from yours) but you inspire me to try again.
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