Captivating Costa Rica, Part 1:

A Couple of Days on My Own

Prologue

Ever since I dipped my toe into the fascinating world of bird watching, I had heard rumors that the birds of Costa Rica were a must see.  When I took some guided tours as part of the 2022 Southwest Wings Birding Festival, many of my co-participants had been to Costa Rica, and each and every one of them provided glowing reports about the experience.  One of my guides, Scott Olmstead, recommended a couple of tour companies to me and I began to check them out.  In short order, I chose, and signed up for, a trip with Tropical Birding.   The trip was titled Costa Rica: The Introtour, and was scheduled for February 4 -14, 2023.  Because of the uncertainty with international travel in these times, I decided to depart a couple of days early and spend a couple of days on my own in the San Jose area.  I had my eyes set on an archaeological site and some museums that looked very interesting.  Through the magic of the internet, I located a group of young Costa Rican biologists who conducted tours under the name Oropopo Experience Costa Rica.  I booked a couple of tours with Oropopo, and, after lining up a private driver named Anthony Quiroz, I was all set to begin my independent exploration of the San Jose area of Costa Rica.  By the way, if you find yourself in San Jose and in need of a driver, click on Anthony’s name for his contact information– I recommend him without reservation!  Here we go with Part 1, the details of my first two days in Costa Rica on my own, before I met up with the folks from my guided birding tour. If you want to skip my attempt to soak up a little Costa Rican culture and head straight to the heavy-duty birding, go directly to Part 2!

Friday, Feb 3, 2023:  A Visit to a Volcano and and Guayabo National Monument

Getting There, and My Accommodations For My First Three Nights in San Jose…

Central Texas had experienced two days of freezing weather with lots of ice just prior to my scheduled departure on Wednesday afternoon/evening out of the Austin airport.  I will spare you the hectic details (thousands of flights had been cancelled due to the two day ice storm, resulting in near chaos at the airport), but I managed to fly to Dallas, change planes and terminals, and fly to San Jose, arriving a couple of hours late.  After clearing customs and finding a ride to my hotel, it was about 2:30 a.m. on the morning of Friday, February 3, 2023, when I arrived at Hotel Robledal.  The place was locked up tight, but, thankfully, a hotel employee named Alex was expecting me and helped me get settled in for a very short night’s sleep. Thank you for your kindness and your great smile Alex!  I stayed my first three nights in Costa Rica at Hotel Robledal, which was the host hotel for my birding tour with Tropical Birding, scheduled to officially begin with a welcome dinner on Saturday evening (February 4, 2023).  I liked Hotel Robledal.  The rooms were clean and functional, the grounds were beautiful, and the employees were helpful and happy.  

A Visit to Volcán Irazú…

I had arranged to be picked up at 5:30 a.m. Friday morning by my new friend Anthony, and driven to the University of Costa Rica central campus, located about a 45 minute drive from my hotel.  I had scheduled a full day private tour with Oropopo Experience, and was being met by my guide Rigo (Rigoberto), at 6:30 a.m.  Needless to say, I got very little, if any, sleep before I had to get up and get ready to catch my ride at the hotel.  Everything went smoothly, and, before I knew it, Rigo and I were navigating the winding rural roads into the mountains to the northeast of San Jose and the Central Valley.  By the way, before I forget–  I highly recommend Oropopo Experience.  If you find yourself in San Jose with some free time, give them a call!

After about a two hour drive, we arrived at our first stop for the day, Volcán Irazú National Park.  It was a beautiful day above the clouds at an elevation of 11,260 feet above sea level.  Rigo was a knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide/companion, and I thoroughly enjoyed his commentary about the history of the volcano (last big eruptions were in the 1960s), as well as his knowledge of the flora in the different ecozones we passed through to get to the top of the volcano.  I learned that Rigo’s real love, and expertise, is with the Green Sea Turtles that nest each year on the on the Costa Rican Carribean coast at Tortuguero National Park.  He continues to do work there and is pursuing a masters degree that involves his research there.  It was a pleasure and a privilege to spend the day with this engaging young man!  

Rigo and I spent about two and a half hours hiking around and exploring the main crater and some of the smaller craters at Volcán Irazú.  During our time there, I met two new birds, the Volcano Hummingbird and a Sooty Thrush.  Before leaving the park we stopped at the Visitor Center and relaxed for a few minutes, warming up with a cup of coffee.  We then headed down the mountain, our next destination being the archaeological site at Guayabo National Monument.  After about 45 minutes of driving, I met my third new bird of the day, a Black-billed Nightingale-Thrush.  Before we reached Guayabo, we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant/store (Torre Alba) where I had chicken fajitas and scrambled eggs–  I was starving and it really hit the spot.  We also passed several viewpoints for the Turrialba Volcano, but the clouds we were passing through were so thick we couldn’t see any part of the volcano.  The lush farms and flowers were stunning, and I enjoyed the drive and the views. I took quite a few pictures at Irazú, and during the drive down to Guayabo.  To see a more complete gallery of these photos, look here.

Guayabo National Monument…

After our very satisfying stop for lunch, Rigo and I continued on to Guayabo National Monument, arriving a little after 1:30 p.m.  We spent the next couple of hours walking the trails and exploring the very large archaeological site.   The visitor center was a little disappointing, really just a ticket counter where you pay the entry fee.  From the visitor center we headed out on the trail to one of the only petroglyphs that still remain at the park.  The petroglyph, which the park signage calls a “Jaguar and Alligator Monolith”, is located just past an area of ancient “Drawer Tombs”.  We then hiked up to the main site overlook, and enjoyed the stunning view of the archaeological site.  There are a number of circular mounds, constructed of dirt and rock.  These mounds served as foundations for large conical huts, called palenques, which had thatched roofs and served as habitations for the indigenous prehistoric peoples of the area.  There is a large central mound (3 meters high and 30 meters in diameter) that is clearly meant to be larger and more impressive (two stairways, flagstone covered tombs) than the other mounds.  It is thought this was the large palenque of the big man, or top leader of the group.  Equally impressive is the aqueduct system (which is still functional) and the calzadas (cobblestone roads, some of which were 4-5 kilometers long).   As we explored along the main calzada, we spotted my fourth new bird of the day, a stunning Keel-billed Toucan.  This amazing bird was well hidden and we were lucky to spot him!   

After we finished up at Guayabo, we drove back down into the Central Valley.  Rigo dropped me off at the University, where I caught an Uber back to Hotel Robledal.  The Friday evening traffic was brutal, and I was completely exhausted by the time I fell into bed shortly after I arrived at the hotel.  But, I had made it to Costa Rica, and my first day was in the books!

Since the primary purpose of this trip was to add birds to my Life List, I will be posting a running tally at the end of each day.  Here is the first one…

Saturday, Feb 4, 2023:  A Nature Walk on the University of Costa Rica Campus and Visits to The Major Museums of San Jose

A Nature Walk On The University of Costa Rica Campus

After a much needed night’s rest, I was up early to tackle day two of my trip.  My tour the day before with Rigo was a full day private tour, whereas the tour today was a half-day group tour.  My plan was to do the nature walk in the morning, then spend the afternoon visiting the major museums in downtown San Jose, returning to the Hotel Robledal for a 6:30 p.m. welcome dinner with my birding group. 

My friend Anthony picked me up at 7:30 a.m. and dropped me downtown at the University of Costa Rica to meet my tour group at 8:30 a.m.   Once our small group was assembled, we went through introductions, and learned that our guide was a young student at the University named Diwö.  Diwö (pronounced “Dee Wu” ) is a bio-medical engineering student, and was obviously very bright.  It was also very clear that he was very proud of his university, and his country’s history and culture.  The name “Diwö” is an indigenous one from the southern part of Costa Rica, and means “child of the sun”.  We spent the next several hours as Diwö pointed out, discussed, and explained insects, birds, flowers, sloths, and the history of the university.  I thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent with Diwö that morning, finding him to be patient, kind, and quietly enthusiastic about his university and native country.  Highlights of the tour included seeing numerous birds, and two sloths at different locations near the fenced nature preserve located within the central campus area.  Three of the bird species that we saw on campus were new to me.  I saw several Montezuma Oropendolas (with nests) right at the start of the tour.  As we ventured into the center area of the campus, I spotted a Blue-gray Tanager in a wooded gully area between the two sloth locations.  And, near the end of the tour, I watched a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird feeding at some flowering bushes.  The University of Costa Rica campus had many beautiful plants, flowers, statues, and art objects.  I took quite a few photos, a few of which are below.  It you would like to see a more complete gallery of photos from my Nature Tour at the University of Costa Rica, look here.  

An Afternoon of Museums in Downtown San Jose…

After thanking Diwö and saying my good-byes to our little tour group, I caught an Uber and was dropped off at The National Museum of Costa Rica.  I spent the next couple of hours at the museum, hoping to find some the artifacts from the Guayabo site that I had visited the day before.  I was a little disappointed that none of the curated artifacts at the museum indicated they were from Guayabo, and that there was no reference desk that could point me in the right direction, or tell me if there were in fact Guayabo artifacts at the museum.  In spite of this, I enjoyed my time at the National Museum.  If nothing else, the hero-sized pre-columbian petrospheres are worth the price of admission. Here are a few photos I took at the museum.  I have also posted a supplemental gallery of photos I took at the National Museum– to access this gallery click here. 

After I finished up at the National Museum, I walked the short distance to the nearby Jade Museum.  I found an impressive modern building, five stories tall.  The artifacts contained in this museum are also impressive–  a stunning array of pre-columbian pottery and sculpted stone.  The exhibits are visually pleasing.  Unfortunately, almost none of the items are identified as to provenience or even general area of origin.  I saw nothing about Guayabo, and since once again there was no reference desk or knowledgeable museum employee available for my inquiry, I left being disappointed that I had not seen any indication that any of the artifacts on display came from Guayabo.  That being said, this place is definitely worth a visit…the artifacts are stunning!  Here are a few photos that I took at the Jade Museum that day.  If you enjoy beautiful pottery pieces and figures, I encourage you to take a peek at this supplemental gallery, where I have posted more photos from the Jade Museum.  

The Jade Museum also had two exhibitions that were not Pre-Columbian, one by Isidro Con Wang, and another by Salvador Dalí.  Below are two works…can you tell which is by Dalí and which is by Wang?  To see more photos from these two exhibitions, click on the supplemental gallery link above.

Next up on the list of places I wanted to see was the National Theatre (Teatro Nacional), which required a walk of about five blocks.  As I walked, I heard a loud racket from above, and was delighted to see my fourth new bird species of the day, a pair of Crimson-fronted Parakeets. 

I reached the Teatro Nacional and discovered that to see the inside of the beautiful old building you had to to buy a ticket and take a tour.  Unfortunately all the tickets were sold out for the day, so I walked around the grounds and the lobby before heading around the corner to the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum.  This final museum that I visited was underneath the Plaza de Cultura, and took up three underground stories–  very unique, very modern, and very inviting!  Here are a few pictures of the National Theatre, and the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum.  For a more complete gallery of photos from these two sites, look here.  

After my visit to the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, I grabbed a taxi and headed back to Hotel Robledal.  I had enough time to look around the beautiful grounds of the hotel (in the daylight, for a change!), and noticed a group of birders focused on a particular tree.  It just so happens this tree had a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl perched in it.  So I grabbed my camera, and got a photograph of my fifth new bird species of the day!  I then took a quick shower and headed to the 6:30 p.m. welcome dinner to meet my guide, and the people I would be chasing birds with for the next eight days.  

This Is The End of Part 1 of My Costa Rican Blog

Click Here To Go Directly To Part 2 of The Blog