Bougainvillea Hotel

 We went for our new standard Gallo Pinto and fruit/granola breakfast, and found ourselves way early for meeting the driver who would take us out to our next stay, at Bougainvillea Hotel. We took a seat in the lobby of the Cultura Plaza to wait, and I like the rest of the world was looking at my phone. Dodie pointed out that I would be running it down, so I requested she entertain me with some scintillating conversational topic. Instead, we thought about sending me the 1/2 block to the corner convenience store, to buy some snacks for later in the day. It was a good idea, but convenience store snacks here are so costly that we rejected the notion. Instead I set off on a brief circle walk, and was pretty sure I would spot a bakery within the available time.

The walk put me on 1st Avenue, by the Cultura Plaza, and immediately I was back in the active street environment that I rather liked in San Jose, and that Dodie had not been keen on.

1st Avenue

Sure enough, within a square block I encountered at least three bakeries. At least here bakeries, like in France, are easy to find. 

Looked good at this distance

I chose two likely looking items at one bakery, that I hoped would transport well enough for during our day, and strolled back to the hotel. Dodie and I do everything together, and we prefer it that way. But once in a while an independent excursion allows a different level of experience. In this case I much enjoyed the little walk, and my apparent bakery success. (Dodie says she enjoyed the peace and quiet.)

My satisfaction on the bakery front was short lived, as I set the bag with two goodies down on the table, ready to stash it in a pack. But already a stain of oil was spreading on the front of the bag. This set us to digging out a plastic bag, that could contain this oil strike while in the pack. I was also a little disconcerted by the hole the purchase had put in my 5000 colones note. It was about half gone, meaning I had spent more than $Can 6 for the two items. On reflection this was not that bad, but it did launch me on my "This sure is not France" mantra. Dodie says I say this in every country that is not France, forcing the necessary "Well duh!" response from her.

Oh, oh, really greasy

Satisfyingly twenty minutes early, the driver from the hotel/tour group appeared and quickly we were off. Now on a different road route from the one we had traveled from the airport area, we were keen to see its cycling possibility. But no, at first it was a busy and large no shoulder road. It then changed to a small, busy, and very curvy no shoulder road. We descended in a ravine (maybe the same stream as we had walked beside yesterday) and ascended - very steeply and with many blind curves. At some points in the brief ride we almost thought the bikes could do it, but soon our optimism would be dashed. But look, we are still very near San Jose, and the jury is still somewhat out.

Is that a bit of a shoulder?

Oh oh same scene as on the road from the airport area.

Windy and hilly roads

The hotel turned out to be just what we expected and had hoped for. As we stood by the check-in desk discussing what to do with our packs until check-in (it was not yet even 10 a.m.) I could spy bits of jungly garden out the back door, and was very eager to go see. The hotel offered an early check-in for $35, and we went for it, soon installing ourselves in what turned out to be huge room, with great desk and two large beds. A/C is lacking however, and we understand that many of our stays will not have it. That's kind of fine, because A/C eats huge amounts of power in this eco-conscious country.

Really large and nice room.

Some shots of the grounds, birds, and squirrels:

Datura are found all over the garden

  Baltimore Oriole

Jungly Helliconia

Steps to a blind/viewing platform. This also helped during the periodic tropical showers.

Variegated Squirrel

Ceiba (Kapock) tree

Rufus tailed hummingbird

A jungly path

Mott Mott

Rufous Backed Sparrow

These cute squirrels are all over

Found growing at ground level

Our room also has a large balcony, with the hoped for view of the gardens. It would make a great bird hide, except that here on the third floor the distance is rather great. Of course, that doesn't mean I won't try, especially late in the evening or extra early in the morning.

We quickly set off (at ground level!) into the gardens, which are fully landscaped with gorgeous tropical trees and plants. And Dodie, of course, soon began to spot birds and butterflies and squirrels. One thing lacking here, that I read will be at other stops, is a bird feeding station. That means we have to resort to the traditional method of being observant - Dodie's strong point. When Dodie spots something she of course will pipe up with something like "Bird, in that tree, on the bare branch, down low" or similar. That's my cue for "What, what, where, where?" until finally the bird penetrates my consciousness. Of course, it will be obvious now - Right There!

Especially by putting Susan's camera in Dodie's hand, I was hoping to shortcut the process, by having Dodie just shoot the darn thing. But my superpower (weak as it may be) is in handling the camera. If I would pipe up "Increase the shutter speed and adjust the exposure compensation", now it would be Dodie with the "what, what, where, where?". So as in everything with us, it seems, its a joint effort.

The tour company sprung for lunch for those of the group that were around, plus our guide, Alex Costa. The food was excellent, though we just split a consado, having already split in our room a "Thai salad" brought from San Jose.

By 2:30 we rejoined our guide, with the full group  being 10. There were Canadians, Americans, and one fellow from England, all retired and somewhat in our age category, though we are probably the oldest.

Alex, with some happy clients behind.

Two of our group, spied from our room.

We   set off together onto the grounds, and it was great having Alex to lead us around, and to identify birds. The only thing, Alex and some of the others had superior spotting ability. It seemed they would stand around, where I and even Dodie saw nothing, and call out the names of different birds. Usually, it  seemed the birds were quite distant, and I was struggling to locate and possibly photograph what they were identifying, while Dodie had little chance, with the smaller camera.

We do love walking in nature, but after four hours of walking and desperately trying to see what people were talking about, I was getting quite tired and frustrated, and Dodie was exhausted.

Alex then ran through the plan for tomorrow. He explained that we were probably on the only flat ground we would be seeing any time soon, and that we were about to pass over the continental divide in the van, and descend almost all the way to the Caribbean. We could expect to be cold and then hot. I think he also said that at noon we would be at some great elevation and then walk up a further 2000 feet on rough trail. He advised sturdy shoes, long pants, raincoat. I may have this wrong. But I forgot to ask when we would lounge at bird feeders by a pool!

                                

The way out from San Jose

Swarming around the grounds for 4 or 6 hours!

Here is some of what we did see in the afternoon. I will try to add captions that identify the birds (the squirrel and the iguana too) as soon as possible:

Brown Jay

Orchid captured by Dodie with "Susan's camera"

Dodie and Susan's camera as well

The experience here at the hotel has been first rate in every respect. We have the large rooms, gorgeous grounds full of birds, and amazingly good food. On that last score, tonight at dinner I chose not the most elaborate "starter" salad. Look what I got:

The simplest starter salad

A group tour is something new to us, and not a way we would normally choose. For example, just to get along, we have to learn everyone's names. This photo and caption should be a help until we firmly associate the people with their names.

The group: going around the table clockwise: Stephen, Lisa, Jeff, Neil, Klaaske, Alex, Georgia, Bill, Linda, and Dodie