Sevegre to Las Cruces

From mountain heights at Sevegre  to lowlands near San Isidro to 4000 feet at Las Cruces.

I had turned up with vomiting and diarrhea at La Selva. The only thing I ate that Dodie didn't was the salad dressing, so that was likely the culprit. My condition improved a little, but did not fix, so I mostly gave up on eating, last night and today. Too bad, because all the food on offer has been so tempting. Discomfort was added to because the elevation at Sevegre is over 10,000 feet, and Dodie and I both were struggling a bit for breath. 10,000 feet did not used to bother us, in the Rockies, but now it does. Oh well, even Hillary eventually had to avoid higher altitude.

The view from our door at Sevegre

One turn of luck we did have, was that the heavy rains that seriously dampened both us and the cameras at La Selva, resulted in a catastrophic flood, but just after we left. For us it was a bit of a Valencia flood repeat. Apparently the waters reached as high as the dining hall, and all the areas where we had walked looking for birds were now a lagoon. 

La Selva today

Things would get a little tougher at first, in the present time, as our van clawed its way out of the Sevegre valley, spinning and twisted up the narrow, steep road. This effort landed us in an area generically termed the Paramo, which in South America in particular refers to a high plane. Paramo ecosystems are cold and humid, and that is certainly what we got. It was strange. We have been in heavy fog on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and here it was a bit like that, except that the water droplets were heavier. It definitely was not raining, but the soaking effect was equivalent. Alex, of course, cheerfully jumped out of the bus to look for species that for some reason like this area. There was a difference, though. The normally tough Alex was wearing a face mask.

Alex, masked

 

Tropical holiday

It is not raining, and it is mid day.

                        
The van then commenced a long decent. I fell asleep, and woke to find sunshine and heat.  We bailed out of the van to see what this environment might offer. Roadside Hawks were one of the things we found:

Roadside Hawk

We also stopped at a Supermarket. The original objective was to buy bananas for the birds at our destination, Las Cruces station. But now we bought four extras, to feed me as well. The road carried on, along a ridge with valleys on either side, and high mountains in the distance, on either side. This was not the coastal road, but it did parallel the coast. We also eventually passed extensive pineapple plantations. These were all signed Del Monte. While not necessarily decrying this enterprise, Alex does point out that large corporations like this have driven out the subsistence farmers, who end up crowding into San Jose.

Distant mountains, but not that distant!

Costa Rica's longest river, the Terraba

No place for a bike!

We passed through San Isidre, a town that Alex flagged as prosperous. Paradoxically he pointed to the presence here of Mcdonald's. He was not saying that McDonald's made the place great, but rather a decision by multi-nats to locate here was evidence that things were going well.

Further along we stopped at an Italian restaurant. We had also seen in Mexico that Italian restaurants can be very high quality in Latin America. They are particularly good with wood fired pizza. I know because someone gave me a crust, to eat with my banana!

After my pizza I sauntered over to the washroom, which had now been vacated by the remainder of our group. My bowels were stable, so it was just a matter of a pee. This did not take long, but when I went to exit, I found the door locked, from outside! Naturally I did my fair share of jiggling, to make sure that it was not a misunderstanding about how the door would open. Nope, something was barring it from the other side. It was all loose enough that I was pretty sure I could bust it open. Yet I didn't want to make a scene or break their nice restaurant. Fortunately I had my phone, but no number, for instance, for Alex the guide. Instead I sent a Whatsapp to the tour's Whatapp group. This was apparently intercepted by the tour company head, back in San Jose, and she called Alex. So it came to pass that I was rescued. At least had I been incarcerated there, I would have had a toilet! The snap below tells the story, except why did the door have a lock on the wrong side, and who locked it for me? This is mostly a mystery. Alex has the one theory about the reason for the lock. We see that the door handle mechanism is missing, so the latch was somebody's idea of how to keep the door closed in general. Good thinking?

Shortly after the restaurant, we arrived at La Cruces, the next research station on our list.

The Las Cruces lodge is run by the same organisation that is behind La Selva: The Organisation for Tropical Studies (OTS). OTS acquired Las Cruces in 1973 from Robert and Catherine Wilson, who founded the site in 1962 as a botanical garden and farm.

OTS also has rustic accommodation, which of course looks luxurious to us. The floors and furniture are made from tropical hardwood, and there is a balcony looking out to the jungle/gardens. The rooms are named for flowers, and we were pleased to be placed in "Ginger", though of course we like them all.

Some of the grounds at Los Cruces

We like it!

Best of all for us at Las Cruces is an observation deck overlooking the gardens. Alex pulled out the bananas that were not mine, and put them on the railing. After a while a variety of birds discovered this. Here are some we saw, though again we may lack the time and strength to do most IDs.

Crested Caracara looks down on the whole thing.

Golden Hooded Tanager

Buff Throated Saltator

The Saltator

Speckled Tanager

Scarlet Rump Tanager female

Silver Throated Tanager

Clay Colored Thrush

Golden Hooded Tanager

Palm Tanager

The Golden Hooded again

Scarlet Rumped Tanager

Dodie discusses a fine point with Bill, the pro photographer
on the bus

Golden Hooded Tanager

We were cautioned to keep our balcony doors closed, to avoid unwanted visitors. I think geckos, bats, and maybe monkeys were mentioned. But how about a cute agouti?