More Birds of Quanacastre, Costa Rica

I took the Swiss Travel Tour to the Verano private ranch.  It was horseback riding and zip lining, hot springs and great dinner.  I happened to have my long bird lens along so got a few more bird pictures.  I had to leave that camera with the driver along with my bag because the zip lining through the jungle wasn't a place for a big over the shoulder bag. A packsack with two shoulder straps would have been fine.  I certainly didn't need the big zoom for the shots of that tour. The guide, Allehandra, figured the best birding pictures would be on the river boat tours.  As it was I got some interesting bird pictures so am adding these here. I love the white throated magpie jay. The white winged dove . I couldn't figure out for sure what this little brown bird was though it may be the clay coloured robin, the Cposta Rica National Bird.I liked the group of big birds which were either black or turkey vultures. 

Costa Rica - Swiss Travel Tours - Horseback Riding - Zip Lining - Hot Springs

I loved the day long tour arranged for about $100 with the Swiss Travel Tours.  Alehandra was the tour guide. He was fun and a wealth of information about local sights and customs.  I was the old guy with a terrific group of young people from Ohio and Pennsylvania.  Nurse, OT, Executive Assistant and Financial Planner.  As representatives of todays young adults there is serious hope for the future.  My office assistant Joanne had said her parents loved the zip lining through the jungle heights. I'm now convinced they are younger and in better shape than me. I had the idea of something less exciting and less strenous.  It was way more fun. I really loved the horseback ride. The whole tour occurred on a private ranch. I'm pretty sure it was Verdanna.  This is a terrific place, a functing farm that produced most of the food we later had for a magnificent meal at the end of a great day.  The white hatted cowboy - horse master - really was the real thing. The horses were obviously family. Nothing 'trail ride' about this group. Really well cared for horses which the family themselves were riding about their fields.  It was a thoroughly beautiful ranch near the volcano.  Great to see this beautiful countryside .On the ranch horses were an active means of transportation. As grandad was a big northern rancher I really appreciate cared for horses and ranch and farm folk that really take pride in their world. One of the sons accompanied us on the ride and spoke with enthusiasm about building an additional water slide complex to add to their already luxurious hotsprings complex. The water is natural mineral healing water but it's heated because it cools off getting to the pool. I liked the honesty. I liked everything about this. The company was funny too. I wished I'd had more time for more tours. The river boat tours were popular and Alehandra said these were great for bird pictures.  These are horseback riding pictures.  I have to put the zip lining ones on the next blog. 

Quanacaste Costa Rica - just out and about

I'm staying at the the Hilton Papagayos Resort and Spa. I was here for the Medical Studies Abroad "Basic Medical Spanish" course.  It's the end of January and the weather has been excellent, hot, with no rain. I've not worn a jacket or sweater the whole time I've been here. Mostly shorts, t shirts and sandals. I completed the course and got the certificate.  I booked a couple of days extra for scuba diving and hiking in the nearby national park where the hotsprings and zip lining in the jungle is.  Those pictures are to come. We've had time off in the day for sightseeing and I rented a car so could drive about a bit.  There's a lot of bicycling here and also motorcycling.  I found the driving a bit 'aggressivo' in Liberia but in the countryside it's been okay. The beautiful modern white church is in the centre of Liberia. Night time was worse and I suspect that some of the other drivers may have been drinking despite that being very heavily penalized here.  I'd certainly recommend day time driving in the Quanacastre region.  I was also out snorkeling on a boat dive and loved it. 

Rodeo - Liberia, Costa Rica

I drove to Liberia for dinner eating a terrific meal in the restaurant just behind the church. I actually went to church but other than "Le Senor" couldn't make much of what was happening. Some colour festival.  So prayed and went on to dinner.  Marvellous Pollo.  Our Spanish teacher told us Costa Rica was known for it's chicken and fish.
After driving home I came across a rodeo, stopped and joined in. What fun.  The riders rode the bulls well.  I've got some of it on video so when I have time I'll upload it to utube as that's what I need to do first to load it to the blog.  In the meantime these are poor night  shots I took. Everything was happening very fast so the camera can't be faulted. What was funniest was that once the rider was thrown or the bull stopped and he jumped off the kids in the ring had the job of convincing the bull to go back into the stall. The bull's were out and wanted to chase and poke humans a bit before they were ready to go back to bed.  Lots of excitement.