Day 10: Monday, February 26

Today we had an interesting early morning wake-up call – screeching noises made by the Gray Neck Wood Rail. It’s a ground dweller that thinks like a rooster – sun’s up, everybody else should be!

After breakfast, we were back on the bus, driving south. We went for about an hour through nothing but African Palms.

This is some of the housing built for the Nicaraguan migrant workers. There are 4-5 families in each house; the pay is very low, but still better than they can do back home. The government deports them occasionally, but the Costa Ricans won’t work on the farms. In Costa Rica, there are nearly 1 Million illegal immigrants: in a country with a population of only 4 million.

While we were stopped, we saw a Common Roadside Hawk. Clever name.

After miles of palm trees, we started seeing cattle ranches. They raise mostly white Brahmin cattle for beef – these are originally from India and are adapted to hot climates.

We took a bano break at the little town of Dominical – nice town near the ocean and the river. We stopped at the Café Delicias.

Also walked around a bit – other shops, school kids, rocky road, local traffic.

Somewhere along the way, we picked up a large rock – stuck in between two of the back tires. After a few anxious moments of Alex rocking the bus back and forth, Minor got the rock out – it was about the size of a softball. With that, we started up the mountain – and saw a pair of Swallowtail Kites.

Over the first range of mountains, we drove through the San Isidro Valley, also known as the Valley of the Saints because all of the towns are named for saints. Here we headed to Finca de Don Tavo for lunch.

This is a combination vegetable farm, cattle ranch, bar and restaurant. Lunch was the traditional Costa Rican casado: white marlin, bean and rice, heart of palm peccadillo, salad, and a dessert called miel de coco (coconut with honey).

After lunch, we were given a tour by the owner’s daughter, Veracruz. She explained that this is a small (200 acres) multi-purpose farm, so things must be very efficient to be profitable. They raise beef cattle (white Brahmin), dairy cattle (Holstein), sugar cane, coffee, and tropical grasses (to feed the cows).

They have about 20 dairy cows that are milked two times daily, at 3:00 AM and at 2:30 PM. The cows are put out to pasture for several hours after each milking.

One poor cow, named Valentine, got herself volunteered to be milked by our group. She survived.

From the farm, we headed up the next mountain range, Cerro de la Muerta, and stopped at La Georgina for bano and birdwatching. We saw a Rufous-Colored Sparrow and a Large-Footed Finch. The owners have several hummingbird feeders that attract a couple of rare birds: the Magnificent Hummingbird and the Fiery Throated Hummingbird.

We stopped again at the summit – 11,250 and cold wind blowing. Thanks to Humbolt’s Law (every 3000 feet higher elevation is equivalent to moving 67 miles further north), we saw all sorts of temperate region plants like oak trees.

Finally in late afternoon, we arrived at Trogon Lodge near the town of San Gerardo de Dota – in the “bottom” of a deep valley, elevation 800 feet. Our bags were unloaded and delivered to our room – a little cabin halfway up the hill!