Most of us arranged for an early breakfast as there were a variety of actvities and we wanted to cram in as much of the mountain experience as possible. Jan and I had a typical Costa Rican breakfast of rice, beans, egg on a small tortilla, fried plantain. It was quite good and very filling.
Then I headed off with Dave and Barb to the Curi-Cancha Reserve to check for birds with our guide John. Jan headed off with another group to trek the Hanging Bridges in the Cloud Forest.
Curi-Cancha offered up a good assortment of Costa Rican birds as well as some wildlife and our guide John was very knowledgeable. We saw a Great Curassow, a Keel Billed Toucan, a Northern Emerald Toucanet, a number of warblers, a couple of thrushes, and flycatchers as just some of our sightings. As for the wildlife, we encountered a troup of peccaries and Dave and Barb saw an anteater.
In the afternoon Jan headed off to the bat museum where she learned some fascinating facts about bats while I did the Hanging Bridges trek that she had done in the morning. Whille waiting for our guide we discovered a Black Guan up in a nearby tree. Our guide was very knowledgeable and was able to point out a lot of birds – some of which I had seen earlier but some new ones – especially the beautiful Trogon. The last bridge of the trek was reached by climbing up three stories inside of a tree formed by the strangler fig. It was scarey but I managed the climb. Rob and Yves led the way and encouraged me to keep going.
We finiished the evening at a great Italian restaurant within walking distance of our hotel.