No Bird Flies by my Window- Lone Palm

Today we were up at the crack of dawn to check out some birds in the Tenorio National park. We met our guide at 6:00 AM in the lobby of the hotel and we were presently surprised to see that our hotel had packed us breakfast.

  

A few of the birds we saw on the way to park.

As we walked the short kilometer to the park's entrance our guide pointed out over 20 different bird species including, black mandabled toucans, great kiskadee, Red-footed honeycreeper, and lots of tanagers including the red rumped tanager which was my favorite.

Sounds of the forest

When we reached the national park the forest became lush and it was amazing to just stand silently listening to the undisturbed nature. We walked through both primary and secondary rain forest to get to the first of the parks main attractions, the waterfall. We walked down over 300 steps and which each step, I kept thinking about the long hike back up the stairs. However, when we reached the bottom, I was so amazed by the beauty the journey up seemed worth it.

At the top of the stairs, needed a little break and ate our fresh fruit. After our quick break, we headed towards the Blue Lagoon. While Kayla and I were checking out the water, our guide was looking across at the lime green leaves. Then the guide asked for my camera which confused Kayla and me but I handed it over. He snapped a few pictures of the green leaves before handing it back zoomed in on one of the leaves. I looked at the picture and asked the guide what he was trying to show me. Then he pointed out the eye of the Basilisk lizard also know as the Jesus Christ lizard because of its ability to walk on water.  It was incredible that he could have found it.

Can you find the lizard?
Answer at the bottom of the post.

After we had sufficiently checked out the lizard, we continued up to the Miravilla to see the three local volcano peaks. Our guide warned us that it had been cloudy since October so we probably won't have the opportunity to see it. However, our guide was surprised to see a perfect panoramic view of not just one but all three peaks. We did our best attempt at a panoramic shot of the peaks and carried on with our hike.

The three peaks: Tenorio 1, Tenorio 2 and Monteverde

Then we made our way across two suspension bridges to the most important part of the tour, the chemical change. The color present in Rio Celeste is due to a chemical reaction between 2 clear rivers and when they join together the color is instantly changed to the brilliant aqua marine that makes Rio Celeste a major attraction.

Two clear rivers joining to make the brilliant blue

We concluded our 8 Km hike by seeing two motmots. When we arrived back to the hotel at 10:30, we grabbed a small breakfast before they cleaned up and quickly packed our room. We were on the road to Arenal by noon.

Motmots in the tree.

When we got to Arenal, we drove around looking for the best deal before deciding to stay in the town of La Fortuna. We grabbed dinner at a local Spanish place where the owners were from a town near somewhat close to Madrid. The owner were so nice to us and the food was great. We were even brought a huge pitcher of sangria which Kayla and I barely put a dent in it. We made a quick pass though town for some shopping before calling it a night. In the morning we are going to take a boat to the small Quaker town of Monteverde and we will spend either one or two nights before heading back for another day in Arenal. 

SANGRIA!!!

Octopus soup, Spanish tortilla and steak sandwich

Here is our lizard friend