Cuba, Costa Rica and a bit of the US.: Day 21. 23.4.16. Costa Verde Hotel, Manuel Antonio to Bouganvillea Hotel, San Jose. GT day # 8.

Suzie checked for our laundry last night, mine has gone missing, must chase it up this morning. (We were pleasantly surprised at the cheap laundry prices, so got totally caught up – we figure they must use Nicaraguan laundry) We leave today to return to San Jose, so I really need that laundry.

Up before 5 today, it poured rain last night, went out on the balcony about 2am, it was super hot and humid, with lightning and rain most of the night.

A bit cooler at 5am, so sat in a rocking chair on the balcony to see what there is to see. Briefly saw a Hummingbird and then sorted photos and phaffed about. Over for breaky and to check on my laundry at 6.45 and was assured it would arrive in 20 minutes. I got it after breaky. At breaky I saw a Toucan alight on a tree, rang Suzie’s room, as she is hanging out to see a Toucan. It had flown before I was connected.

After breaky, Suzie and Jeannie were getting ready to eat the mangoes and passionfruit purchased last night, I went with computer as Jeannie needed some technical assistance, and you wouldn’t believe it we saw 3 or 4 Toucans at a distance and one came up to the palm with berries right beside the balcony. No good camera angles, but amazing to see and Suzie was pretty stoked that she was able to tick off one of her key wishes – a Toucan, and on the last day before returning to San Jose.

That black shape in the dry tree is a Toucan.

A view of the bay in the other direction from Suzie's balcony.

And another Toucan at a very long distance.

Cropped a bit closer.

And again.

Suzie, Jeannie and I walked towards Quepos for ATM, supermarket and to find a gallery we had driven past a number of times. An hour later and sweating buckets we hired a taxi to take us the last kilometre of so. Gallery was not much chop, but we did get our ($$) and necessities. Back for a shower and to check out.

A Capuchin monkey playing about on the wire above Jeannie as we walk along the roadside towards Quepos.

My Villa?

This is phone tower, heavily disguised as a tree.

Tried to capture some of the bottle light shades.

The Palm berry against the Palm trunk at my balcony.

Another bottle.

and again.

We went for lunch at Le Avion, another of the 4 restaurants within the massive grounds of Costa Verde. This is Jeannie and Margot’s last day with us, as they fly out early in the morning, from San Jose to Panama to Los Angeles to Melbourne.

Le Avion is built around a plane, with connections to the Cuban Contra affair. The fuselage is actually a bar.

After we had finished eating I spotted a sloth nearby. He was very green and actively moving between the trees. When I say green, they actually grow algae, as they are so slow moving. We watched him for ages. Next a couple of Squirrel Monkeys skipped by too – a good end to our stay in Manuel Antonio.

The green algae tinged sloth.

He was basically at the same height as us, as the restaurant was built up.

This one was moving about quite a bit.

The plane.

The fuselage is the Pub/Bar.

Hanging around.

They look big and bulky, but have hollow bones and are actually very lightweight.

He was moving around heaps, headed out a very thin branch, we could not figure what he was doing or where he was heading.

We did wonder if he was climbing down for his weekly poop. The sloth climb down to the ground once a week to poop. This way they don't leave any smells in the trees where they hang out.

Looking into the fuselage from the cargo hold, into the bar.

A video of the sloth moving around the trees.

We caught the hotel shuttle back to Coste Verde, to meet Carlos at 3pm, load up and begin the 180 km trip to San Jose. We retraced our route for 90 minutes or so – Palm Oil Plantations, Palm Oil Refinery, Bull Fighting Ring in Parillo, then to Jaco where we turned right for San Jose.

Palm Oil tree plantation.

Palm Oil refinery.

A cemetery.

An unfinished and empty development, the owner was caught money laundering and the building now lies derelict and going to waste.

Lots of fruit selling stores, passed a huge new construction, which is a new ‘free zone’ which are tax havens for international companies provided by the Costa Rica Government in return for employment for the people we guess.

Arrived at Hotel Bouganvillea via Carlos’s boss Wali’s mud map, which Carlos handed back to Suzie at a late point in the journey.

The mud map, that we were supposed to follow to assist Carlos. He asked Suzie to be his GPS. It was quite a funny time.

SOMEHOW we managed to find the Hotel, and enjoyed a delicious meal with Margot and Jeannie before a quick walk in the gardens to check out the frog ponds before bed.