Trips abroad without adequate planning can often provide surprises.
I learned on Wednesday that my wife and children were going to be gone the coming weekend. I don’t remember what the reason was.
Immediately, I said to myself, “What am I going to do this weekend?”
The very next thought was, “Hey, this is a great opportunity to go to Costa Rica for some quick birding at La Selva Research Station. I have not been able to get there on my prior trips. I can probably get a day and one half of birding if I leave on Friday afternoon and come back Sunday night.”
I was a very frequent flyer for business reasons, so I had accumulated a large number of frequent flyer miles on American Airlines. Thus, I was usually able to get free tickets. I immediately got on the phone with American and soon had arranged a flight leaving Washington to Miami late Friday afternoon. That flight connected to a flight to San Jose, Costa Rica that got in late Friday night. Coming home, there was an early afternoon flight on Sunday from San Jose to Miami that connected to a flight back to Washington getting me back early Monday morning.
“Zowie!!”, I thought, “I can do this.”
Of course, the arrangements didn’t end there, but business needs took over and I did not get back at it until early Friday morning. I was able to book a cheap room for late Friday night at the Casa Carmen, very near the airport.
Figure 1: Accommodation at Casa Carmen
It was too late to get a rent-a-car for that night. I was able to book a car for early Saturday morning. They agreed to deliver the car to Casa Carmen at 7:00 AM Saturday morning.
I then wanted to make reservations at La Selva or someplace nearby, but I ran out of time. I had to get to the airport early because I had to go through passport control as well as check my bags. I forgot which Washington airport I was leaving from.
“Well.”, I thought, “I can take care of that when I get there. There is accommodation at La Selva.”
All went well. I was up early Saturday morning and had a bit of breakfast. My car arrived on time, and I was off to La Selva. It was only a little more than 50 miles to La Selva. Up over the mountain past Braulio Carillo NP and down the Atlantic slope into the lowland Atlantic rainforest. It took almost 2 hours to get there.
At last, La Selva (the jungle) Biological Station. La Selva Biological Station is a protected area of almost 4000 acres of low-land tropical rain forest in northeastern Costa Rica. It is owned and operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies, a consortium of universities and research institutions from the United States, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico.
Figure 2: La Selva Biological Station
It was a little after 9 when I entered the front office and inquired about a room for the night.
The attendant said, “I am sorry, but we are completely booked for tonight. We always get a lot of traffic on the weekends.”
“Is there anywhere else nearby?”, I asked.
“Oh, yes. There are hotels in town. Should be no problem.”
The town of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí was quite nearby. That sounded good. My guess was that the town had 10 to 20 thousand people so there should be plenty of hotels. This was the days before cellphones, but I had my trusty copy of Lonely Planet for Costa Rica.
I had my target list of birds that I hoped to see, and it was starting to get hot. I wanted to get out on the trails while the birds were still active. So off I went in search of Bare-necked Umbrella Bird, Red-capped Manakin, Great Antshrike, and the Rufous-tailed Jacamar.
Figure 3: Bare-necked Umbrellabird
It was a great day birding. I saw all my targets except Red-Capped Manakin, as well as lots and lots of other birds, many new to me
Figure 4: Red-capped Manakin
“Oh, well.”, I thought, “I’ll get it in the morning.”
Off to town I went with my Lonely Planet. I am not going to bore you with the details. No luck. Nothing was available.
They told me, “People come down from San Jose for the weekend. They want to get out of the city. We are usually booked on the weekend. During the week we have plenty of vacancy.”
Ouch. It was getting dark. I did not fancy driving back to San Jose over mountain roads in the dark. Maybe I was going to be sleeping in the car, something I did not relish.
Reluctantly, I headed back to San Jose. About a half hour later, just as night was falling, I passed a youth hostel on the left side of the road.
Figure 5:Typical Costa Rican Youth Hostel
“What have I got to lose?”, I thought. I stopped, backed up, and pulled in front of the place.
There was a man in his late thirties sitting on the front porch. I’ll call him Juan.
“Sir, any chance I can get a place to sleep tonight?”
Juan answered, “Well, you are sort of in luck. I am the owner. I come down from the city for the weekends. All the communal bunks are occupied, but I have a bunkbed in my quarters and the top bunk is not spoken for.”
“I’ll take it.”, I said without hesitation. “Show me the way. I am exhausted.”
He said,” Please pay me first, and then I will take you there.”
I handed him the cash and we headed inside.
“Here it is.” he said, “The top bunk is yours. You can take your gear out of the car and stick it in the corner”
Figure 6: My bed for the night
I went and got my stuff from the car, took off the clothes that had jungle rot, climbed up into the top bunk, and was soon fast asleep.
I awoke some time later, very groggy. The whole bed frame was shaking. As I became more awake, I began to hear grunting and groaning.
“Oh,”, I said to myself, “They are down there doing it.” And as I said that it dawned on me that there were two men down there doing it.
With that I started to worry that they were going to come up to get at me. As a generality, other people’s sexuality is their business and none of mine. But I am not of that persuasion and don’t want to be.
They did not bother me. They just went about their business and were soon asleep. I don’t think I slept a wink the rest of the night.
The next morning, I found out that the owner came from San Jose on weekends specifically to meet his lover. I was happy that he was happy. It would have been nice if I had been warned.
Even though I was very tired, I went back to La Selva and was lucky enough to observe the Red-capped Manakin.
I then headed back to San Jose, caught my flight and was soon back home, exhausted.
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