6/16 -- Travel to Quepos

We got an early start and headed west and south toward the Pacific Ocean and lowlands. We arrived at our lunch spot about a half hour early, and walked to the bridge across the nearby river to observe the local crocodiles. A recent drone flight captured over 100 in a 2-mile stretch.  We saw over 2 dozen on the river bank and a few in the water.

On our way to the crocodile bridge, this guy
posed for us.

After lunch, we saw several macaws in the trees outside the restaurant, then hopped onto a luxurious (translation: clean and well padded) wagon pulled by a tractor to ride to a local farm to start a boat ride up and down the river. On the way, we stopped for another couple of trees full of  macaws.

Iguana

Varigated Squirrels

First Macaws

On the boat, we headed upstream to try to spot local birds and animals, before heading back downstream to the mouth of the river were there were several types of mangrove trees.

Roseate Spoonbill and friend

There were herds of horses and cattle along the river too.

The gap in the vegetation is where the Pacific Ocean is.

Mangrove trees

 

Orchids, above and below

Back in the bus, we continued to Quepos where we will stay 2 nights, primarily to visit Manual Antonio National Park. Instead of a group dinner, we opted to visit the local grocery store and picked up Costa Rican tortilla chips, salsa, and a bottle of rose wine.

The closest we came to seeing a sunset -- rare for any sky to be
visible during the afternoon and early evening.