Between Christmas and New Year’s Ticos, as Costa Ricans are known, take the week off and head for the beaches and the national parks. We had hoped to go from La Cruz to Laguna Arenal in the mountains but the hotels were full and it began to look like we might have a tough time finding a place anywhere in Costa Rica. Instead we drove to Liberia and secured what may be the last decent room in town. We are booked for four nights at Hotel Bramadero and plan on just hanging out until things settle down. While waiting for our room to be readied we drove 35 miles to Playa Brasilito to check out the beach and made reservations to stay there until next Friday. In between we will try to get reservations in the Arenal area.
The beaches are nice but crowded over the holiday. Birding in the area has been good. New finds include; Limpkin, Purple Gallinule, Snail Kite, White Ibis, Tiger Heron, Black-headed Trogan, Magpie Jay, Thick-knee and several parrots. We also saw several huge and colorful iguanas and our first coati.
