A Walk on the Wild Side (Thursday)

We arose early today - although not as early as we will tomorrow when we are heading up to Kuna Yala.  We went downstairs to get a cab - but that took rather a long time and so we were late getting to the Visitor Center at the Parque Metropolitano - said to be the largest park within 5 minutes of a city in the Americas.  There, we found our guide Archie.  He was such a great guide for our trip to the Embera earlier this week that we decided to take a bird watching hike with him.

And we are SO glad we did!

We paid our fee ($4 for foreigners) and DEET-ed up (BIG TIME!) and then hit the trails with Archie in the lead.  He was incredible, spotting many birds and then training his scope and his camera on them to bring them "up close and personal" for us.

Yes, the bugs were intense.  Yes, I did get stung by a wasp on my finger (again) and felt it swell along with my tongue - and luckily I was able to get a quick dissolving Loratadin antihistamine to counteract the reaction.  It stopped it, though it was almost an hour before my tongue stopped being swollen and numb.  And yes, by the end, my ankle was a firestorm of pain.

But it was worth it!

We saw:
House wrten
Clay-colored robin (the national bird of Costa Rica)
Seed eater
Tropical king bird (a flycatcher)
Collared Aracari (AKA the chestnut colored toucan) (Endangered)
Great tailed grackle
American Kestrel
Wood Creeper
Red throated tanager
Rusty-margined flycatcher
Black-tailed fly catcher (a new species for Archie - discovered during my wasp mini-crisis)
White vented plumeleteer hummingbird
Rufous-breasted wrten
Southern rough-winged swallow
Swifts
Crimson-backed tanager (both male and female)
Palm (?) tanagers
Blue-gray tanagers
Streaked flycatcher
Gray-headed tanager
Orange chin parakeet
Cocoa wood creeper
Squirrel cuckoo
Blue-black grosbeak
Slate-tailed trogan (male and female)
Common Potoo

Photos courtesy of Sewellyn (more to come)

We also saw many kinds of ants (Leaf-cutters, army ants, Azteca ants with the highest levels of formic acid, etc), yellow-striped turtles (Tropical Sliders), a Basilique lizard (AKA a Jesus-Christ lizard because it can walk on water), and many different trees and bushes including the curious "Tourist Tree" because it is red and it peels.

And, of course, a paper wasp nest on the ground and, of course, the wasp that stung me)  Plus Mosquitos.  Millions of Mosquitos!  Despite our heavy DEET-dip, we were covered with them.

But, despite the heat (sweat!) and bugs and neck-craned-up position, we had a fabulous morning!

And, totally spent, we returned back to Green Park to do laundry, clean up and pack for tomorrow and San Blas.