I have already said that Costa Rica is about the same size as West Virginia, but the mountains are not. Even though West Virginia has plenty of beautiful and rugged mountains, the tallest mountain in Costa Rica, Cerro Chirripo, is more than two and a half times taller than the State’s tallest. We didn’t make it to Cerro Chirripo, which has an elevation of 3,819 meters (12,530 feet) above sea level but we could see it on our route to Los Quetzales National Park. Driving a couple of hours, going from sea level to the parking lot (elevation 3000+ meters) at the park, it was immediately evident when I opened the door that things had changed. The air was much thinner and much colder. We had gotten used to the warmth of the coast and this was a bit of a shock to our systems.
When I entered the park office I was greeted by a smiling park ranger named Karen. I asked her what the chances were of seeing the animal the park is named after without a guide. She said, not very good. You have to know when and where to look. She said that she knew a local guide, Michael Granados, that she highly recommended and made arrangements for me to meet him. It turned out he also had a small cabin available for rent just off the road to San Gerardo. He showed us the place and we agreed to use him as a guide in the morning. He gave us a few recommendations for dinner and we chose a little place where they have a pond full of trout and within seconds you can catch your own dinner. It can’t be any fresher than that, and it was quite good. We talked to a couple who were staying in a cabin next to the restaurant and they said that the temperature had dropped below freezing the night before. That was not a pleasant thought for my wife, because she had only packed warm weather clothes. After dinner, we went back to our little cabin where we turned in early for a quiet night with a view of the stars in the clear night sky.
We had to wake up early, before the sunrise, in order to meet Michael and the rest of the people he was guiding. We drove to the location he thought we would find the Resplendent Quetzal; where a crowd had already gathered. (The picture above is of the crowd.) Sometimes it amazes my wife, what length that people will go to to see a bird. It didn’t take very long before we saw a pair perched in a wild avocado tree. They didn’t stay long in one place and the light was not yet very strong, so I didn’t get photos that are anywhere close to as good as Michael has on his flickr page (google Michael Granados Romero Photography). You can see mine by clicking here, with other photos from this area and it will give you some idea why this part of Costa Rica is popular with nature lovers like me, and good sports like my wife who don’t necessarily want to try to see it all. After we finished our quest, we stopped for breakfast at a little roadside restaurant where there were lots of little birds including hummingbirds that get so close you don’t need binoculars. After breakfast the temperature was perfect. Nevertheless, we headed back down the mountain to the coast with plans of another big day.