January 31, 2022 - La Fortuna, Costa Rica

It rained during the night last night and was STILL cloudy today. We decided to take a walk and went all around the neighborhood where our apartment is locate and back into the main part of town. The church is located in the main square and on a clear day the Arenal Volcano is visible behind the church. Not today!This is a photo from jameskaiser.com that shows the church and volcano – quite a difference!We walked and walked looking in the stores and made our way back to the apartment. Ann made the mistake of petting a cute (but stray) dog and it followed us all the way home! There are so many dogs everywhere, it is hard not to pet them!

This afternoon we did a little shopping trip then went back to Bogarin Trail. We walked around looking for sloths and birds without much success. We heard one of the guides ahead of us and slowly came their way. We finally saw one sloth and her baby! We watched her for quite a while before moving on.Back at the entrance there is a small pond and feeders set up with chairs for bird watching.

Blue-gray TanagerTwo Crimson-collared Tanager, Blue-gray Tanager, Clay-colored thrush, and Red-legged Honeycreeper (blue and black)Blue-gray tanager and Green HoneycreeperPasserinis Tanager (red on tail)Yellow-throated EuphoniaCrimson-collared TanagerGreen parrotsGreen HoneycreeperThere were several other birds, but it was difficult to take the pictures. It started raining so we decided to take off. We went for a short drive and crossed a bridge that had a rope swing over the river. We stopped to watch the folks in the water.This guy used a long branch to catch the rope and out he went.It looked like they were having fun, but after doing the Tarzan swing at Monteverde, there is NO WAY I wanted to try this!

This is our last night in La Fortuna and we will have to say goodbye to our little resident lizard that lives in our bathroom. He is less than 2” long and just hangs out near the shower or behind the cabinet. You can see he has little tiny spots on his black body. It is raining again tonight, but held off while we went for dinner. Tomorrow we head to Tamarindo for some more beach time and hopefully sunshine! Pura Vida!