We’ve just spent our first full day in Costa Rica, having landed here late yesterday evening. We spent our first night in the Tripp Family Inn, a large guest house very near the airport in Alajuela and after picking up our hire vehicle we’ve arrived at Bosque De Paz - a private reserve in the Central Valley which is renowned for bird-watching.

Getting here was far more of a chore than was previously indicated - although only 75 or so kilometres from the airport, thanks to poor road signs and dithering on our part we managed to miss a turnoff and had to drive almost another 10km along the interstate in the opposite direction. Add overshooting another turnoff by yet another 10km and what should’ve been an hours drive took nearly three. Lesson learned here - allow for a lot more time than you’ll think you need to your drive if you’ve got stuff planned for the day- plenty of articulated trucks and steep inclines conspire to make your journey longer.

We arrived at Bosque De Paz just before 3pm, by which time the weather had turned from brilliant sunshine to misty and overcast (they don’t call this the “Cloud Forest” for nothing). We were greeted by the owner, a friendly guy in his mid-fifties who was very conversational and on learning that we’d been driving since breakfast asked us if we wanted to him to re-open the restaurant - to which we gratefully accepted.

After lunch we were led to our room by the wife of the owner, where we passed beautifully landscaped grounds that blended seamlessly into the surrounding jungle. A fast re-sculpted river flowed through leading up to a small garden area, featuring an array of bird feeders and feeding tables where large blue-beaked guans were eating furiously. Hummingbirds were darting backwards and forwards between the smaller feeders, landing, taking food and disappearing again in the blink of an eye.

After settling into our room, we attempted one of the shorter hiking trails - we didn’t have much time, as it was quite late in the day by this point and it was already getting dark. However, we managed to get a good hour of walking in, following the river downstream and back again. We didn’t see anything in the way of fauna on our way ‘round the well signposted trail route, but the distinctive sound of howler monkeys could be heard in the distance.

By the time we made it back to the lodge, the weather was deteriorating rapidly and darkness was setting in. Nothing else to do but to head down for dinner, and get an early night in preparation for tomorrow’s 6am walk.