2.6.23
Oxley (with Mr D)
Mr D picked me up at 6.15, on site 10 minutes later.
The track was very birdy to start with, but much quieter further on and on the walk back 2 hours later.
Birds of note: Varied Triller and a Rose Robin along the track and 2 Brown Goshawks and 2 Brown Falcons seen from the pond area, the latter flew by overhead. Another similar style raptor flew off low over the trees at the end of the track, but wasn’t seen well enough to identify conclusively.
Notably low in number – Fairy-wrens, with only 3 or 4 Red-backed and 2 Superb seen and no Brown Quail - they have been absent since the flooding over a year ago.
Breakfast at Art & Gusto at Sherwood as usual.
4.6.23
Oxley (with Mr P)
Mr P picked me up at 6.15, on site 10 minutes later. Despite the fact that I had been at Oxley 2 days previously, I was happy to bird it again.
Birds of note: we climbed the gate and walked in to the flooded field area – 1 male Chestnut Teal among 30 or so Grey Teal – probably a couple of female Chestnuts but distance didn’t help identification. On our way back out we flushed a pair of small quail from trackside and agreed they were King Quail given their size, flight pattern and ‘dark look’. A new site tick for both of us.
Trying to re-flush them for a second view, we found a flock of 15-20 Chestnut-breasted Mannikins, but failed to re-see the quail.
Other species present that were not on site 2 days before – Australian Grebe, Australian Golden Whistler, Royal Spoonbill. Other species NOT present at this visit, that WERE on site 2 days ago – Red-backed Fairy-wren, Brown Goshawk, Brown Falcon, Rose Robin, Varied Triller ect.
50 species seen on Friday, 49 species recorded this visit.
Coffee at Mackers followed.
25.6.23
Sandy Camp (with Mr D & Mr P!!)
I picked up Mr D just after 6 and Mr P at 6.15 - on site shortly afterwards.
Usual list, the area was very birdy with lots of small bird activity and the usual specimens on the ponds. We had two targets – both long-staying visitors from more distant areas – Western Gerygone and Russet-tailed Thrush, the latter a really unusual bird for this lowland, coastal habitat in Queensland. Usually these birds are restricted to upland rainforest – Lamington plateau, Mt Glorious etc – but this one had been hanging around this location for over a month. The Western Gerygone had also been present for some time, usually only being seen west of the range, but a few scattered records around SEQ in recent months could probably be attributed to more birders being aware and being knowledgeable.
We wandered around the tracks for a while looking specifically for the Thrush, finally finding it just in time to have it flushed by a civilian non-birding walker. It was a good site tick, but the views were minimal.
We spent a lot of time checking individual Gerygones finding a surplus of Mangrove Gerygones, but failing to connect with the Western target.
One does actually wonder if some folk are ‘seeing’ a Mangrove GG and assuming it’s a Western, just because someone else has seen the latter? Casting no aspersions, just an observation! They are very alike and Gerygones can be difficult to see clearly, spending most of their time in the canopy flitting around. None of the birds we saw reacted to any Gerygone playback, so that eliminates any ‘audio-reaction’. It is true anyway, that most Gerygones will respond to ANY Gerygone playback – when they’re in the mood. Today they weren’t.
We went to The Rabbit Hole for breakfast. I refused to pay $25 for eggs on toast and settled for coffee while the others ate. Coffee and service were very good, but that price for eggs on toast? That’s taking the piss.
COSTA RICA & CUBA
28.6.23 – 13.8.23
So, the plan was to go to Costa Rica for a month, then Cuba for two weeks, returning to CR to fly home.
On Friday 23rd - 5 days before we were due to start flying - I received an email from the Cuban car hire company (from Germany – TUI cars) advising that obtaining fuel could be an issue.
It read, in part, as follows…
Due to a fuel supply bottleneck, Cuba is currently rationing to private individuals. In addition, a nationwide supply at the filling stations cannot be guaranteed everywhere.
Our local partner informed us that in Varadero, Havana and the Keys (Cayo Santa María & Cayo Coco) tourists are provided with limited amounts of petrol of 15 or 20 liters per day. However, on some days there may be no fuel available.
In the inland provinces and cities, the situation is more complicated as far as fuel supply is concerned, since there is no specific supply for tourists and there are sometimes long queues in front of the gas stations.
On the Sunday night (25.6) I called Mr H and we discussed the situation. As a result of that discussion we decided to abort the Cuba part of our trip. We both felt ‘uncomfortable’ with the potential issues of getting stranded and didn’t want the stress to spoil our ‘holiday’. This then entailed me cancelling the car hire (payment was due to be completed on Thursday 29th) and the, already paid for, return flights from CR to Cuba. Mr H would deal with any bookings he had made for accommodation in Cuba.
We talked about options for the, now vacant, two weeks, but decided to just extend our stay in CR.
So…… our trip became
COSTA RICA & CUBA
28.6.23 – 13.8.23
Day 1 Wednesday 28.6.23
My day started at 2.00am, woken from a light, paranoid, I-might-miss-the-alarm-clock-if-I-fall-asleep-properly doze to a message on my phone from the GoToGate app I had loaded.
When I had booked my flight through Skyscanner, I had been re-directed to the GoToGate agency to complete the purchase. Over the following weeks I had received emails from them advertising hotels, car hire, insurance etc – the usual stuff. Among these emails was encouragement to load their app so they could complete my check-in etc. I had decided to give them the job when checking in a couple of days before as it all seemed very complicated. I was flying to Sydney with Virgin, then the rest of the way via the USA (San Francisco & Houston) with United Airlines. I had never flown a route with a domestic transfer in the middle so I thought – easier to let the professionals do it….
The message on my phone at 2am advised me that they had been unable to check me in and I would have to do it on-line myself or at the airport!
Great!! Efficiency at its best! All their promises and expertise thrown out the window and here I am 4 hours before I am due to fly, at 2am sitting naked at my Mac trying to work out what to do.
I gave up after a short while, decided I’d work it out at the airport and went back to bed.
To be woken at 3am by the alarm I was afraid of missing.
By 3.25 I was dressed, had packed the last couple of items (IPad & laptop), closed windows, packed up rubbish, locked up and was waiting at the end of the driveway for the pre-booked Uber. He arrived on time and opened his boot for me to put my stuff in. I asked him not to use the tunnels and we arrived 25 minutes later at the airport with not another word spoken, cost $34.
I got my stuff out of the boot – he didn’t even leave the car – and he drove off - tipless.
The Virgin desks were vacant and there were few people around, but soon enough the check-in opened and I presented myself to one of the desks.
The representative printed all 4 boarding passes for me, all the way through to San Jose, Costa Rica and advised I would have to collect my check-in bag at San Francisco and re-check it in for transition to CR. The only hiccup was a necessary address in San Jose which I hadn’t prepared for – and which I had never got from Mr H. I sweated for a few minutes – then remembered that I had loaded the guest house location onto MapsMe on my iPad so I pulled it out and found an address on the map that satisfied her enquiry.
My 16kg bag disappeared into the airline system and I wondered if I’d ever see it again – I always wonder that, especially since my bag was misplaced once on the way to Ireland.
A coffee and a wait later and the Virgin airlines flight left 35 minutes late, arriving in Sydney just after 8.00.
I found my way to the transfer bus and the international terminal, queued through the security check, bought some duty free tobacco and an inflatable neck pillow thing (thought I’d give it a go. I couldn’t stand dragging a U shaped pillow around hanging off my bag, but an inflatable one? Maybe it would help?)
When I had booked my flight through the now, in my opinion, useless GoToGate crowd, I had been able to choose my seat on every flight. I had thought that was exceptional at the time, but it seemed to be OK. So I had booked a window seat on every flight.
The flight from Brisbane to Sydney had been a window – good – but when I checked my boarding pass for the rest of the flights, none were windows. WTF?
I asked at the desk at the gate, but they couldn’t change it for me as the flight was full – its ‘school holidays’? so I was stuck with a center aisle seat (3/4/3 seating combination) right at the back of the plane. When I got there I found half the seat taken over by a large African-American woman who should have been paying for two seats – or at least 1 and a half.
She squeezed most of herself back into her own seat and I fitted most of myself into the rest of my seat and thought about the next 14 hours…….
Still Day 1, Wednesday because we lost so much time we arrived in San Francisco at 7.00am the same day.
It wasn’t the most pleasant of flights.
Apart from being squeezed and in much closer bodily contact than I wished for with my neighbour there were a lot of kids on the flight crying and carrying on, the lockers all seemed to be full and the boarding was chaotic and we left a half hour late as a result, the meals were OK, but the service was bizarre – drinks arriving ages after the meal was served and eaten - and generally it all looked disorganised and just plain crazy. The turbulence was really dramatic – even at times the captain instructing the cabin staff to ‘get in your jump seats’ and constantly reminding passengers to buckle up and return to their seats – it was some of the worst I had ever experienced.
However, I did manage to get some sleep and used the on-board entertainment as much as possible to preserve my own entertainment for my stop overs.Disembarking in San Fran it took the best part of an hour to queue through customs – without drama – and then find my way to re-check my bag (easy) and go through another security check to get to the domestic terminal and gate for my next flight to Houston. Unfortunately that flight wasn’t scheduled until 18.30, so I had most of the day to wait.
Found my way to the gate, which was in the same airport precinct, got a coffee and sat down to update my blog and try to stay awake. The terminal was busy as shit and just getting a seat somewhere was a challenge. Eventually I did manage to get a seat at a desk with a power outlet so I could keep my laptop charged.
I checked my email and was pleased to see TUI cars had cancelled my car booking for Cuba before the payment had been made – excellent!
I was listening to what was going on around the gates I was sitting near - United seemed to be having a lot of trouble getting cabin staff to fulfil flights. I sat and waited for my scheduled departure at 18.37.
At 17.00 I was advised by text and email that the flight was delayed to 19.44
UA 514: Members of your flight crew are arriving late because of crew scheduling disruptions caused by thunderstorms along the East Coast yesterday. Right now, we expect them to arrive in time for a 7:44pm departure. We're sorry for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience.
All very polite and personal - as had been most of the announcements by United in the terminal - much more detail than I would have normally expected. Must be very competitive in the USA.
I had no immediate urgency to get to Houston as my flight to Costa Rica wasn't scheduled to depart until 9.30am the next day anyway and I didn't know what would be available in Houston after midnight - better the devil you know, I reckoned.
Even as I loaded this update another message arrived - flight delayed until 21.00 now.......its a 4 hour flight and a 2 hour time difference to Houston, so as long as we leave no later, maybe, than 1.30am? I should have enough time to transition...
At 19.00 the flight was cancelled – completely.
Small panic.
I enquired at a desk nearby and was advised to go to the United Customer Service desk in another section of the airport.
I walked the 10 minutes to get THERE and found a queue of, I would guess, at least 300 people straggling all the way down the airport. No choice but to join the queue. People were lying on the floor, sitting or standing looking like they had been there for days.
The girl in front of me in the queue said her friend had been in the same queue for 9 HOURS the previous day – and she was on her third scheduled flight, the previous two having being cancelled.
We moved slowly forward, step by very slow step.
Two hours and the 'customer service' desk - and I use that term very loosely - was not even in sight and I got a message from United – I was now booked on a flight to TAMPA, Florida, right across country, then to get on another flight BACK to Houston, Texas with the expectation I would then connect with the original Costa Rica flight at 9.30 the next morning.
I stayed in the endless Walking Dead queue until 22.00 – just in case – then left and walked the short distance to the advised gate.
(In the meantime the girl in front of me had her flight cancelled and re-booked – her third time….)
At the gate I got my new boarding pass, but the flight was delayed for some reason or other and we didn’t take off till 23.20 – 40 minutes late.
This meant that when I arrived in Tampa at 7.00am the next day I had missed the connecting flight to Houston and, of course would thus miss the original connecting flight to San Jose.
I found I was now booked on a flight to Houston at FOUR O’CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON, another 8 hours wait in an airport. This presumably would connect with a flight to San Jose at 18.15, to arrive in CR at 21.00, give or take.
That’s IF the flight to Houston was on time and IF I made the 51minute transition there.
I did get a bit of sleep on the Tampa flight stuck between two big All American dudes in the exit row, so at least we had a bit of leg space, but not much arm rest space due to my companions arm size…….
When I de-planed in Tampa my eyes were falling out of my head, I was absolutely knackered and was having difficulty thinking straight.
I managed to contact Mr H via WhatsApp.
He had just landed in Heathrow – 2 and half hours late and had, subsequently, missed HIS flight to Miami.
Jesus Bloody CHRIST! The trip from hell was underway.
I was ready to just go home, pull the sheets over my head and never fucking travel again.
I had now re-lived Wednesday 28th twice. Once in the plane from Sydney, the second time sitting in San Francisco airport. I had had a few hours doze and flown right across the states to have to wait another day in a fucking airport.
I went to Starbucks as the only option for takeaway coffee and a breakfast ‘sandwich’ and had a couple of smokes and felt a bit more ‘normal’.
Day 2 Thursday 29.6.23 (I think)
I am so fucking over this bullshit.
I hung out around the airport, obviously, for the necessary 8 hours and we finally boarded for the 1 hour 48 minute flight from Tampa to Houston. We left late, so what’s new? – and the captain announced we would be ‘a little longer than planned’ because Houston had changed the landing runway.
The cabin crew requested everyone remained seated to allow people with a short connection tine off first – which was pretty decent and most people complied. I’ve only ever seen that done once before and there were a surprising number of customers in that position. It turned into a mad scramble to get off.
I had been notified that I was landing at gate C2 and would board the flight to CR at gate C4 – so I figured that was OK, a few meters away.
The Tampa flight landed at 17.25 and we got off within 5 or 7 minutes.
The CR flight was scheduled to close boarding at 18.00 for a departure at 18.15. No problem - from C2 to C4, easy peasy!
When I turned my phone back on as I hurried down the air-bridge into the terminal, I got another message from United – the gate and time had changed.
It was now at E24 and departure scheduled for 20.36.
Another fucking delay.
It’s just a bad joke.
I made my way through the airport via my feet, escalators and even a Skyway train thing to E24 and when I got there we were told we would start boarding at 19.50 even though the pilots were coming in from another flight at 19.55 for a departure as listed… but we probably should expect more delays!!
No, REALLY?
FUCKING REALLY?????
The free WiFi in San Francisco and Tampa had been OK, but I couldn’t get connected in Houston.
Which means I didn’t know where Mr H was or what’s happened to him. I’m somehow still getting messages of doom from United Airlines, but nothing else.
I did eventually get brief WiFi by standing in the middle of the concourse, but it came....and went.
Finally boarded at 22.30, but it was after 23.00 before we actually left the ground.
Uneventful flight during which I slept on and off and watched the movie ‘Living’ with Bill Nighy which I enjoyed immensely.
 |
| As you can see it's a pretty small country between Nicaragua in the north and Panama to the south |
We landed, finally in Juan Santamaría International Airport in San Jose at 01.30 and proceeded through customs etc without drama. I had been quite worried (really shitting it actually) that my check-in bag may not have made it. I had received a txt message at one stage through the horrific last few days telling me the bag would NOT make it.
However after watching everyone else’s bags go round and round and the happy campers all head off for their holidays, I noticed a number of bags on the floor to one side and there resplendent in all its faded, scuffed glory was my bag! I almost kissed it – almost – but satisfied myself by hoicking it onto my back and staggered towards the great outdoors. Just before I got there I was approached by a dude in an orange shirt who asked if I wanted a taxi? Being the seasoned traveller than I like to think I am, I’m always wary of these approaches. However, after the mayhem of the last few days, my mind shattered by lack of sleep and airline food, my body weak and wobbly I just wanted to get to a bed somewhere so I said Yes, Yes, YES!
He recognized the address, took my backpack and led me outside to his taxi van.
I told him then, that I had no money apart from Euros and Australian dollars and did he know where the ATM was?
He did and like a gentleman escorted me upstairs to the departure area where I withdrew 100,000 Costa Rican colones – about $180AUD. Then back to the taxi and off we went in the pitch dark Costa Rica night where lightning could be seen flashing over the mountains, but where I was it was just hot and sticky.
We arrived outside the guest house Mr H had booked – the Swiss Guest House. It was deadly quiet – being 2.30am – and I hesitantly rang the bell wondering what I was going to do if no one answered. Give him his due, the taxi dude waited with me, he didn’t rush off.
Then again, maybe that was because I hadn’t actually paid him yet….
Anyway, a window opened and an older lady stuck her head out and asked, basically, WTF? And then said ‘Colin?’. I nearly fell over I was sooooooo relieved.
I paid the taxi dude – the cost was 34,000 and I gave him one of the only notes I had got at the ATM – 200,000. He asked how much change I wanted and I said just give me 100,000 – and basically doubled the cost of the fare as a tip – all up? $20 give or take.
He rattled off to celebrate his good fortune and I dragged my sorry ass and bags into the house, because that was really what it was and dumped them in the bedroom the lady showed me to. A double and a single bed, clean as a whistle, all tidy and well presented. Just what I needed.
We sat in the lounge room and I paid her the equivalent amount in colones as $60US, which had been the agreed cost. She gave me a bottle of cold water and I had a smoke outside before heading to bed.
Day 3 Friday 30.6.23
I had set the alarm for 8.00 and had agreed with the owner for breakfast at 10.00. I knew Mr H would not land before midday so there was minimal rush and I figured we (the unnamed lady and myself) needed as much sleep as we could get.
I was up, dressed and had my first Costa Rican bird – Great-tailed Grackle – before presenting myself for a breakfast of fruit (papaya, pineapple, banana), fried eggs on toast and coffee. At 11.00 I asked my host to call a cab and one arrived within a few minutes. Carried to the airport, I paid a similar amount for the fare and went into the departure area where the currency exchange office was now open, of course. I exchanged 400 Euro for 193,000 colones then headed down to wait for Mr H. I was carrying my backpack, laptop bag and small backpack carry-on as I had nowhere to leave them. It was a struggle, but the luggage trolleys required a payment of some sort so I had persevered. In the lift my luck took a turn for the better, someone had abandoned a luggage trolley in the lift which I happily appropriated and onto which I offloaded my bags.
I had a smoke then sat in the open-air Meet & Greet area from11.45, until finally at 13.30, when I had almost given up hope and was about to notify the local army dudes, Mr H came out of the Arrivals area – minus his check-in luggage…..
He had been delayed leaving Dublin, having bussed it down from Belfast and, as a result had missed his Miami connection with American Airlines in Heathrow, London.
He had then been flown to Mexico City x American and finally to San Jose x Mexican Airlines. He had been enquiring with Mexican Airlines who referred him to American Airlines who passed him to British Airways – where it had all started in Dublin….
They were proving very difficult to contact, but we promised ourselves we would work on it once we got settled.
We got a shuttle bus to the car rental company offices and, following discussion with the guy there, paid extra for complete insurance on the car AND extended the car hire for the extra two weeks at a reasonable rate, with full insurance as well – he gave us a good deal on the extension @ $51US a day. All extra money, but peace of mind in a country we don’t know much about and has the potential to be a bit hairy driving wise and road condition wise.
We got what we had requested - a Rav 4, automatic, with 116,000 ks on the clock. Was very glad later of the extra height!
I set up Maps Me on my iPad and set off for the advised 2.5 hour, 135 km drive to Monteverdi, our first stop off, me driving, Mr H navigating.
It took 3 hours and 45 minutes in the end, the traffic on the main road was horrendous at times – roadworks and a crash were the main causes. Speed limits varied from 40 – 80 Km/hr. Most people drove reasonably and I had little to worry about given the conditions.
We reached Monteverdi from the main road up a great, winding, narrow road with a good surface until we hit the potholes. Jesus Christ, they were vicious and extended right across the road in places so we had to ‘walk’ the car through them. However, I made good time anyway and we found our AirBnB down a dirt track and up another almost 4WD track to be a lovely twin bed unit overlooking what we expect to be a great view in the morning – it was dark when we finally got there.
We dumped our stuff and decided to get some food. Mr H suggested walking back to the village - which had looked very well supplied and quite busy and I agreed, somewhat reluctantly, but I know he likes to walk.
It started to spit rain about halfway along the 3 (?) km walk and by the time we had reached the first small supermarket and decided to buy some groceries the rain had increased. We headed back through the crashing thunder and stabbing lightning - a true tropical storm - and the rain became a torrent. We got some shelter from the worst of it under someone’s roadside verandah, then trudged on. Neither of us had any waterproofs of course. Mine were in the unit and Mr H’s somewhere between Dublin, London, Mexico City and God knows where else.
A bar/restaurant beckoned and we stopped off for a couple of on-the-premises-brewed beers, fried plantain, chicken wings (for Him) and a ‘Drunken Chicken salad’ with a Passion fruit dressing (!) for me. All up $60.
We got him a short while later, very damp, but full, slightly muzzy and ready to crash.
Birds? Well, driving all afternoon we didn’t get a chance to see much. However, we did see heaps of Great-tailed Grackles and White-winged Pigeons (we’d both seen both before), 2 Social Flycatchers perched on wires binned from the car while stuck in traffic, 3 Red-billed Pigeons, one at the car rental place and a couple along the road perched up and one Groove-billed Ani in similar conditions. Of course we did see other birds fly across the road or quick views while travelling, but decided not to call any of them. Vultures overhead mostly assumed to be Turkey – again we’ve seen them before.
Birds: 7 Lifers: 3
No comments:
Post a Comment