When we got to the entrance to the pipeline road we paid our fee, parked the car and started walking. We walked a little while before we decided it'd be better to drive on up to the Rainforest Discovery Center and maybe leave the car there. Fernando and Eva decided to keep on walking, so Guillermo and I decided that driving the car on up would avoid us having to walk all the way back to it. So, after looking in on the Rainforest Discovery Center (and not liking their entrance fee) we drove back out to the road, parked the car there and walked back down the pipeline road to meet up with Fernando and Eva.
Well, the birding was fine enough on the road but everyone is right that the major bird action happens a lot earlier. By the time we were walking the road, even by 8:15, the forest was mostly quiet. But we did get to see some interesting birds and several even that we had never seen before, so that was exciting! We walked back to the car after meeting up with Fernando and Eva and stopped there to have some drinks and snacks.
No one really wanted to go on to the Rainforest Discovery Center (mainly because of the entrance fee). Instead, it was decided that it'd be preferable to continue walking the pipeline road from where we were parked, since it seemed like fewer cars went on from that point. So, I told everyone that I'd go back to the Rainforest Center to buy some water and then I'd drive down in the car to wherever they were along the road and meet them there. They continued on and after getting the water, I drove back down the road and was surprised that after going just a very short distance, I saw the three of them just sitting on the side of the road. Then I saw why. There was a gate across the road at that point.
So, we parked the car there at the gate and continued walking. We hadn't gotten very far when we heard some loud screeching, which turned out to be the alarm call of an agouti. Fernando peered through the trees hoping to see whatever predator it was that was terrifying the agouti but the only thing he saw was the agouti sitting on a log. We waited a little while to see if the action would continue, but it didn't so we ventured on.
The pipeline road is a WONDERFUL road to walk along and look for birds. Although it was quite hot and humid, at times the sun went behind clouds and that made it more pleasant. There were a couple of times that we thought it was going to rain even, but it never did. The pipeline road is 24 kilometers long, so we could have walked all day and not seen it all. But around lunch time, we decided to turn around and head back. We planned on going to the nearby resort for lunch, but at $24 per person for the buffet, we thought it was too much so we decided to drive back to the causeway and eat at one of our favorite restaurants there. By the time we got to the restaurant it was close to 2pm and then by the time we were seated and waited on, it was probably close to 3:00. But we had a good, if not WAY too big meal there!!! Lots of meat and potatoes, for sure! We got a table outside with the view of the harbor so that was also very nice.
So, now we're stuffed and tired and ready to go back to the hotel and just rest for a while. After a good rest, we were in a quandry about what to do about getting something to eat for dinner, since really, none of us were much hungry at all. But we figured we should eat SOMEthing or we'd be hungry when it'd be too late to do something about it. It took us quite a while to figure out where we were going to go eat (we decided we'd like to go back to Casco Viejo to eat), and then it took some more time for the taxi to arrive, so we probably headed out close to 7:30. The taxi drove us to our first choice in where to eat, but when we got there, we saw that the place was closed. Which was ok with us, because that gave us an unexpected opportunity to walk around in Casco Viejo a little bit again, since we decided we should just walk on over to the place where we had drinks the day before.
So, we got our table there outside around the plaza, and we all tried to find dishes that weren't going to be a ton of food. It worked out - the dishes were good and not too much food - and just as good was the atmosphere of just sitting at an outside table in the nice balmy weather.
It's kind of sad that the above is the only picture we have of the whole day, especially since it was so nice on the Pipeline road. Sometimes it's just easier to not bring out the camera, but later, we regret it.....
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