Saturday, May 14, 2005

Back at the hotel, the rest of the contingent went to the artisan village next to the hotel for lunch while I was content to eat our cheese and cracker snacks and watch two Toucans fly around the grounds. When I joined backed up with Bev, Pop, and the boys, we strolled around the artisan village and saw more Toucans being heckled by other smaller birds (Toucans are egg eaters!). We stopped in an idyllic open air chapel with a water wall behind the alter and visited the shops. After another dip in the pool, we headed back to the Rio Tarcoles bridge, which was reported as a good spot for seeing the macaws around dusk. There was a police guard shack beside the bridge and when I parked there the policeman came out to greet us. Although we had a real language barrier it was clear that he wanted to interest me in buying a souvenir T-Shirt. I wasn’t sure if I had the option to refuse and still leave the car to walk out onto the bridge. I offered him a more modest amount then he wanted for the T-Shirt but he was satisfied enough to give me a police badge which the boys readily accepted. Aidan didn’t like the traffic noise on the bridge so he and Bev, and stayed off the bridge. Pop, Quincy and I headed out for a quick look and counted 16 large crocodiles in the river. We all got to see a flock of 5 Macaws squawking and flying by. We left and headed to a seaside restaurant where we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

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