Dateline – Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
Today was a day for nature watching and walking and swimming in the sea. My schedule is adjusting to Costa Rican rhythms which revolve around the sun. Everyone is up earlier around 5:30 or 6 as it’s cool and the light has returned. As this is the tail end of the rainy season, sunshine tends to last until early afternoon when the clouds blow in for afternoon and evening rains which range from mist to gullywasher. The sun sets suddenly around 6 pm so everyone scrambles home for dinner and everything is quiet by 8 or 9 pm. No nightlife to speak of – at least in the smaller country towns. San Jose is different but I wasn’t really looking to be out drinking and carrying on to the wee hours when there. I have one more night there tomorrow night so things could change but somehow, I doubt it.
After breakfast, the bus took us the few miles to the entrance of Manuel Antonio National Park, famed for its forests, beaches, and fairly good chances of getting up close and friendly with the wildlife. The town of Manuel Antonio is a bit like Gatlinburg on the way to Smokey Mountains National Park in Tennessee. Tshirt and souvenir stands, inexpensive restaurants, motels, barkers trying to get you into their establishment and then wham, it all stops at the park boundary. It’s off season so the park, while well populated, wasn’t crowded. Apparently in high season (January – March) it gets so full that they have had to go to a ticketed reservation system to limit the number of people in the gates at any one time. The park naturalists are fiercely protective of their charges and there are significant rules about what can and cannot be brought in side the grounds. Nothing that would cause the animals undue stress such as drones, or loudspeakers. No outside food at all (and what is available within the park must be kept within a caged cafeteria). Apparently they were having significant issues with simian diabetes from people feeding the monkeys inappropriately and this has straightened that issue out.
Our guide took us for roughly a mile walk through the heart of the park that’s easily accessible. (Most of the acreage is deliberately undeveloped and left in as pristine a natural state as possible). Capuchin monkeys. Both two toed and three toed (the cute ones) sloths. A raccoon (very different from its US counterpart). Lots of uncommon bird species. We ended up on a very nice beach and were left to our own devices for some hours. I got some sun, swam a bit in the surf, and moseyed on back to town for lunch in a beach front restaurant accompanied by a couple of key lime martinis.
I decided to make like the sloths and move slowly and do little this afternoon. For the first time in several days, it did not rain after 2 PM so I did some hanging by the hotel pool, did some reading, and had a nice nap. After dark, when the rains finally made their appearance, the group headed into the town of Quepos and we had a group dinner in a very nice and breezy restaurant close to the shore. Dining out is about 1/3 to 1/2 of what I would expect to pay in the US so I don’t feel the least bit guilty about ordering coffee and dessert. We don’t have to be on the bus for San Jose until 10 tomorrow morning so I plan to have a very leisurely sleep in and breakfast. If I wake up early, there’s plenty of time for a walk and to see if I can spot the last of the Costa Rican monkey species. (I’ve seen Capuchin, squirrel and howler. I’m missing spider).
Haven’t commented on US politics much the last few days. The good citizens of Portland, having dressed up in various inflatable animal get ups in front of the ICE building are making the feds look somewhat ridiculous. Men in heavy tactical gear facing off with a pink care bear, several inflatable frogs, and a lolloping unicorn just doesn’t project the image that Kristi Noem thinks it does. Chicago could take a page from this playbook. Maybe it will keep the feds from shooting members of the clergy at prayer.
The big story of the day is the Qatari air force arriving in Idaho. There has been a lot of screaming from both sides about this so I did a little fact checking. This stems from a deal struck in 2017 (Trump’s first term) when the Qatari air force bought a bunch of F-15s from the US. There is no facility in Qatar appropriate for pilot training in such aircraft. The decision to allow the Qatari to train in the US was made around 2020 and was worked on through the whole Biden administration. It’s just now coming to public notice due to Hegseth’s need to be in the news spotlight. It’s not payback for the Qatari golden jet. It’s not caught up in the Israeli/Hamas conflict. Qatar isn’t being ceded any territory or building its own base. The base remains under American control and American law. Now, I still don’t think it’s the world’s best idea given that the Qatari have long been the bankers and funders of most of the jihadist organizations out there but money talks. If nothing else, many more eyes will be paying attention to Mountain Home, Idaho and the Republicans have handed the Democrats a convenient wedge issue which can be easily exploited to split the right.
Still have to tackle healthcare politics. All I can do is roll my eyes when we have a Health and Human Services secretary who would have failed 8th grade biology.
Life, The Universe, and Everything 