Butterflies

We’ve done one three-hour tour in Manuel Antonio, but decided that further exertions in the tropical heat were contra-indicated. There is, however, a butterfly house just up the road, so we decided that this wouldn’t be too taxing. Our initial intent to make ourselves look like locals by taking the bus was thwarted, however, by our inability to find the actual bus stop. Sigh. We took a taxi instead.

Although advertised as being open from 8:00am, there was no-one at the office when we arrived. About five minutes later, someone turned up to open the office. There were two French ladies ahead of us in the queue, who seemed confused about what they wanted. The fact that the ticket seller couldn’t speak French, and they had limited English, didn’t help. Anyway, they had numerous discussions about what they wanted to do, whilst we waited. Clearly, they drive BMWs when they’re back in France. Eventually, we were able to talk to the ticket seller: “Two tickets for the butterfly house, please”. Done. Simples.

The butterflies are but a short walk from the office, so we went down there. The star attraction is the blue morpho butterfly, which is large and has shimmery blue wings. Unfortunately, they spend most of their time flying, so are impossible to photograph. The only time they stop is when they want either food or sex, and on those occasions they close their wings. I did manage to find a rather tattered specimen having a rest.

There were other species as well, including monarchs, so we were able to spend a bit of time looking around. We also saw a deer whilst we were in there. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen deer – there was one poking its nose around our hotel the other night – so we went outside to see if we could spot it. Sure enough, down by the river – a mother and fawn. We also saw an agouti truffling through the undergrowth. All in all, a successful trip. We caught a cab (same driver!) back to the hotel, and spent the rest of the day lollygagging.

That was our final full day in Costa Rica. On Monday, we drove to the airport – the driver told us three hours, but we were there in 2½, having foregone a rest stop along the way. This proved wise as traffic was already starting to grind to a halt as we approached the airport. Nevertheless, we got through check-in and security in double-quick time, and through to the VIP lounge, for breakfast. As we are travelling back across the International Date Line, we will have no Tuesday this week – we fly back to Houston, take off from there on Monday, and land in Auckland on Wednesday morning.