Big Owen

I need to dedicate at least part of this post to my self-appointed body-guard and travel partner, Big O. Since we've now known each other for five days, been through a couple adventures and gotten drunk togther (we met in Bocas), we've been friends most of our lives. Or at least that's what it feels like.

I would be hard-pressed to name a better friend on this trip than Owen. He's been around at exactly the moment I needed some company; easy to talk to, full of humor, up for anything. And at 6'5" he's not a bad body-guard should I ever need one. I haven't yet.

This morning Owen and I decided that we should do at least one nature appreciation tour during our travels. Kind of like reading the Bible because you've been told it will make you a better person. Plus we needed the excercise. We set off exuberantly tramping through the Santa Elena cloud forest, talking and laughing and admiring the beauty of the trees and the jungle. That is until we realized that there are people who take their nature walks very seriously and spend hours in one place waiting for rare birds in total silence.

We stumbled upon one such group on the trail in the midst of laughing loudly over some story and were silenced by the dirty looks. It so happened that this particular group had spotted a quetzal, the national bird of Costa Rica and one the most difficult to spot in the wild. We arrived just in time to view it up close through the spotting scope. It was gorgeous, a vivid green and blood red.

After that we were more subdued and made an effort to look out for animals. Our total number spotted was two. We saw the quetzal and a wild pig. But we completed three hours of trail in an hour and forty-five minutes.