Costa Rica, 2003
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Left Heathrow at about 06:30 - arrived San Jose about 22 hours later (just after dark). Easily found our taxi (arranged by the hotel) and drove for about 90 minutes to the Orosi Lodge, near Paraiso. The trip can be much shorter than this but we hit the Friday evening rush hour, which was worsened by lots of traffic going into the city for St. Valentine's night.
We chose Orosi Lodge because it was not too far from the airport, but well away from the urban sprawl of the Valle Central. We would definitely recommend this to other birdwatchers as an alternative to a San Jose or airport hotel, for the simple reason that there are birds here. On top of that, the owners are very pleasant and the cabinas extremely attractive. Despite the long journey, we had enough energy to get a meal in Orosi village and on the walk back heard a bird calling from inside the little thermal resort which adjoins the lodge, which we decided might be a nightjar species, probably Common Pauraque.

