Costa Rica 6, Sixteenth Day In Monteverde

I have been talking to Canadians today. Two women from Toronto this morning at breakfast and this afternoon a father-son act from Ontario and Nova Scotia. All nice people, and nice to have some English practice. We also couldn't resist sharing a joke or three about some of the Americans we encounter here. We really are different from our American neighbours, despite superficial similarities. I think it's because Canadians don't tend to see things as black and white, and we have a very strong sense and appreciation of irony and complexity. We also know how to laugh at ourselves. And I have noticed that Ticos are a lot like Canadians, except generally more relaxed and happier. I think Canadian winters can make some of us pretty miserable. Of course, these are generalizations. And I'm not here to write about Canada, but Costa Rica, except, nothing has happened today, really. The trees are still all growing in the same places, the wind is still blowing and making the boughs move and sway while rustling the leaves with their peculiar music. The cows are still grazing in the pastures, and randomly shitting all over the road when they are being moved from field to field. The morpho butterflies still delight the eye with their pure cyan blue wings, and the birds call from the trees where they remain hidden. I don't really see a lot of birds here, though I hear them everywhere. A lot of visitors hire guides to help them locate the birds, and they also often carry fancy eqqauipment with them. I don't, partly because I'm a low-income traveller, so I have to watch my expenditures. I also think there is something tacky and crass about dragging birdwatching machinery around. I find it graceless and inelegant, and, really, I still get to see a lot of cool-looking birds, like the emerald toucanet that flew across the road today. Here's a link if you want to see one for yourselves. https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_esCR793CR793&q=emerald+toucanet+images&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiFjeWTtZnhAhXSslkKHcukABsQsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1242&bih=603#imgrc=8nXDzWw2kzDPvM: You might have to copy and past it on the bar at the top of your page. I really am not here specifically to birdwatch, and even though I draw and paint them I am not a barmy birder. If a bird wants you to see it, then it will allow itself to be seen, and so the sighting should be accepted as a gift, and not an entitlement. It's about respect. The light here is especially wonderful. When I was sitting on the balcony of the Italian restaurant, the trees I was looking at all glittered like sequins, only with a beauty and intensity almost painful to the eye.