Flying High

Our next destination is yet another birdwatcher’s paradise: the Tinamú Nature Reserve. We will only stay here one night so we are going to make the most of it. Allocation of the available rooms at the lodge is decided by a weighted draw, so we end up with quite a good one. A few well-spent colones, we reckon.  A local guide takes us for a walk through the forest. It soon becomes clear to me that it is not wise to lag behind. The guide has exceptionally keen eyes and finds a perfectly camouflaged pootoo , a kind of nightjar, high up in the branches. He points it out to us and after a long search we eventually see it. When the rest of the group arrives a minute or so later the guide has already walked on and they are left staring at the treetops in vain for the next ten minutes. Common Pootoo  On returning to our accommodation, birding becomes a lot more relaxed. Armed with a cold drink, we sit down at one of the garden tables, surrounded by all sorts of bird feeders. Chatting a...

We move further north. Our first goal is the Parque Nacional de Nevado del Ruiz in the central Andes, between 3000 and 4000 metres high. The views are breathtaking again and so is the icy wind. I try and tell our tour leader that I am thoroughly enjoying the views from the inside of the bus, but he does not fall for it. “We would all like to see the stout-billed cinclodes, wouldn’t we?”, he asks with a stern look. I point out that my life would still be worth living without having seen that particular bird (at least that’s what I think he was referring to)   but the whole group has already left the bus. And I must say with a winter jacket, scarf and gloves I manage to survive a short stay outside. And we do tick off the cinclodes . Stout-billed Cinclodes For lunch we make a stopover at the Hotel Termales del Ruiz, where the steaming thermal pools are a popular place for Dutch cyclists to recover from their high altitude training. To our surprise they have also created a beautifu...

We’re on our way to Honda. This may sound a little strange in Colombia. At first we think it is an excursion to admire Max Verstappen’s newly-designed engine (which will bring him a guaranteed third place again in the next race), but Honda turns out to be a little colourful town, hemmed in between two mountain ranges of the eastern Andes. On our way there we make a stop in San Francisco. Confusing again, I know. We are there to visit the ‘ Jardin Encantado’ , the ‘enchanted garden’.  The enchanting process has undoubtedly taken longer than we are led to believe from Harry Potter’s adventures. It’s hard work, not many of us realise that. In the beautiful garden, situated on a mountain slope, a number of wrought iron arches have been erected, from which dozens of feeders are dangling. Yes, again with the aim of attracting hummingbirds. And it works. Over 20 different species visit the garden and the sound of their buzzing wings is everywhere. It is not easy to identify the different...

We are at Schiphol airport, waiting to board our plane. As usual, it is quite busy, but to our horror no-one is wearing a face mask. Well, with the exception of a group of Chinese tourists, but they have been wearing them for decades. We do not understand what is happening here, until we realise it is November 2019. No pandemic yet, no social distancing, everybody around us is hugging everybody else and so are we. We skip the Chinese tourists for the moment, though. Relieved, we look at each other. We can just just fly away without a care in the world. Even so, we are a little worried, as this trip is going to be our first group tour. We have never done that before. We were always dissuaded by spectres of collective photo moments (five minutes, then we’re off again), merry sing-alongs on our way to the airport (everybody happy…?) and whining fellow-travellers (there’s only one hook for our towels). But we do want to make a trip to Colombia to admire the tropical birdlife and group trav...