Feb 4, 2008 – Monday – San Jose to La Ensenada “Star” Lodge, Costa Rica
2008 Costa Rica Southern Skies Fiesta, Volcanos & Rainforest
The buffet breakfast in our hotel this morning is included in our tour, so I have a nice Spanish omelet and some very good coffee and juice. There is no rush, since we don’t leave for La Ensenada “Star” Lodge until 10:30am. Our Tico Guide is Diego and Walter is our driver, both from Swiss Tours. Our Travelquest Host is Chuck (from Phoenix), who I met at breakfast as well as Gary Seronik, who is taking care of hosting the astronomy activities. Gary is a Contributing Editor for Sky and Telescope magazine, lives in Victoria, and is a member of RASC Victoria Centre. Rick Feinberg, the Editor-in-chief for S&T is also with us on this tour along with his wife.
Everyone is on the bus on-time and ready to go, with the first stop being a large mall. We have a chance to shop in a local AM/PM and also exchange money for those who need some Colones. We then cross the Central Valley and the hills to the Pacific Ocean, passing through Palmares, San Ramon and Esparza along the way. We stop just past Esparza for lunch at the Restaurante Caballo Blanco (White Horse Restaurant), where we have our choice of beef, chicken or fish. The folks who order the beef tenderloin say it was good, but I saw them chewing a lot! I have the grilled fish, which is served with vegetables and mashed potatoes. I’m resolved to try to avoid eating beans and rice as much as possible on this trip!
After being welcomed by the staff at the lodge, settling into our cabins and enjoying some dinner, we get out under the dark skies we came here for. I take a half dozen photos of the Orion area of the sky using my dSLR, which has been modified to allow more infrared wavelengths to hit the sensor. Orion is laying down on his side due to observing from about 10º north of the equator from this location. We are used to observing from our more northern latitude of 48.5º where Orion appears upright.
