2016 Costa Rica "Carousel"

Imagine yourself on a merry-go-round where all the "rides" are birds no horses or elephants or lions. All of them are marvelous, flamboyantly colorful, huge and small, with great talons and tiny fragile legs! Instead of reaching for the brass ring at every turn, you are trying for the best photograph of their live counterparts—or at least the clearest and longest look at them. No typical carousel tinkly music, but instead melodious calls, squawking croaks, high-pitched hawk screams, quiet tiny clucks, and the airy swoosh of great wings overhead. How marvelous an experience that would be right?

Well, let me tell you that we six friends and relatives just enjoyed that magical ride in the beautiful Central American country called Costa Rica. What a blessed country it is too: spectacular mountains including active and dormant volcanoes, cloud forests, desert landscapes, thick tangled rainforest jungles, gorgeous Atlantic and Pacific coastlines, and picturesque grasslands! Best of all: it is a peaceful stable country with friendly people and large tracts of national parks and preservation areas.