The Caribbean Costa Rica
With a little bit of huffing and puffing, I finally managed to change my flights in order to allow me to stay in Costa Rica for a few extra days. I had heard wonderful things about the Tortuguero National Park, and I reckoned that if I left not having seen it, then I'd be sorry (although I may end up going back to Costa Rica one day, there is far too many other places in the world that I have to get to first!).
After a wonderful dinner saying goodbye to the 'old crew' we headed off bright and early on the wonderful local buses to the coastal town of Limon. From here we met our local tour guide Willis, who took us the final 80km by boat through the lovely waterways to the village of Tortuguero. The boat trip was amazing, and despite the rain, there was plenty of wildlife to spot. Willis had an uncanny knack for spotting the most amazing array of creatures to include Tucans, turtles, Jesuchristo Lizards and sloths. It was amazing to see so much wildlife literally jumping out at you!
Tortuguero is literally named after the sea turtles (green and leatherback) that come to nest on the beaches. Unfortunately we were about three weeks too late to see the hatchlings make their way to the sea, but there was still plenty of wildlife to entertain us. Crocodiles floated past our lodge as we watched the sun set and massive pelicans flew in formation overhead, a short walk into the Jungle revealed snakes and poisonous dart frogs, bats (to name but a few of the exotic creatures)...really relaxing and a significant change in pace from the Pacific side of the country.
We spent two nights in Tortuguero visiting the national park by boat and by foot as well as enjoying the local cuisine. We saw plenty of monkeys up close, but the highlight of the visit was the trip to the Sloth Sanctuary on the way back to Limon. Having only seen these strange creatures from a distance (i.e. all the way up in the high trees) it was fascinating to see them up close. Due to deforestation and the increasing human population there are more and more sloths having to relocate (traversing dangerous roads) and as such many young sloth's have been orphaned. The sloth sanctuary has taken charge of a number of orphaned sloth's and also rehabilitates injured or sick ones.
Unfortunately orphaned sloth's cannot be reintroduced back into the wild, but they have developed a wonderful place for these fascinating creatures to see out their lives! We got to see five baby sloth's (two and three toed) as well as meet 'Buttercup' who was the first orphaned sloth to be taken care of by the park owners. She was on heat, and in contrast to the normal slow activity of sloth's, was very VERY active! An unforgettable experience!
From Tortuguero we headed to the sleepy Caribbean town of Cahuita where we were hoping to do some snorkeling and appreciate the park where the jungle really does meet the sea (and I mean literally). Unfortunately there had been a lot of rain, so the snorkeling was no good (which was a shame as there was an old Spanish wreck that I was hoping to check out), so I opted to visit the local indigenous village at Bri Bri. Our local guide was a crazy German called Willy who was a combination of the Bush Tucker Man and Harry Butler!! He would whip off into the bush and return holding a poisonous dart frog or some exotic fruit for us to eat! Amazing!
The village was unique (18 members of the one family residing in one house) yet a little sad. They rely on their local harvest of cocoa (where they get paid about $1.50 per kilo) as well as the sale of their local crafts. Their artwork was amazing and I splurged (and in some small way felt like I was contributing to the community) on a lovely little gourd (here's hoping I can get it through Australian Customs!). In the early afternoon we also visited an Iguana sanctuary, where the locals are breeding Iguanas in order to release them back into the wild (they are being over hunted at the moment). It was really interesting to see these HUGE lizards up close...such an amazing array of colors!
The nearby Cahuita National Park boasted a 6km walk along the Jungle/Beach track, but alas, I was only able to walk 1/3 of it (due to time constraints!). There was plenty of wildlife to see along this track to include sloth's, aggressive monkeys, blue/orange crabs, squirrels, anteaters, spiders, snakes and a close up view of wild Tucans!!
Unfortunately all good things must come to and end, and I bade farewell to the Caribbean to head back to San Jose for the final meal with the group (call it the last supper if you will...). Six of us had a pleasant 4hr bus journey back whilst the other four decided to take the scenic route (via some Grade 3 and 4 rapids!). Some pre-dinner drinks followed by a lovely Asian meal saw me bid farewell to my traveling mates for the last time!! So sad to say goodbye...but I am sure that through the wonder of the internet, many of us will stay in touch!!
After a wonderful dinner saying goodbye to the 'old crew' we headed off bright and early on the wonderful local buses to the coastal town of Limon. From here we met our local tour guide Willis, who took us the final 80km by boat through the lovely waterways to the village of Tortuguero. The boat trip was amazing, and despite the rain, there was plenty of wildlife to spot. Willis had an uncanny knack for spotting the most amazing array of creatures to include Tucans, turtles, Jesuchristo Lizards and sloths. It was amazing to see so much wildlife literally jumping out at you!
Tortuguero is literally named after the sea turtles (green and leatherback) that come to nest on the beaches. Unfortunately we were about three weeks too late to see the hatchlings make their way to the sea, but there was still plenty of wildlife to entertain us. Crocodiles floated past our lodge as we watched the sun set and massive pelicans flew in formation overhead, a short walk into the Jungle revealed snakes and poisonous dart frogs, bats (to name but a few of the exotic creatures)...really relaxing and a significant change in pace from the Pacific side of the country.We spent two nights in Tortuguero visiting the national park by boat and by foot as well as enjoying the local cuisine. We saw plenty of monkeys up close, but the highlight of the visit was the trip to the Sloth Sanctuary on the way back to Limon. Having only seen these strange creatures from a distance (i.e. all the way up in the high trees) it was fascinating to see them up close. Due to deforestation and the increasing human population there are more and more sloths having to relocate (traversing dangerous roads) and as such many young sloth's have been orphaned. The sloth sanctuary has taken charge of a number of orphaned sloth's and also rehabilitates injured or sick ones.
Unfortunately orphaned sloth's cannot be reintroduced back into the wild, but they have developed a wonderful place for these fascinating creatures to see out their lives! We got to see five baby sloth's (two and three toed) as well as meet 'Buttercup' who was the first orphaned sloth to be taken care of by the park owners. She was on heat, and in contrast to the normal slow activity of sloth's, was very VERY active! An unforgettable experience!From Tortuguero we headed to the sleepy Caribbean town of Cahuita where we were hoping to do some snorkeling and appreciate the park where the jungle really does meet the sea (and I mean literally). Unfortunately there had been a lot of rain, so the snorkeling was no good (which was a shame as there was an old Spanish wreck that I was hoping to check out), so I opted to visit the local indigenous village at Bri Bri. Our local guide was a crazy German called Willy who was a combination of the Bush Tucker Man and Harry Butler!! He would whip off into the bush and return holding a poisonous dart frog or some exotic fruit for us to eat! Amazing!
The village was unique (18 members of the one family residing in one house) yet a little sad. They rely on their local harvest of cocoa (where they get paid about $1.50 per kilo) as well as the sale of their local crafts. Their artwork was amazing and I splurged (and in some small way felt like I was contributing to the community) on a lovely little gourd (here's hoping I can get it through Australian Customs!). In the early afternoon we also visited an Iguana sanctuary, where the locals are breeding Iguanas in order to release them back into the wild (they are being over hunted at the moment). It was really interesting to see these HUGE lizards up close...such an amazing array of colors!
The nearby Cahuita National Park boasted a 6km walk along the Jungle/Beach track, but alas, I was only able to walk 1/3 of it (due to time constraints!). There was plenty of wildlife to see along this track to include sloth's, aggressive monkeys, blue/orange crabs, squirrels, anteaters, spiders, snakes and a close up view of wild Tucans!!Unfortunately all good things must come to and end, and I bade farewell to the Caribbean to head back to San Jose for the final meal with the group (call it the last supper if you will...). Six of us had a pleasant 4hr bus journey back whilst the other four decided to take the scenic route (via some Grade 3 and 4 rapids!). Some pre-dinner drinks followed by a lovely Asian meal saw me bid farewell to my traveling mates for the last time!! So sad to say goodbye...but I am sure that through the wonder of the internet, many of us will stay in touch!!
posted by Erica at 2:23 PM
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