Blogs from Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean

Tuesday 31st Jan - Turrialba to Tortuguero (try repeating that after a couple of drinks!) It didn't look that far on a map but it turns out the trip required 4 buses and a boat and after you set out without writing down the intermediate changes, where you don't have central bus stations or passers by that speak any english, it's not hard to get a little hot under the collar. Our 1st change turned out to be the hardest in Siquerries as I spent nearly an hour walking around town asking for help, getting sent in the wrong direction, before I stumbled across a stationary shop which happened to have a 1 page map of Costa Rica and the illusive town name of our next stop, Guapiles. The rest pf the journey was pretty much ... read more

Ever see a red frog or iguanas and spider monkeys climbing trees? Tortuguero lies on the north coast of Costa Rica and is only accessible by plane or boat. We did the van and boat trip which involved a couple of hours on paved road, a couple of hours on gravel road and couple hours by river boat. The trip was interesting in that you go through a National park, vast stretches of banana farms owned by Dole and Del Monte and the ride through the canals to Turtle Beach lodge. We stopped at one of the banana processing facilities and learned a little about the bananas. In Costa Rica, Nicaraguans provide the labor on the farms. It is readily apparent that by the workers lodging at these remote banana farms that they are being taken ... read more

Hi from the rain forest. (no I’m not tarzan!) A nice 2 days trip to Tortuguero, it reminds me a lot of the Amazon rain forest Finally I meet a Belgian citizen. Yes! Or better ‘Ja wel’. On the bus to Tortuguero, I meet Dries (from Hasselt - Limburg). We will keep in touch! The trip was long but it was nice to see the rain forest and we have stopped at Del Monte (banana plantation) and at a beautiful garden with a lot of flowers, butterflies and red frogs. During the boat trip starts the rain and I was pretty wet after few minutes because I didn’t bring my jacket :-( The channels on Tortuguero are larger than the ones in the Amazon but we could see some crocodiles, frogs, caimans, a lot of birds ... read more

Leaving La Fortuna for Tortoguero proved a very expensive, and at first, very uncomfortable ride. We spent $40 each on what we thought was a van to the river of torutguero. However, the swines only took us to a bus stop in a town called Caliari where we were bundled on a public bus with about a hundred local costa ricans. Local buses in costa rica are nothing like the ones in england. Mainly, people expect to dropped off at their door stops. This leads to a stop every 100ms or less and is incredibly annoying when cramped and hot. But hey ho, pura vida and whatnot! Anyway, we were left at the river side by the bus with a few other tourists and a couple of suspicious looking guys with knives and nets. A boat ... read more

Beste mensen, even een heel kort berichtje. Zit nu in Tortuguero, ben ik gisterenmiddag aangekomen. Heb buiten de bootreis hierheen nog niet veel meegemaakt dus alle belevenissen van Tortuguero horen jullie een andere keer. Toen ik nog in Cahuita zat zij er twee behoorlijk zware aardbevingen geweest in de regio San Jose. Het betrof 1 aardbeving van 4.0 en een dag later 1 van 6.2. Ik heb er verder helemaal niets van gemerkt dus daar hoeven jullie je niet druk om te maken. En aardbevingen zijn hier vrij normaal, er zijn hier gemiddeld dagelijks enkele aardschokken alleen niet van dit caliber. Over 2 dagen vertrek ik weer richting San Jose. Tegen die tijd zal alle schade en rotzooi wel opgeruimd zijn dus ik zal er niet veel van merken. Wat mij een ongemakkelijk gevoel geeft is ... read more

Liebe Freunde des Sommers! Nach unseren ersten Strandtagen an der Pazifikkueste ging´s gleich quer durchs Land auf die Atlantikseite von Costa Rica und zwar in den Parque Nacional Tortuguero Dieser ist auch als "Mini-Amazonien" bekannt, da man dort nur mit dem Boot weiterkommt und es keine Strassen gibt. Per Kanu und Spezial-Guide konnten wir in den verschiedenden Flusslauefen zahlreiche Tiere und Pflanzen bestaunen: Kaimane, Nutrias, zahlreiche Voegel, unter anderem Tucans, Affen, Echsen,.. War wirklich super beeindruckend und teilweise zum angreifen nah! Angeblich ist das dort der "rainiest of all rainforests", bei uns hats nur einmal geregnet, aber dafuer sind die Leute dort Ueberschwemmungen gewohnt! Bekannt ist dieser Nationalpark, der auch am Meer liegt, dafuer, dass dort viele Meeresschildkroeten ihre Eier ablegen, die dementsprechend geschuetzt werden. Leider waren wir... read more

My canoe trip went well...Rudy was a good guide. We paddled around the channels for 3 hours, a good workout! We say crocodiles, monkeys, and a sloth. Lots of birds, but I don't bother with them too much. I napped for a while and just hung out the rest of the day. Tried to do a night tour to see the turtles lay eggs, but that didn't quite pan out. No big deal, there is a place in Nicaragua where I can see that. Got up the next morning and climbed in a boat for the third day straight and headed to Moin, where I would take a bus to Limon, then to Cahuita. Sounds exhausting...and it is. Well, by the time we got to Moin (3.5 hours) we decided to spring for a cab to ... read more

Left San Jose (in the rain) and hopped on a bus to Cariari, where I hopped on another bus to La Pavona, where I caught a boat to bring me to Torteguero. Complicated, confusing, but I made it. While on the bus to La Pavona, an older, friendly woman sat beside me. After a minute or two she tapped me and was showing me her necklace (beaded with a wooden cross, I’ve seen a number like it around here) and then pointing to my necklace (a small wooden cross that I bought in Paris while at Notre Dame). She was smiling and saying it was “bonita” and “pequena” (pretty and small?) So I smiled and said “si,” however, she continued talking to me—even after I used my go to phrase, “mi espanol es no bien.” She ... read more