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

Le 18 août 2022, Les filles nous réveillent à 5:00. Décidément, les vacances ne sont pas des plus reposantes... C'est jour de départ, après le déjeuner, nous ramassons nos affaires et nous rendons compte que nous avons perdu une autre de nos gourdes d'eau, fort probablement chez Don Olivo, notre activité d'écotourisme d'hier après-midi. Ca fait 2 gourdes perdues dans la même journée, ce n'est pas fort notre affaire. Aussi, fait-on un petit détour chez Don Olivo et on retrouve sans peine la gourde perdue de notre progéniture. Nous poursuivons ensuite notre route vers Tortuguero. En chemin, c'est la galère pour trouver un guichet automatique, mais heureusement, on finit par y arriver. Le trajet est pénible, ralenti par de nombreux travaux. On fait le calcul sur une portion de notre route: on parcourt un gros 66 ... read more

Friday morning I headed out early, driving from Puerto Viejo to Moin, near Puerto Limon. Moin also has a seaport and loads up ships with fruit destined for other parts of the world. When I booked my boat tour Thursday evening, the gentleman at the tour centre gave me instructions on how to get to the boat dock, avoiding the main port or he warned I would be going to Europe with the pineapples and bananas! Friday was a sunny day, perfect for being out on the water. We went through a series of canals that run adjacent to the ocean (probably about 75 km), stopping to see any animals we happened upon during the journey. We mostly saw birds - cormorants, anhingas, pelicans, herons, bitterns, egrets, roseate spoonbills (related to the flamingo!), jacanas, but also ... read more

Today, Renata and I are traveling from San Jose to Tortuguero. On the Caribbean coast, Tortuguero, has a prominent Afro-Caribbean vibe and a remote Amazon jungle sort of feel. The main attraction in Tortuguero, as the name suggests, is turtles. Green Sea Turtles, Leatherback, and Hawksbill turtles all nest on Tortuguero’s shores. However, since we are going in the off season, we are unlikely to see turtles. If we are lucky, we may catch a rare sighting of the leatherback turtle, the largest of living sea turtles. There are no roads leading to Tortuguero. The only way to get there is by boat or plane. We learned from research online that there is a way to take public transportation from San Jose to Tortuguero. After our first delicious typical Costa Rican breakfast of gallo pinto (rice ... read more

“Your credit card please.” the gentleman at the front desk of the Christina Apartments asked me politely. I just arrived in San Jose from Quepos on an afternoon flight. “Sure, it’s Visa,” and I was about to take my wallet out, when I felt an arm on my right shoulder. I am usually alert during my trips and I turned around like a lightning rod to confront the intruder who I thought was laying his hand on my backpack. Surprise, surprise! I saw my friend Dipankar was standing there with a big smile. “Helllllooo”, - I gave him a high five so hard that my palm was burning. If you recall from one of my earlier blog that Dipankar and I departed our own way from Monteverde…I went towards Arenal and he went to climb Mount ... read more

Monday We were followed half-way back from the bakery this morning by a little dog. Guess he liked the smell of fresh bread. When we got back to the room, our very creative maid had made two towel dogs! Walked some of the back streets in town this morning. Saw the cutest little boy playing with a stick and two huge bugs. They were cockroaches, the biggest bugs I have ever seen. I asked if I could take his picture and got a big smile. We walked by a few restaurants found online, just to check them out. Then we sat by the ocean to get a sea breeze. Early afternoon we walked through town again. Music is big here. There is a large music academy in town. You always see kids in the main park ... read more