Tortuguero National Park - and Canal Cruises

---

This was an incredible day! Tortuguero Park is a naturalist's dream. Our "hotel" could only be reached by a 45-minute boat ride up the Tortuguero canal. We stayed at Pachira Lodge, where we had our own cabin on stilts in the rain forest. It is rustic, with no televisions, phones or air conditioning. The trees surrounding the cabins are filled with howler monkeys, who wake you up before sunrise with incredibly loud grunting and barking sounds. Not to mention the many species of birds.



We went on 2 canal cruises with local wildlife guides spotting and explaining about the birds, animals and plants that we saw along with way. We would never have seen as much as we did without them. In between, we enjoyed the lovely pool and walked around the beautiful grounds. It is very hot and humid here, and we had to take cool showers before bed to be able to sleep.



When we left, we stopped by a small park where we were able to see a 2-toed sloth up pretty close (usually they are much higher in the trees and just appear as a hairy ball). One of the staff also found us a poison dart frog who like to hide in the mulch under the trees. He was so tiny, we wouldn't have seen him ouselves.

---

Photos

Clay-colored Robin
This is the National bird of Costa Rica. It isn't as pretty as many of their other birds, but like our Robins it has a pretty song.

Green Basilisk Lizard - Male
They have the nickname “Jesus Christ Lizard” because when fleeing from a predator, they are very fast and can even run on top of the water.

White-faced Capuchins
These monkeys are the ones you see with the organ grinders running around with the collection cup. They are very curious and intelligent and people used to keep them as pets. Now the people are encouranged to leave them in the wild.

2-Toed Sloth Sleeping
These guys curl up in a ball in the trees which is why they are usually so hard to spot.

3-Toed Sloth
These are quite a bit bigger than the 2-toed ones. We were very lucky to get a picture of his face, as it was facing away from us, and sleeping most of the time.

Green Iguana
Tastes like chicken

Green Macaw
These are becoming very rare in the wild