now in Puerto Viejo

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Thanks for the comments and messages, everyone. Sorry the weather in Paris and elsewhere (Adelaide's drought) are so bad. Please keep in touch.
I loved Tortuguero! We had three river trips (see my photos) and I had fun at my hotel. Spent some time reading in a hammock and "playing" in the waves. I say "playing" because it was very hard to swim. Lots of waves and a very strong undertow, so nobody goes in more than waist-deep. Modestro "drove" us back this morning (3 hours) by boat down the rivers and canals to Moin, the port of Limon,where there were huge container ships belonging to Dole and Del Monte, which I imagine were stocking up on pineapples and bananas. I left the others in Moin (they were going back to San Jose) and took a bus to Limon. From there I caught another bus to Puerto Viejo, which is only an hour away from the Panamanian border. It's a laid back Afro-Caribbean town with lots of local guys in dreadlocks and also lots of surfers from all over the world. I was going to take another bus to Punto Uva, where I'd reserved a room in a very modest "cabana", but decided to stay instead just outside Puerto Viejo. Splurged a bit on a hotel room, but it was so hot and I'd done a lot of traveling and just wanted to get into the water. My hotel is right on the ocean, but you can't swim just there. So I found a "natural swimming pool", as they call them here, in-between the rocks and then walked to the nearest sandy beach called something like Playa Colicos. It's surfers' heaven there,Marc. You'd really enjoy it. Will take a photo tomorrow. Again, I "played" in the waves.Tomorrow,I'm going to rent a bike from the hotel and pedal the 7kms. to Punto Uva, which supposedly has one of the best swimming beaches in all of Costa Rica. I got to my hotel at 4, swam,showered and walked back to into town. It gets dark at 6 sharp all year round here it seems.I'm writing this from an Internet cafe where I'm being eaten alive by mosquitoes! We didn't have them at all in Tortuguero, probably because the bats,lizards and other creatures eat them all! On Wednesday, I plan to take a shuttle bus up to the Arenal Volcano, and from there I'll go to the cloud forest in Monteverde. It really is a lovely country, once you get out of San Jose!

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Comments

[margie]

Puerto Viejo
The beaches and waterways of CR sound and look just lovely. Looks like a good choice. Margie

[Shirley]

Sounds lovely!!
It sounds like a wonderful country to visit--and yes, I have heard that San Jose is rather disgusting. My father knew some people who lived outside the city, and they locked everything inside huge walls every night, esp. the car. But he did love the rest of the country, and your pix of birds and animals are super!!