Tortuguero

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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 eventually came to pick us up - a narrow motorboat - and we set off down the river towards Tortugeuro. It was a brilliant ride through a winding river littered with fallen trees from the adjacent, jungle covered river banks. In the middle of nowhere one of the guys with the knives asked to get out, and it transpired that he was being left in the jungle to be picked up the next day ... we assumed he was collecting something he shouldnt have been.

The town of Tortuguero is very small, with the main street about the width of two people and i think about 1km in length. We're staying in a lovely hostel called La Casona with hammocks out our room and a little cat who has befriended us, as well as an over excited puppy.

We got up at ten to 5 today so we could have a boat trip around the national park, only really accesible by boat, which has been a great start to the day. Still havnt seen a Toucan, but i spotted a few caimen and our guide was brilliant in seeing lizards and whatnot. It looks as though any chance of seeing a Jaguar have gone as we wont be visitng another park.... and the 35yr old guide had onyl ever seen one in his life.

So now we are in the final days of our costa rica stretch, and wil be going onto San Jose for a few days before heading for Peru. I strongly recommend this country to anyone coming to South America, its so diverse, and fascinating in every aspect!

Over and out.


p.s. still struggling with photos ...

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