Blogs from Limón, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 2

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

On Monday, May 7h, Rebecka and I got up at 5AM to take the 6AM bus from San José to Puerto Viejo. I was super tired, because we had been drinking with Rick and Clark until 1AM and this would not be a good day. Well, I’m not 20 anymore... ^_^The bus ride was ok, but I couldn’t sleep at all, so the 5h were quite long. We arrived to Puerto Viejo pretty early and went straight to our hostel, the Oasis hostel. We relaxed on the hammocks until we could check in at 11:30AM and then went to get lunch. It took us quite some time to find a nice place where Rebecka could find some vegan food as well. It was quite good, but nothing special. I spent the afternoon on the beach, just ... read more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIx63imIY3Y It took a bit of time getting here. First i had to take the morning bus from San Jose to Caricari. From Caricari I took a bus to La Pavona/La Suerte. The route took us through banana plantation. I'd forgotten how banana had once been the gold of the America. "Green" gold as it was known then. La Pavona/La Suerte was where I took the boat to Tortuguero. Tortuguero felt like an island. I believe there were only two small convenience store. One ran by an asian lady. The population looked mostly mestizo and African descent. I didn't do much but hung out locally. The national park was nearby, but I wasn't interested in it. I hung out on the beach, which didn't look very clean. Not sure if thats naturally how it is or ... 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

COSTA RICA TORTUGERO NATIONAL PARK Yesterday’s full day tour to Arenal Volcano and Tabacon Hot Springs was great but really exhausting. I didn’t get back to my hotel until past midnight. I was actually dreading another long day in a tour bus but I had booked a Tortugero River Cruise the next morning. When I awoke I had time for breakfast. Hooray! Thus fortified I was ready for the day. This bus was smaller and more comfortable and the trip was a little shorter. The guide was a real character. He sang the national anthem for each passenger’s home country as he introduced us. After a couple of hours we stopped and had breakfast. I thought it was very good, with rice and beans, eggs, fruit, and juice. That’s right…I ate two breakfasts. It is my ... read more