Where We’re Going We Don’t Need Roads – Costa Rica Day 3

Beach View on the Way to Tortuguero

On the third day in Costa Rica we arose, figured out what to bring for the day, grabbed a quick breakfast, and went down to the buses.  From what I read, the Canals of Tortugeuro are one of the “must see” things on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.  As we got to the bus it was apparent that a lot of other people had read the same thing.  There was a full-sized bus and a large mini-bus (or is that the short bus?) and probably about 80 people, but nearly everyone showed up the 15 minutes ahead of time, and we set off only a few minutes after the 8:30 departure.

Which one of you is the jinx?

We wended our way through the city of Limon, heading for Moin, another port 15 minutes up the coast.  We got stuck for a bit with a tractor trailer blocking the road ahead, trying to back into some driveway.  The tour guide on the bus commented that he had been on other tours with SAS folk over the past two days, and on first day (the trip to the Irazu Volcano) the bus had to ford a creek because the bridge at that point was too small for the bus, and on the second day there was a strike that was blocking the road, and the bus had to detour around it. So the guide asked who on the bus had been on those two trip with him, and a few hands went up, he then asked “Which one of you is jinxed?”

During the stop Stephanie said she had seen Sarah that morning and she looked ragged and worn-out.  Sarah had gone to San Jose on her class’s optional FDP to study the architecture of San Jose, and the bus trip there had taken 4 hours, and the bus trip home took 9 hours because the bus got a flat tire.  (I wonder if it was the flat tire scam I had read about, where someone slashes your tire at a stop in traffic, and then offers to fix it for you for a rather large fee.)  For us it was only about 10 minutes before we continued on, passing a large Del Monte cargo ship being loaded at the port in Moin.

Calypso band

The Canals of Tortugeuro are essentially an intercoastal waterway going north along the east coast of Costa Rica from Moin (which is north of Limon) all the way to the border with Nicaragua and with about a day of travel we could reach the San Jose river and travel up it to Lake Nicaragua.  The Tortuguero National Park can only be reached through these canals by boat, there are no roads that go there.  However, we wouldn’t even be going as far as the Tortuguero National Park.  The buses pulled up and stopped, and everyone got out to the sound of lively calypso music, with the first song after I arrived being “Rice and Beans”.  (Which was certainly more enjoyable than the calypso tune I heard in the Bahamas, that seemed to be named “Remember to Tip”.)  There was also a huge table of sliced pineapple, watermelon, and bananas.

One of our boats

They started to usher people down to the boats, I got there early to get a good seat by the window to take pictures, and Steph got a seat on the other side, so she could get shots from the other side of the boat.  Our boat was named Tamandu which is the Spanish or Indian name for an anteater.  I had worn my t-shirt with a stylized picture of a tamandu just the previous day for horseback riding.   The boat pulled out at a very slow pace, and whenever the guide, (or just as often someone on the boat) saw some wildlife, it would stop so that we all could get a chance to see it.  We first saw a Caiman in the water with just the eyes and nose poking above the surface, and then a short time later saw a river otter that kept diving under the water as I was trying to take a picture.

13-foot long Crocodile

Next on a tip from a passing boat’s captain we went upstream to where the other captain had just seen a rather giant crocodile, our guide turned off the PA and hushed the group so we could quietly approach, and we had a really good view of the 13-foot-long monster, before it eased itself down into the water, and disappeared with barely a ripple.

Who me? I’m just hanging around

Otter and Great Blue Heron

As we slowly went back down the canal, we saw kingfishers, a couple of different types of herons and egrets, as well of other similar smaller shore wading birds.  We saw several green basilisk lizards, but only females that don’t have the elaborate crests on their backs and heads, and a couple of large green iguanas hanging out on the shore.

We next came upon a pair of black howler monkeys up in a tree, our guide explained that they will howl as a challenge to other loud noises. He gave a pretty good impression of their howl, and they responded from the trees.

Iguana

We went further down the canal to where it widens out as a lagoon, with grass growing out of the water along both sides, and here we saw still more wading birds.  Their practice of standing motionless so as to not frighten off the small fish they’re hunting also makes them good subjects for photography.  Which is vastly different from the large blue morpho butterflies we’d see go by, which never seemed to pause or even fly in a straight line long enough to get a good picture.

Geronimo!

Our next stop was at another tree with a troop of black howler monkeys, and although these didn’t seem interested in responding to our guide’s howls, they did move down from the top of one tree, leap through the air to another lower tree, and then climb from there up into the neighboring tree.  Everyone’s breath would catch as each monkey dropped out of one tree to land in the smaller tree which would sway dramatically from the monkey’s weight when it landed.

Mmmm. Bananas.

Umm, There are crocodiles in there

Not too long after that we passed the other boat from our group, and from the way Kaya was dangling her fingers in the water, it seemed clear that their boat hadn’t seen the crocodile.  We started back towards the dock and made a couple of more stops along the way. One to see one of the iguanas again that was now more visible, and a last stop to see a sloth hanging motionless high in a tree.  I have no idea how they managed to spot this sloth, to me even with it being pointed out with a laser pointer it was really hard to find.

Arriving back at the boat dock, we had a chance to eat some more of the fruit they had laid out, and listen to some more calypso music for about a half hour, before boarding the bus and going back to the ship in time to get lunch.  Mmmm more food.

Playa Bonito

We debated going out to see Limon after lunch or going to the beach Playa Bonita.  Christina and Keith came by at lunch saying they were going to the beach, so I think that helped nudge us in that direction.  We got ready, and tried to find them, but couldn’t, so we ditched them and went with a group of 7 students who had talked a cabbie down to 3 dollars a person.  That seemed a little excessive compared to our 2 dollar per person trip the previous day from the sloth sanctuary, especially for a place we had been told you could walk to.  We subsequently found that although technically you could have walked there, and if you knew exactly where you were going, and kept a good pace, and turned around immediately upon arriving at the beach and started walking back, you might have made it back in time for the 7:00 P.M. on board time.  But really it doesn’t cost the cabbie any more in time or gas, why should it cost us more for each additional person.

Local kid srufing

It was a really nice beach with fine sand, gentle waves, gradually deepening water as you waded out, and a volleyball court (although I had foolishly decided not to bring the volleyball from our cabin.)  Of the people on the beach at least 3/4ths of them were SAS’ers. A couple of them were walking around with giant beer bottles but mostly everyone was just having a relaxed fun time at the beach.  After all of the excitement of the past several days of great but exhausting trips, it was nice to just relax and chill for a while.  While there, we heard someone who had been on the other boat at Tortuguero that morning and she was saying that all they had seen was a bunch of birds, and a sloth and some monkeys sitting motionless way up in the trees.

Mmmmm Coconut juice

We went to a grocery/gift store right next to the beach and picked up some more sunscreen, some Costa Rican coffee, another gift to bring home, and a 6-pack of Imperial beer (my favorite beer of Costa Rica) to have a drink on the beach.  We ran into Christina and Keith and they said they had changed their plan from the beach to a nearby Jaguar sanctuary, but then learned that the sanctuary was closed since it has no jaguars.  So then they changed their plan back to go to the beach.  The weather on this last day was the best of the three days in Costa Rica, and would have probably made for better snorkeling, but given the distance to Cahuita and how long it took to get back the first day, it was probably better that we didn’t try to postpone the snorkel trip to the third day.

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Streets of Puerto Limon

Around 4:30 our mini-bus cab came back to pick everyone up as scheduled, and took us back to the ship.  Stephanie wanted to take a shower right away, but I wanted to try to get some money (as I as heard there were bank machines in town that would dispense U.S. Dollars instead of Colones, which wouldn’t be that useful in the next country) as well as to try to mail a postcard that I had been carrying around since Panama.

Cajero Automatico means ATM

I set out with a purpose, stopping several times and asking about ATMs and stamps, and was told about a ScotiaBank that would work for money, but I was having no luck with the stamps.  I found the bank and got money, and started back toward the ship asking again several people about stamps.  I was told that you could only get stamps at the post office, which was closed.  I had about given up when I ran into a professor from the ship who is from Costa Rica.  He said he had just been talking to a couple of guys who might be able to help me out, and went with me to a pet shop, talked with one of the guys who said that the post office wouldn’t be open until Monday, but that he’d do it, and he even refused any payment.  So fingers crossed. I hope it gets there (Let me know Joe.)

It’s now off to sea again for two days on our way to Honduras.

MORE IMAGES FROM COSTA RICA DAY 3