Tortuguero
Tortuguero is in the upper right-hand corner of Costa Rica, the closest big city to Nicaragua on the Carribbean side. It`s reachable only by boat, so it´s a bit of a ride to get there, but totally worth it. Elizabeth and I made it there last week, parking the car in Cariari and then taking a bus and boat to the coast. We stayed in the cheapest digs in town, a place called Cabinas Meriscar, for $5 a night. It wasn´t dirty, but it wasn`t clean either; it was to be expected. If you don`t have low standards — something I have come to cultivate in myself, as it aids immensely in one`s enjoyment of communal hostel areas — then you won`t want to stay there, but for any budget traveller, it´s worth it. The owner, and exuberant Nicaraguan named Tony, is half the fun of the place, attempting to learn every language his guests know. I helped him with the pronunciation of the phrase, ”Do you have a ticket for the boat to Limon or Cariari?” and he would pop up at random times and eject the comment at me. ”Doo jou haf aye tikeht te boht too Limon o Cariari!!?” as I was cutting up watermelon for breakfast, walking back to my room, washing my hands after using the bathroom. As they say in Spanish, tiene ganas de aprender.
Tortuguero village is situated in between the river and the ocean, on a thin strip of land. The weather is humid and hot, but if you stay by the ocean there`s always a breeze, and most days it rains for at least a little while. It smells like how mornings used to smell when I went to camp when I was a kid. Kind of wet and earthy, but fresh, and the sunny day ahead is like a promise to be kept. El parque nacional Tortuguero is to the south of the village, and you can hike a short, muddy loop trail into it or take a boat into the canals of the river. The first morning we were there, E stayed in bed and I went with a German woman named Verena on a canoe tour of the canals with a guide at 6am. Richard, our guide, was quiet in general, but had great eyes and could spot a green parrot sitting on a green-leafed branch from 20 meters away. Amazing. I have trouble spotting wildlife until I step on it– in which case I render it immobile and can get a closer look — so it was definitely worth the $10 for over three hours of animal spotting. We saw spider, howler and capuchin monkeys, river turtles, a caiman, lots of birds (my favorite being what the guide called ”virtual tiger ‘eron”). Richard`s English was pretty good, but he did say that snowy egrets like to nest in the vegetarians at the edge of the river.
Because I had taken the guided tour, I was able to rent a kayak and paddle through the canals the next day to try to spot my own jungle animals. Tooling around for about three hours I spotted a river otter, spider monkey, more birds, a river turtle and the neatest fish-like things, long and thin and neon yellow striped. I really enjoyed paddling and drifting and stifling my fears of being attacked by a giant crocodile that could so easily just tip over my flimsy vessel and stuff me under a log somewhere to soften. Was that too graphic? Blame Animal Planet.
Anyway, there`s not a ton to do in Tortuguero because it´s so small and the surf is too rough to swim, so I took a lot of walks on the beach. It`s nice and cloudy most of the time, so I could walk and not roast.
The last night we were there we had another wildlife encounter, this one of the serpent variety. Walking through town after dinner, we came upon a crowd of people staring at the awning of a diner. The diner, aptly named La Culebra, was sporting a meter-long boa constrictor, struggling with how to get down to the ground after falling from the tree above. The best part of the situation was how the locals all reacted to the snake: scared as hell. You would think that living so close to nature would make them less jumpy, but apparently not. A person leaning a bit too close would inevitably fall victim to the fake push or snake bite pinch from a friend, illiciting a loud reaction. It didn`t get old until the snake finally found a way out, onto the ground and then up the wall studs.
Tags: Costa Rica, Tortuguero, Travel
