Dave and I breezed through Costa Rica and we´ve already made it to Bocas del Toro, Panama-the island of Colòn to be specific.
On Sunday we got up earlyish and got the 9am bus to Cariari. From there we took another bus down a long bumpy dirt rode to where the boat was awaiting the bus to take us to Tortuguero. I´ve found out that a lot of people lie to tourists in Costa Rica so that you will take their services. When we got to Cariari there was a lady waiting for the bus and she said that using her company was the only way to arrive to Tortuguero, which was a lie. See, when we were in line to get on the bus in San Jose a lady in front of us told us that she has a guesthouse in Tortuguero for $8 per person, blah, blah, blah. Well, I knew that she was headed there so I followed her when we got off the bus, and as it turns out, it´s possible to get there on public transport for 1/2 the price.
Once we got to where the boat was waiting we had to climb over a wooden fence to get to the boat. I thought that I was all tough and could climb over the fence with my pack on my back, but I underestimated the strength it would take to get an extra 35-40 pounds up and over a fence and had to take it off and hand it over. We got on this long skinny boat that was in what looked to be an irrigation canal. It was only a few feet wider than the boat at some parts with crops on both sides and in one area there were cows standing in the way drinking water. When we first started to go the water was too shallow to use the engine and 2 guys were pushing the boat while they were walking knee deep in the water. It was really funny! We did that for about 10 minutes before getting to where we could use the engine, but we still hit bottom a few times. we were really zipping through these canals! Eventually we got out onto a bigger river and then to the lagoon where the town of tortuguero lies in the jungle between a canal/lagoon and the caribbean sea. We checked out a couple of places and decided to stay at La Casona, the place that the lady on the bus owns which is quite nice.
That afternoon/evening we booked a jungle tour for the next morning which was $10 for 3 hours beginning at 5:30AM!!! That was really early. We wanted to do a turtle tour, but that guy (Ernesto) was actually an honest one and told us that he´s not going to lie, they haven´t arrived for the last 15 days, so he´s not going to charge us for that trip when he knows we´re not going to see any turtles, but a lot of other guys WERE still doing tours. What crooks! I washed some clothes in the sink and hung them on the line to dry.
I woke up at 4:30am to the sound of rain and ran outside to get the clothes off of the line. It poured. By the time we left for the tour it had stopped raining. There were 8 of us on a small row boat with Ernesto rowing in the back. It was still cloudy, there was mist over the canals and we could hear the loud roar of howler monkeys in the distance. No one spoke, we only heard the birds, monkeys in the distance and the sound of the oars in the water. It was so beautiful!! After about an hour it started to rain again, but before that we saw howler monkeys, spider monkeys, a bunch of different birds including a toucan, a caiman and an iguana. It started to pour so we tried to seek refuge under a tree at the edge of the canal, but it didn´t hold up too long.
Darn, the internet place is closing now. I hate when this happens. i´ll have to finish in a few days, but wait until you hear about me handing my hat to a wild monkey in Cahuita National Park yesterday!!! Stay tuned…
