It all started off with a trip to Amigos Thursday night for a couple of drinks and many games of pool :) I'm actually getting somewhat decent at it since we play so much here! Thursday night was also super exciting because I got my camera battery from Brika - so I was finally able to take my own pictures with my own camera again :-D I stayed in Santa Anna with Brika because we had to get up bright and early at 4:30am on Friday so that we could catch the 5am bus to San Jose. We were picked up in San Jose by our private transportation van at 6am (by Fran, who come to find out is a native Michigander as well!) - and then proceeded to pick up 6 others who were coming along on the trip. There were four Russians (Victor, Sofia, Maria, and Alex) and a very cute couple CJ and Danny, from the U.S. and Canada respectively. Needless to say we were a pretty eclectic group and Brika and I were definitely the only ones under 40, haha.
Our trip to Tortuguero started off with our ride through the mountains and the Braulio Carrillo National Park to the Limon Province. We stopped for breakfast about hour and a half into our journey at a gorgeous restaurant tucked away in the "jungle."
Our wildlife sightings started early with a couple of toucans flying overhead (Toucans, check!) It's hard to see them in this picture because they were really high up in the trees, but I swear there's two of them! Look for the yellow of the throat and beak :)
We got to the port of Moin in probably about 2:30-3 hours, then it was time to meet Modesto (Fran's husband who has AMAZING eyes, which will be talked about more later) and get on board the Francesca for a 3 hour trip up the canals to Tortuguero. On our way to Tortuguero we saw lots of birds and butterflies, but we also got to see a troop of Howler Monkeys, a Three-Fingered Sloth, Green Basilisks, a Caiman and lots of friendly locals :) Modesto's legendary keen eyesight was proven true right off the bat when he spotted the Green Basilisks sunbathing on the branches on the side of the canal while we must have been going at least 40 mph in the boat! You wouldn't believe the things he could spot without being there, he seriously has super human eyesight.
When we got to Tortuguero Brika and I were the first ones to be dropped off, we had opted to stay in the village rather than at the Laguna Lodge (mostly because it was cheaper, but also because we didn't want to get trapped into tourist land). Boy were we surprised when we go to our hotel and it was right on the beach! Neither one of us had been expecting to get beach time in during the trip...but there it was the beautiful Caribbean :) We had the rest of the afternoon and evening to ourselves so we took a walk on the beach and through the village (very much a rural village, not a lot going on, one street through the whole thing and walking from end to end of the village probably only took about 10 minutes) and relaxed in the hammocks. There wasn't even a bar in town! Not to sound like an alcoholic or anything, but it was just really strange because EVERYWHERE we have gone there has at least been a bar - it's just an illustration of how rural this village really is! There was so little to do that we just ended up going to bed at like 8:30/9 - I know, hard to believe ME going to bed that early!
We were picked up at 6am on the dock for our morning canal tour. We got up nice and early and had some amazing smoothies for breakfast. Brika and I joked that all the old folks were probably going to be very surprised and impressed that we were waiting for them at the dock! We saw a ton of different birds - herons, macaws, a few I can't remember the name of, but most importantly another toucan!
After the morning tour we had the rest of the morning and afternoon all to ourselves until 3 - so Brika and I got some serious beach time in! I'm a tad burnt...but hey, that just means I'll come back to the States on Saturday with more color, right?! It was a gorgeous day - sunny and super hot! We found lots of sand dollars too :) I hope I can get them back to the States without them all breaking - 1 of my 5 broke just on the trip back to San Jose :-/
The afternoon canal trip took us deep into Tortuguero's "Mini-Amazon" - absolutely beautiful! No Jaguar sighting though :-/ Just lots more birds and some Spider Monkeys :)
Brika and I dined at the best restaurant in the village on Saturday night - the Buddha Cafe. Contrary to what you would expect from the name, it served mostly pizzas and pasta - they were really good though! After being in the sun all day, and not really having anything in the village going on to keep us going, we went to bed at about 8:30/9 again (I know, can you imagine, two days in a row!)
We were picked up for our return trip to San Jose at 8am - it had stormed through the night again and was still raining so we didn't see a lot of wildlife along the way back to Moin. EXCEPT for...the Crocodile King! He was huge! Oh, and the Spoon Billed somethingorother...Basically looked like a mini Flamingo with a spoon shaped beak.
Once back to Moin we hopped in Fran's van for our trek back to San Jose. We stopped by the same restaurant for lunch and we were on our merry way through the National Park. All was going well and we were about 45 minutes away from being home until....there was a landslide in the National Park! Luckily we weren't close when it happened, but I think we must have been only a half hour or so behind because people still didn't know what was going on. I am sooo thankful that this was the one and only trip we had decided to take private transportation for, because anyone that was in a public bus up there had to camp out for the night - the road is too narrow for a bus or semi to turn around, and the road won't be opening back up until today. On one hand it was nice to have to take a different route, because I got to see parts of the country that I hadn't seen before. We drove through the beautiful Central Valley "Coffee Country" and through the gorgeous city of Cartago (actually the old capital). BUT, we had to back track a lot and take a South East loop around to get back on track to San Jose - so it took an extra 3 1/2 hours or so to get home. I got home at 7:30 pm. Recap - we left Tortuguero at 8am...so...yesterday was about 12 hours of traveling!
The weekend was amazing, although yesterday definitely wore us down some. I'm really glad that I made it to Tortuguero before coming home, it was quite the experience! I got to see new Costa Rican country side, an inumerable amount of new animals, spend time in the Mini-Amazon and experience rural village life.
I am, however, definitely ready to come home and see my friends, family, and especially Adam again. I love you all and can't wait to see you - 5 more days!
p.s. Blogger is being a PIA again with photos...so I will add them as it allows me. Meanwhile, I put a LOT of them on Facebook already, so check them out there :)
