Pura Vida! Costa Rica Photos added

[ali-s]

Yes,promise I'll add photos when we get home. Connection here is so slow and my tablet is not helping matters. Can't even edit the above post to say we went horse riding on Wednesday.
So, TODAY is Thursday we had a later start this morning so when DH and boys finally emerged from their beds we had breakfast then a little walk around the farm next door ( open to guests of the hotel) I found out ' my' chicken must be an escapee as they have 3 barns of chooks over there but they have no access to outside. Such a shame as there is plenty of room for them to roam, but maybe they don't want them pooping all over the hotel grounds.( owning chickens I know how much they poo LOL ) they have perches and dust to bathe in but they are overcrowded and most are missing a lot of feathers- they tend to feather peck when over crowded. In contrast' my' chicken plus half a dozen other escapees look very healthy.
Around 10.30 am we bundled up our laundry ( no idea how we produce so much) and took a taxi to our ATV ( quad bike) tour which is conveniently next door to a laundry where we dropped off our washing.
This was the tour DS16 had been looking forward to most. Not all ATV companies will let a16 yr old drive solo but this one will. We had a fantastic time, just us again, we had 3 guides and an ATV each, we rode for 3 hours through farmland, up and downhills ,stopped at a river to swim and wash off the mud all within view of Arenal volcano.
















Once again we were lucky enough to have a clear view of the top of the volcano's many people visit La Fortuna and never see it was it's often covered in mist.




DH left the track most often, think he got stuck in mud 6 times and randomly crashed into a hedge once,it was hilarious, especially as the rest of us got stuck once each. DS19 was behind him when he got stuck in one boggy part and got absolutely plastered with mud flung up from the wheels.






We borrowed a Go Pro which DS16 wore on his helmet and recorded the whole thing, they then burnt it onto a DVD for us , can't wait to view it when home.
We then took a taxi into town for lunch, 5 mins after sitting down at the table there was an almighty crash of thunder and the heavens opened. Can't believe our luck in dodging these downpours. By the time we'd finished eating the rain had stopped so we did a bit of souvenir shopping in the very touristy town centre, visited the ATM ( my Kalixa card is working brilliantly- I haven't used my Halifax Clarity and am now worried I can't remember the pin! ) and bought more bug repellent as tomorrow we leave La Fortuna and head to Tortuguero, a town surrounded by waster and water = mosquito's ( we were eaten alive in Drake Bay and I don't want a repeat,).

La Fortuna




Once I've posted this we'll have to sort out our bags, have dinner and then one last soak in the hot springs.

[ali-s]

This morning we left La Fortuna, for the first time it was raining when we got up and rained for most of the journey in the shuttle van. The mist had come down and you wouldn't know there was a volcano there, can't believe how lucky we've been with the weather.
We left at 7.30 and got to the boat dock in La Pavona around 4 hours later. Tortuguero is a village with ocean on one side and canals on the other, no roads,only way in or out is boat or plane. La Pavona has a pavilion with shops, restrooms and cafe, most transport providers include a meal here in the ticket price, we had ours waiting for the boat to be loaded, the boats go when full and the trip from La Pavona lasted about an hour.

waiting at La Pavona


leaving La Pavona


It was even more scenic than the river to Drake Bay, and we didn't break down and there was no open ocean to contend with, so a more relaxing journey. except for a few minutes when we encountered a shallow area and the captain had to reverse backwards and forwards to get us out of mud, lots of shouts from the Americans at the back ' everybody out to push!'


Arriving in Tortuguero we were met by a tourist association guide who told us about the tours available , while he was talking I noticed a large stripy bird chasing an iguana by the canal side,I interrupted to find out it was a tiger heron, but thought it would be too rude to go take a photo, luckily DS16 managed to get it on his phone.



Arriving Tortuguero





Most people come here for the same two tours, boat trip on the canals and turtle watching, we booked for both, turtle watching tonight and a canoe tour to see wildlife at 6 am tomorrow! We don't find out until later what time we are turtle watching, the guides draw their times out of a hat, either 8-10 pm or 10-12 pm, I'm hoping ours gets the earlier slot as with a 6 am start it won't be worth going to bed otherwise!
We've had a dip in the pool( we are staying at the only place with a pool in the village, all the all inclusive places outside the village have pools but they charge a bit more than the £30 a room per night we are paying ) it's a good pool but deep, first time I've come across a pool more than 5 ft deep with no shallow end, I'm 5 ft 2 so I have to swim or sink LOL, did think about wearing my snorkel so I could stand on the bottom.
I'll turf DH and the boys out of the hammocks soon and we'll go explore the village for something to eat before we find out if we are staying up late.

[Melbatb]

Continuing to sound fabulous!

[ali-s]

Well we lucked out again last night, we got the 8-10pm slot for turtle watching. We went for dinner around 6 pm and while we were eating we had another torrential downpour.

Our canal side table


When it was time for the tour the rain had stopped, perfect timing! The tours are very well organised, you are only allowed on the beach at night with a tour guide. The beach is divided into sections and the guides draw lots for which section they get as well as what time. You go with your guide ( in groups of 10 ) to the waiting area for his section while a ' spotter' on the beach patrols for turtles.You can only go to see the turtle if it's laying eggs, as that's when it goes into a trance like state and won't be bothered by watchers, or if it decides not to lay and leaves, the turtle our spotter found was one of the latter so we didn't see the laying process but at least we saw a turtle! It was a green turtle, the leatherback has already done it's laying and will soon be hatching, but our guide said it has been a bad year so far for them with 97% of the leatherback nests destroyed by high tides and bad weather To make up for not seeing the laying our guide found us a red eyed tree frog, he posed perfectly but as camera's were banned during turtle watching no one could get a picture.

borrowed image as no cameras allowed

[ali-s]

This morning ( Saturday) we were up early for our 6 am canoe trip around the canals. I felt like I was in Jurassic Park, a dinosaur wouldn't have looked out of place and when the howler monkeys started calling it sounded like Jurassic Park As well as howlers we saw caiman, many different types of birds including heron , ibis and kingfisher, the snake bird ( can't spell it's real name) great curraso and various others whose names I don't recall.



Howlers


Caiman




snake bird




heron


another heron with a pathetic excuse for a nest, it actually had a chick balanced precariously on the pile of twigs




But the highlight was a troop of capuchins who put on a show for 20 mins. There were a lot of very young monkeys in the group and they were trying to pluck up courage to jump from the tree they were in to one 6 ft away across the water. 2 attempted it and missed the branch having to do a clumsy recovery to avoid a dip in the river, the best part was when a traffic jams occurred at the end of the branch and an almighty squabble broke out, with a dozen monkeys on the end of the branch it broke and they all ended up in the water, exit several soggy, cross monkeys, it was so funny!

The monkeys were squabbling in this palm


a slightly soggy monkey after a dunking


We have spent the rest of the day wandering around the village ( very poor, in our terms, many people live in little more than shacks) doing some souvenir shopping, walking on the beach - no swimming due to sharks and rip tides, but lots of pelicans flying over the waves,swinging in hammocks and swimming in the pool.

village park






no swimming beach



pelicans

We are heading out to dinner in a minute, there are plenty of ' sodas' - cafes run by local people serving a limited menu for a reasonable price, or if we want a change from rice and beans ( which is surprisingly tasty) there are a couple of more expensive places run by foreigners. We had a very good meal at one last night and hope to try the other tonight. Must remember to take our torches, the 2 concrete paths on ' main st' are lit , but the rest of the village is in darkness.
Tomorrow we move on to spend our last 4 nights further down the coast, near the Panamanian border.

[Jet]

Love reading these posts.

[ali-s]

We are here now in Cocles, an area a little way south of the town of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca.

We've travelled south from Tortuguero to a point just below the row of palm trees by the sloth.


We caught the ' public boat' from Tortuguero at 10 am this morning, it was a full boat having already picked up at the all inclusive lodges out of the village , ours were the last 4 seats, good job I pre booked.

Loading the boats


On the boat



It was a 3 hour trip south down the canals to Moin. We all enjoyed it, where else can you see howler monkeys, fresh water turtles, caiman and numerous birds while taking public transport? A couple of times the canals got very close to the ocean, then the captain/ driver would slow down and point out the various birds on the sandy islands dividing river and sea. We saw cormorants, pelicans, egrets, ibis, but my favourites were the roseate spoonbills, pinkish like flamingos but shorter legs and flat spoon shaped bills.









Roseatte Spoonbills


On arriving in Moin, which was little more than a jetty next to the big industrial port of Limon, our shuttle driver was waiting for us.This is supposed to be shared mini bus transport, but once again we had it all to ourselves. We had a drive of about an hour to our hotel, passing several large banana plantations.
We are in a house beside the hotel grounds, 3 bedrooms, kitchen and upstairs and downstairs open sided sitting areas so I am sat dibbing while listening to the frog & insect chorus.

Not sure what we are doing tomorrow, I have activities selected but have not prebooked anything- I'm feeling a little un organised, not a familiar feeling LOL

[Melbatb]

Enjoy the last few days!

[ali-s]

Yesterday ( Monday) we hired bikes for 7 dollars a day and rode up and down the coast ( only ) road. These bikes were unlike anything I've seen in the UK, new and well maintained but very basic, heavy sturdy frames, uprighr type handlebars, no gears, no brakes on the handlebars- pedal backwards to brake , but big comfy saddles, thank goodness as last time we hired bikes in the UK I had bruises on my bum for days after We had to practice riding up and down the hotel's driveway as we found it almost impossible to turn without falling over and it took a few crashes into the hedge before we remembered we had no brakes on the handles

Basic bikes

We set out from our hotel and rode to a village literally at the end of the road, to go further you'd need to walk or use a boat and you'd end up in Panama.

Village at end of the road

Then we turned around and rode back stopping on the way at beaches for a swim if they looked calm enough, or just to take photos if we didn't want to risk the many rip tides ( think drowning caused by riptides is the number one danger for tourists over here).







We stopped for lunch at cafe serving middle Eastern food, very strange being in Costa Rica listening to reggae music and eating falafel I'm not sure I mentioned before but the east coast we are now on is also known as the Caribbean coast as the majority of the population originate from The Caribbean islands, many came here to work decades ago but have maintained their dialect and traditions.
We rode for far longer than I intended, mainly because we could not find the entrance to one beach and went up and down that stretch of road about 8 times. We heard howler monkeys in the trees, we had blue morpho butterflies fluttering alongside us, saw freshwater turtles and several horses randomly standing in the road- and they weren't inclined to move for anyone LOL think we rode about 24 kms, whatever that is in miles.

random horse


fresh water turtles


We got back to the hotel just before dusk, night falls very quickly here and we weren't keen on being on unlit roads on unlit bikes.



A shower and change then taxi 6 kms to the main tourist town of Puerto Viejo. I had to find an ATM as we needed cash for our tours today, many places in this area don't take cards.
I wasn't keen on what I saw of Puerto Viejo, it only has 3 or 4 blocks but was very busy, very popular with backpackers I think. We wanted dinner and were handed so many fliers by touts it became a joke who could collect the most menus. We eventually ( and a little apologetically) selected the most European looking place which turned out to be Italian and filled to capacity with other Europeans. We had a nice but expensive meal of pasta, then set about finding a taxi to take us back to the hotel. I read there were only 2 licensed cabs in this area and that seems to be true as the taxi we found was a two door sports car! We somehow crammed in and signed with relief when we got back safe to the hotel. The 'random horses' who had been stood in the road earlier were now stood in the hotel driveway , we had to practically push them out the way.

[ali-s]

Today, Tuesday, we were back to Manzanillo. This time for a guided walk. Our taxi picked us up at7.45 am and at 8 am we were waiting with our guide for 5 more people coming by bus.They didn't arrive until 8.30 so we were late starting, relevant as I had booked a private tour of a local animal sanctuary for 2 pm, our hotel owner had assured us we'd be finished by 12.30, so it would now be 1 pm, no problem?
Our guide Abel started by explaining how Manzanillo got it's name from the tree which produces fruits that look like small crab apples. Manzana is Spanish for apple, but the tree translated into French is death apple. There was a sign right under the tree in Spanish apparently explaining how toxic this tree is - eating the fruit would kill you, sap from the leaves will burn your skin and if transferred to your face, give you a head ache. We found it darkly amusing that no one had thought to translate the sign to English!

Dire warning- in Spanish only



There was a woman of Caribbean descent telling us something in patois,we needed Abel to translate that she had home made patties for sale, spicy meat or sweet plantain, I tried the plantain ( looks like a big banana but the texture lends itself to baking rather than eating) it was really nice and sweet.
Our walk/ hike was through the Gandoca Manzanillo reserve and was made very interesting by Abel's humourous dialogue.



We saw more sloths ( getting so we don't bother looking now LOL) several eye lash pit vipers, small but venomous, bats, poison dart frogs, bullet ants an inch long, one bite is equivalent to 15 bee stings and will be painful for 24 hours. A racoon carrying a crab, agoutis, Jesus Christ lizards ( the ones that run on water) woodpeckers and other birds including the rare and very hard to spot potoo. This was a bird we saw at the rescue centre where we stayed our first two nights. It's incredibly well camouflaged and will stay on the same tree for months at a time.

eyelash pit vipers




a small! bullet ant


Jesus Christ lizard


Inside a strangler fig, parasitic tree that strangles and kills it's host



woodpeckers


spot the potoo


Leaf cutter ants. They collect petals if they need to speed up their composting.


poison dart frog




Abel was a great guide and obviously enjoyed the feedback he was getting from our group, the other 5 were German with very good English and a good sense of humour, the girl was very good at spotting things Abel had missed ( think she'd been to Panama and practiced there) they were a fun group to be with, a totally different experience to our Corcovado tour with the annoying family with whiny kids getting their heads in the way. Anyway, needless to say, as we had a prior appointment and Abel was enjoying himself, the tour went on and on, at 2 pm we were still walking and talking. Our 4 hr tour turned into 51/2 hrs! Abel rang the sanctuary and explained we'd be late then rang a taxi and had it wait for us at the end of the trails, but we had no time for lunch and were pretty hungry.
The Jaguar Rescue Centre was fantastic. Named after the first animal they rescued 9 yrs ago they take in animals confiscated by the government ministry, animals people have either tried to keep as pets or sell on the black market, as well as animals found injured. All are released when possible in the sanctuary's own reserve. They are completely funded by donations and being open to the public.
We saw snakes, caiman, birds, sloths but the best were 3 cats, an ocelot, a margay and a puma. Our guide had sole charge of the cats and had to play with and feed the young puma 3 times a day to keep it stimulated ( it was a confiscated pet, so used to humans) watching her play and wrestle with this cat who obviously loved it was incredible.



And then if that wasn't enough, we were allowed into the cage with the baby monkeys. We had bottles of milk we could give them ( or they could take from us ) and they jumped and climbed on us, sat on my lap and played with my watch, tangled another woman's hair decoration, stole one guys glasses and generally behaved like boisterous toddlers.








One fell asleep on our guide, so cute.



We have one day left here but are fast running out of energy. We may do another guided walk tomorrow or maybe walk on our own, possibly snorkel if the conditions are right. DS wants a surf lesson but we have seen and done so much I am happy whatever we do or don't do.