Spending Time in the Wild

Tortuguero village, on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, was unlike most places we have come across on our adventures. First of all, it is not the easiest place to get to. There are no roads leading there and so your choices are to fly in or arrive by boat.....it's really only by boat since those departing the airport need to take a boat to get to the village. We chose the latter since that is the way the locals do it. From San Jose we took two different buses to get to the small village of La Pavona and from there we took a one and a half hour water taxi through a small river and canals to reach Tortuguero. Being the dry season, the initial river level was low so we had to carry our backpacks an extra 500 metres on a path along the riverside to get to a point where the 20 person boat could handle the passengers and luggage with enough river water to handle the weight of the boat without bottoming out.....which we still did a few times, requiring the captain's assistant to enter the river and push the boat into a slightly deeper river channel. The extra time on the river was not an issue however because there was lots of wildlife to be seen along the way, primarily monkeys and colourful birds. The village itself was a pleasure to walk around.........no motorized vehicles of any sort so every one of the small streets was pedestrian friendly. All of our Tortuguero activities centred around the National Park. One day we took a small boat tour, with an Ontario family, through the many canals and rivers to observe the wildlife which included many types of birds, monkeys, large iguanas and caiman (small alligators). Another day we hiked in the NP, and while we still have not seen the elusive sloth, we did spot a small but dangerous pit viper snake which scurried across the trail just in front of us.....which perhaps led us to watching the ground from then on instead to searching tree limbs for sloths. We were a month early for the leatherback turtle nesting season but there was still evidence along the seashore where we noticed some broken egg shells from last season. We did venture over to the Turtle Museum for an explanation of the life cycle process, and also got to enjoy wonderful seafood once again while being on the coast.

Following a similar exit from Tortuguero we ventured back to the interior of the country, this time to the small town of La Fortuna, close to the Arenal Volcano, one of 6 active volcanoes in Costa Rica. There were a variety of activities to choose from and we embraced several of them. We started with a Hanging Bridges sky walk which involved a 6 km hike through the jungle at the base of the volcano leading to 4 long suspension bridges at the canopy level. The views were lovely but we didn't spot as much wildlife as we hoped, so perhaps we should have hired a guide to assist us. Another day we did some more hiking at the base of the Arenal Volcano, walking out from the Arenal Observation Lodge and museum) and then back again along a different trail 4 hours later. Wilmer (nicknamed 'Jungle Man' by his peers) was our excellent guide for the day. Beyond a special side trip to see our first sloth high up in a tree, he had a keen eye for spotting wildlife, leading us to agouti's (rabbit-squirrel cross), coati's (raccoon family), a beautiful red eyed leaf frog, howler and spider monkeys, as well as many different bird species including toucans, wild turkeys, tiny blue dacnis (tanager family, bright fluorescent blue) and oropendola's (bright yellow tails). To top it off, on our way out of the park after sunset, he spotted 2 different snakes crossing the road and stopped the mini-bus both times to track them down and bring them back for our group to see. The first was a 5 foot long very venomous fer-de-lance and the second a more colourful but smaller coral snake (less venomous). We finished the evening with a stop at the Tabacon River hot springs, naturally cooked by the geothermal volcano heat.  Wilmer used some volcanic ash that he collected on our hike to create mud masks for our faces while we relaxed in the 30C river. It was a long but very rewarding day.

We have one day left here and then we will take a 3 hour jeep-boat-jeep from La Fortuna, across Lake Arenal, and then on to the Monteverde Cloud Forest where we will do some more exploring.

The end of our 500 metre walk along a river path to a spot where the water taxi could handle the 20 passengers due to the lower than normal water level in the river. It wasn't too bad for us backpackers but the ones travelling with rolling suitcases took a lot longer to arrive. A second boat had to be enlisted to carry the luggage rather than adding even more weight to the passenger boat.

Taken during our one and a half hour boat ride down the river to reach Tortuguero. The wildlife along the shore entertained us, making the trip seem shorter than it was.

Our arrival in Tortuguero village. We stayed on the top floor of the white building on the right so our balcony, that we shared with a young Ontario family, provided a frequent hang out spot to make new friends and observe the river traffic below. The Caribbean Sea was only a 100 metre walk from behind our building.

A young caiman spotted from our small boat during a canal tour. The larger crocodiles stayed closer to the salt water.

A bright green basilisks lizard spotted near the riverside. They are also named the Jesus lizard for their ability to walk (run) on top of the water.

Upon our arrival in La Fortuna we found we had a great view of the active Arenal Volcano. Up until 2010, small orange lava flows could be seen most nights from this spot. The volcano has a sealed top rather than a crater meaning there is more to come, which is the reason hiking anywhere near the peak is forbidden.

Our self-guided jungle walk near the base of the volcano took us over many hanging (suspension) bridges with most of them over 100 metres long. All the others covered a small valley so no stairs were involved. Fortunately this one only required steps down and not up.

Our first sighting of the elusive sloth which tended to hang out during the day high in the rain forest treetops. The best shot we could get was through the guide's telescope.

Our guide Wilmer, who lived up to his nickname of 'Jungle Man'. In this particular instance he had gathered up some lava ash lumps and then used a rock to crush them. Later, at the hot springs river, he mixed the ash-sand with water to create a mud mixture which he then applied to our faces in an attempt to remove all of our wrinkles, or at least slow down the process. It kind of worked.....with the mud on our faces, it was hard to see any wrinkles!

The red eyed leaf frog which sat on his leaf patiently under the spotlight while we all took our pictures before we moved on. Unlike some other bright green frogs the Gaudi's are not poisonous.

Pocahontas in the Tabacon hot springs river after her mud mask had been applied. After 15 minutes when the mud started to dry out, our faces all took on a very pale ghost-like appearance in the darkness.