Tortugero - Puerto Viejo

We have now been travelling for three days and three nights. We left Sarchi, early on thursday morning, on the bus for San Jose. From there we transferred to a bus towards the Carribean. We passed through Carriari, then La Pavona, at which point we were herded onto a small, long boat. This boat took us rapidly through a windy canal that got progressively more jungly. On one particularly sharp turn, a wave of water washed over the back portion of the boat, soaking the sad french couple who we had met earlier. Mon Dieu!

At long last, we reached Casa Marabella, a bed and breakfast run by canadian naturalist, Daryl Loth. The place was simple but very nice and its back deck hung over the tranquil river. Jungle all around. Just steps from a misty carribean beach replete with black sand, palm trees, and lots of coconuts.

Dinner at Miss Mirriams where I had coconut chicken and finally the hot sauce I had been craving for a long time.

Early the next morning Daryl took us out on his electric motor boat to see some wildlife. As we drifted through the waterways, we saw troups of howler monkeys, all three kinds of tucan (appently this was a big deal) a sloth, a whitefaced capuchin monkey, pairs of parrots, a baby cayman, a weaver bird, a large basking iguana, egrets, herons, and lots of tourists. later that day we went on a hike into the jungle and saw the spider monkey, a frog, and many large spiders.

we did not see it but we sensed the jaguar was following us the whole time.

late afternoon, accordion on the dock- then a good typical dinner at a place called La Casona.

The next morning we were just finishing breakfast when a woman who worked at the bnb came in with a baby turtle she had found wandering around town. There are strict laws that prohibit walking on the beach at night unless you are with a guide. Apparently, if the babies see any sort of flash light, they become confused and follow it, thinking its the moonlight reflecting on the water. This poor turtle was certainly confused and tired, so we all went down to the beach to try to release it back into the ocean. Unfortunately it seemed to be hurt on one side because it could only walk in clockwise circles. Each circle brought it a step closer to the big sea, but eventually another woman coaxed it in with her foot. It was a bitter sweet moment because the turtle didnt seem capable of surviving on its own, although of course we probably made some tuna very happy.

we should have taken this as a bad omen, for almost immediately it began to rain. The boat that was to take us south to Moin was ten minutes late, and when it arrived, it turned out to be no more than a small outboard motor boat with no roof. Luckily the rain lasted only about a half hour, but the boat jumped on the choppy water which made me very nervous about my accordion. This ride lasted 3 hrs, and by the end of it we were exhausted, sunburnt and wet (although excited about having seen many crocodiles).

From Moin we took the bus down to Cahuita which is a very small tourist town, whose claim to fame is the first afro-carribean settler to land in Costa Rica. The town has a certain vibe, lots of good food but also lots of crazy locals who sort of prey on the tourists who arrive in town, trying to get them to take this tour, stay at that hotel etc... gets tiring very quickly. But we navigated our way to a large wooden room with a view of the ocean, put down our stuff, ate at a great restaurant, and ended the night at the bar listening to live calypso.

Today we woke up and took the bus to Puerto Viejo, which is a larger town and our home for the next two weeks. Maybe its because the sun started shining when we arrived but we already decided we like it a lot more than Cahuita. Today we will try to rent bikes for the duration of our stay and maybe go swimming.

Tomorrow we start work.

Hasta Luego, Mon