The hour and a half bus ride ended at La Pavona, literally on the shore of La Suerte River. Since there are no roads to Tortuguero, this river is quite literally the only way to get from here to there.
From the bus, we hauled our bags down to the shore to our next mode of transportation.
Once our bags were loaded, we hopped aboard.
And we were off!
Our destination, the Tortuguero National Park, is considered the remotest destination in Costa Rica. It's an hour and a half boat ride away.
The Tortuguero National Park is 190,115 acres of protected jungle and wildlife. 100% of the marine area is protected.
Of the land area, 99% is used for absolute protection of resources, and 1% is used for visitation services.
Our hour and a half boat ride took considerably longer. Along the way, our boat was met with great difficulty by being stuck numerous times in shallow waters. Pedro and the boat captain
hopped out into the murky caiman infested waters to
push the boat. The rest of us helped by leaning to the left and then to the right so we could wiggle the boat into deeper water.
Caiman's coming!
And we were off again.
Even though this is the dry season and the rivers are considerably shallower in some parts, the rivers do run deep and remain an intricate network of canals and lagoons creating beaches lining a dense rainforest.
In fact, there are intersections of rivers marked by destination signs to help the captain navigate.
Our destination of Tortuguero is a little town on a rainforest backed by a sandbar where sea turtles come to nest.
Tortuguero National Park is internationally recognized for its protection of the largest green turtle nesting beach in the Western Hemisphere. It is also the nesting place for the Leatherhead (which can grow from 6 to 7 feet long and weigh up to 1,500 pounds), the Hawksbill, and the Loggerhead turtles. The "arribidaor" or "mass sea turtle nesting" for Tortogueo occurs during March-October.
Early in its history, Tortuguero was a remote fishing village that had coconut and cocoa plantations. Today, this tiny town is a central station for research and conservation in the area. Since there are no roads in Touteguero, one either walks or rides a bicycle.
Above is the Tortuguero recycling station.
Soon we landed at our lodging destination for two nights: Miss Junie's Lodge and Restaurant.
Here is the beautiful Miss Junie.
Our room, which was lovely, came complete with a view and a hammock.
We could hear the sound of the surf from our room. So we followed the sound down Miss Junie's walkway, went through the gate and there was the beautiful Caribbean Sea!
After the long 5 and a half hour travel day, the pool was a welcome reprieve. It is hot and humid in the jungle but the view of the water from our dinner table was beautiful!
The rain arrived during dinner and while the photos don't clearly show it, the streets flooded.
The "town" such as it is, is pretty quiet at night.
This is one of the rainiest parts of Costa Rica which contributes to its rich biodiversity.
There are over 300 different species of birds found here. Since there are no roads in Tortiguena, the best way to see the birds is by boat.
So, at 6:30 the next morning,
Jeff and I set out on a canoe trip with our guide, Cloied Taylor Martinez. Cloied is the best friend of Jason who had been our walking tour guide in San Jose. Cloied is of royal blood. He is the great-grandson of the founder of Tortuguero. As Jason told us, "Cloied is innocent and wise. His aura is something else." It was so true and I'll always be indebted to Jason for telling us about Cloied.
Some of the others from our group joined us for our canoe ride with Cloied.
Cloied took us back into a proverbial labyrinth of jungle waterways.
Such lush jungle and verdant green color. Then down another bend in the river a different shade of green.
We saw an incredible array of birds and marine wildlife! Some animals were so well camouflaged that even when we paddled the canoe up to the spot where Cloied said the animal was, it still took us a moment to see it. But there it was!
Some animals were more obvious to spot than others.
We are the intrepid travelers ready to go around another bend on the jungle river!
Instead of a three-hour tour, Cloied Taylor Martinez most generously gave us a 4 and a half hour canoe trip through the hidden waterways of the jungle on the Canales del Tortuguero. Throughout our trip, we had a sudden and lengthy downpour resulting in the continuous bailing of the canoe. But it didn't dampen our spirits for it was truly an exceptional experience!
As if that wasn't enough, the day continued with another exceptional experience of a 3-hour afternoon jungle walkthrough part of Tortuguero National Park. We logged 18,605 steps on this trek.
We were fortunate today, for we had the renowned "nature guide" Ray Brown.
Having lived in the jungle his entire life, Mr. Brown knew the jungle intimately. His passion and in-depth knowledge of the biosphere was exceptional. The enormous array of rare birds, insects, reptiles, and mammals he spotted, even though they were so incredibly well camouflaged, was astounding. We were all quite excited when he pointed out to us the elusive sloth.
Do you see Ray Brown standing in the lower right-hand corner below the tall jungle trees? Now, do you see the sloth?
Partway into our hike, we were treated yet again to another torrential tropical downpour and this one was intense. So much so that the slow sloth moved very quickly swinging from one branch to another tree to find better shelter!
It was rainy and wet, really wet, drenching rain wet, with the humidity making our sticky sweat cling to our skin; but, I absolutely wouldn't trade this experience for the world. We were told how to identify numerous jungle sounds, how to smell for snakes, "see" what was lurking in the trees and on the ground by our feet and how to listen to the nuanced sounds of these jungle voices that we had never heard before. I have a great sense of smell and certainly picked up on a few aromas, but I couldn't smell any snakes although I knew they were there in great abundance. Without Ray's guidance to immediately stop in our tracks, we would have stepped on this well-camouflaged poisonous snake!
As we continued our trek, Ray told us to stop in our tracks again, for he smelled another snake. We immediately stopped and there, one
footstep away was another poisonous snake.
Ray shared how he had never gone any further than the 3rd grade in schooling. I told him he was one of the smartest most gifted individuals that I've ever had the privilege to meet.
He also told us how a few days ago a jaguar had been spotted in town at a friend's home and also at another friend's nearby home, two dogs had disappeared! Not an old wive's tale for we had heard about the jaguar's exploits when we arrived yesterday and we were also told about it this morning. It definitely was the talk of the town.
There are murals such as this one at the beginning of the trail:
Drying off in the jungle is a bit of a challenge, but we all managed for tonight was Valentine's Day and we ate at a delicious restaurant called the Buddha Cafe. Jeff surprised me with a beautiful Valentine's Day card he had brought from Tacoma.
Happy Valentine's Day 2022
from
Tortuguero, Costa Rica
