Sunday, Feb 12
Up at the crack of Cristo aka 4:45am to go to Ray's house. As I mentioned in my last post, Ray had been our guide for our day hike into the Tortuguero National Park but we barely saw anything of note. He felt bad so he invited us to come to his property to see all of the birds that live there. Ok, we said. But we would have to go early to see the good birds since hot bird time is right at sunrise. So, we got up at 4:45 to be ready for 5:30. As per Tico (Costa Rican) time, Ray showed up around 6am.
He lives on the other side of the river. Have I explained the geography of Tortuguero? It is on a narrow strip of land between the ocean and a river. It is about maybe a kilometer long and 300 meters wide??? Taxis shuttle up and down the river to Moin on the coast (just ourside of Limon) and La Pavona which is west inland. Anyway, to get to the other side of the river, one needs a boat. Ray arrived in a boat with some guy driving it. He dropped us off on the other side at a dock of a small lodge/resort. We wandered around the lodge and along their raised walkways. Ray was not talking to us and barely ackowledging our presence. Val and I were giving each other sideways glances, this was clearly not Ray's property, we assumed we had been 'mislead' but went with it.
Then we went 'into the jungle'. We left the raised platforms and started bushwacking. Livingstone I presume'd it, if one can use a phrase as a verb (one cannot but I am doing it anyway). No birds. No animals. Then we climbed over and under some barbed wire. We were near some ramshakle houses. I took a picture of one that was clearly abandoned and then saw somebody come out of it. More barbed wire, then we were on a farm with horses and cows. It had rained in the night so it was muddy with endless hoof pits and manure everywhere. There was no way to walk and look for birds but Ray was still ignoring us and walking far ahead.
We were in perfect birding zone: open area, surrounded by jungle, lots of trees, right after a rain, around sun rise but there were no birds. Poor Ray. We arrived at an apple tree, ladden with ripe fruit and he said he couldn't believe there were no birds in it. I couldn't believe it either. But Val and I amused ourselves with pictures of the animals. Then all of a sudden, a toucan and a woodpecker and some random little things. Then the big one, a white collared Manakin. Yea! No pictures of birds, you will have to live with the farm animals.
All of the birds got Ray talking. The less ramshakle house is his, the worse one is his brothers. The farm is their neighbour's. It was almost 10 and starting to get hot and rain (not a nice combo) so it was time to head back to town. But no boat. So Ray waved his son off the water to paddle us back to Tortuguero Village. Then breakfast at our favourite place with a view of the river. A good morning all told.
Because it had been raining that morning and while we were eating breakfast, we decided it would be a good time to go into the park again. The birds and animals are more likely to be out looking for food or drying in the sun right after a rain. The park cost $15 US each day. We had paid the day before and I knew I was going to pay the next day so we decided to go in by the beach which doesn't have a gate (bad I know but I was running out of money since the bank machine debacle).
We had way more success with birds and other animals/reptiles than we had the day before. Some new birds, another toucan to make a full set of three that live in the area. Again, no photos. A new humming bird (sorry, I would have to cross reference with my bird book to get actual species). We also saw a tiny pit viper (or that is what we were told). But best of all, we got to watch an anteater walk along the branches over our head. Apparently they live in trees here. Lots of pictures of that guy.
Then it was time to leave. We were closer to the park gate than the beach so we went out the entrance but we hadn't paid. As we were passing the ticket booth, the park employee/ranger? called Val over. I just kept walking, I didn't have enough money to pay. I stopped outside of the park, next to some fine young entrepreneurs who had product that could relax me, help me sleep, etc. No thanks.
I waited for Val to get her lecture and to have to pay the fee. No Val, no Val, no thanks to the pot still, no Val. It was raining again but I didn't know if I should go back to the hotel, go save Val who was surely in jail by now, or just join the dealers and live on that corner forever. After sooo long, Val came out of the park. It turns out, she was just filling out a survey and they hadn't even asked to see her ticket. Be warned friends of mine, I will let you go to jail alone if I think it will save me $15.
I said goodbye to my drug dealing friends and we headed back to the hotel. We needed to figure out how we were going to get to Alajuela, our next stop. We, of course, went to talk to Alejandro, the knower of all, the booker of anything. He gave us our options with speed vs cost. Boat to Moin plus bus to San Jose then Alajuela (a million hours), a boat to La Pavone, bus to San Jose then Alajuela. Both of these options were cheapish but the buses were long and there were two connections that were difficult to make in time to get a seat. Or, Alejandro knows a guy who drives a taxi who will pick us up in La Pavone and drive us to our hostel door in Alajuela. This would cost more of course but would cut 3-4 hours off our trip. We wanted to get to Alajuela early enough to organize a day at Poas Volcano. So, we bit the expensive bullet and booked Tito and his cab. We would also spend a few extra bucks for the private taxi that only takes an hour to La Pavone instead of two. Big spenders.
We also asked Alejandro about that cool gift shop. It hadn't been open since our first night in Tortuguero. I hadn't bought anything because I didn't know my money situation but now I knew I had a bit left over to buy a gift for Melissa that I would inevitably decide to keep for myself. He said it would probably be open from 3-5 when the afternoon day tours were returning. It was almost 4 so we decided to go right away.
Yay, it was open. Melissa will love her gift when she sees me wearing it. And since we got back to late for my birthday dessert after the previous night's night walk, we went to the Buddha Cafe, that fancy restaurant in town and had a brownie with homemade ice cream and a latte. There dining room is a patio hanging over the river so it was especially lovely. Then home for a digestive rest before dinner (ceviche for me, garlic prawns for Val). Then early to bed.
The next day, we were scheduled to leave on the 10am boat but I had postponed my canoe tour from the previous morning so we could go to Ray's. So, up at 4:45 again for me, Vl chose to skip the canoe trip. It had been raining on and off the entire time we were in Tortuguero but luckily we hadn't actually been caugt in a downpour. We were always in a restaurant eating or in our room sleeping or otherwise under cover and doing something. But the morning of the canoe trip, it started to dump. But it stopped by 6 so we were still able to go.
We saw lots of cool herons, nothing new but they did stand still enough for the occasional photo. New bird, I think, Green Ibis. Oh yea, and a Sungrebe! Alejandro who was our guide in the canoe was super excited about that one. And a photo!
I had mentioned that I really wanted a good look at a sloth but Alejandro said that there were 36 jaguars in the park so there weren't so many sloths. But just before we got back to the main river, low and behold, a sloth. And he was moving. And he was on a bare branch. Excellent view of him climbing down a branch and over to another tree. Lots of photos.
I am going to leave it here even though I am days behind now. The trip to Alajuela is one of those stories that people who know us are going to read and shake their heads as they say 'this could only happen to Joanne and Val'. Needless to say, it is going to need it's own post.
Here are a few randon photos from Tortuguero
Up at the crack of Cristo aka 4:45am to go to Ray's house. As I mentioned in my last post, Ray had been our guide for our day hike into the Tortuguero National Park but we barely saw anything of note. He felt bad so he invited us to come to his property to see all of the birds that live there. Ok, we said. But we would have to go early to see the good birds since hot bird time is right at sunrise. So, we got up at 4:45 to be ready for 5:30. As per Tico (Costa Rican) time, Ray showed up around 6am.
He lives on the other side of the river. Have I explained the geography of Tortuguero? It is on a narrow strip of land between the ocean and a river. It is about maybe a kilometer long and 300 meters wide??? Taxis shuttle up and down the river to Moin on the coast (just ourside of Limon) and La Pavona which is west inland. Anyway, to get to the other side of the river, one needs a boat. Ray arrived in a boat with some guy driving it. He dropped us off on the other side at a dock of a small lodge/resort. We wandered around the lodge and along their raised walkways. Ray was not talking to us and barely ackowledging our presence. Val and I were giving each other sideways glances, this was clearly not Ray's property, we assumed we had been 'mislead' but went with it.
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| On our way to Ray's on the other side of the river |
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| Full moon |
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| Docked |
Then we went 'into the jungle'. We left the raised platforms and started bushwacking. Livingstone I presume'd it, if one can use a phrase as a verb (one cannot but I am doing it anyway). No birds. No animals. Then we climbed over and under some barbed wire. We were near some ramshakle houses. I took a picture of one that was clearly abandoned and then saw somebody come out of it. More barbed wire, then we were on a farm with horses and cows. It had rained in the night so it was muddy with endless hoof pits and manure everywhere. There was no way to walk and look for birds but Ray was still ignoring us and walking far ahead.
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| It's actually kind of beautiful in retrospect |
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| The view from Ray's yard |
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| Ray |
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| Horse |
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| Cows |
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| Another ramshackle house. I think this one is actually uninhabited (I hope) |
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| Flowers in Ray's yard |
We were in perfect birding zone: open area, surrounded by jungle, lots of trees, right after a rain, around sun rise but there were no birds. Poor Ray. We arrived at an apple tree, ladden with ripe fruit and he said he couldn't believe there were no birds in it. I couldn't believe it either. But Val and I amused ourselves with pictures of the animals. Then all of a sudden, a toucan and a woodpecker and some random little things. Then the big one, a white collared Manakin. Yea! No pictures of birds, you will have to live with the farm animals.
All of the birds got Ray talking. The less ramshakle house is his, the worse one is his brothers. The farm is their neighbour's. It was almost 10 and starting to get hot and rain (not a nice combo) so it was time to head back to town. But no boat. So Ray waved his son off the water to paddle us back to Tortuguero Village. Then breakfast at our favourite place with a view of the river. A good morning all told.
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| Juvenile Yellow Crowned Night Heron |
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| Ray's son |
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| Royal Terns |
Because it had been raining that morning and while we were eating breakfast, we decided it would be a good time to go into the park again. The birds and animals are more likely to be out looking for food or drying in the sun right after a rain. The park cost $15 US each day. We had paid the day before and I knew I was going to pay the next day so we decided to go in by the beach which doesn't have a gate (bad I know but I was running out of money since the bank machine debacle).
We had way more success with birds and other animals/reptiles than we had the day before. Some new birds, another toucan to make a full set of three that live in the area. Again, no photos. A new humming bird (sorry, I would have to cross reference with my bird book to get actual species). We also saw a tiny pit viper (or that is what we were told). But best of all, we got to watch an anteater walk along the branches over our head. Apparently they live in trees here. Lots of pictures of that guy.
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| Pit Vipor. It was really hard to find/see |
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| Anteater, above us |
Then it was time to leave. We were closer to the park gate than the beach so we went out the entrance but we hadn't paid. As we were passing the ticket booth, the park employee/ranger? called Val over. I just kept walking, I didn't have enough money to pay. I stopped outside of the park, next to some fine young entrepreneurs who had product that could relax me, help me sleep, etc. No thanks.
I waited for Val to get her lecture and to have to pay the fee. No Val, no Val, no thanks to the pot still, no Val. It was raining again but I didn't know if I should go back to the hotel, go save Val who was surely in jail by now, or just join the dealers and live on that corner forever. After sooo long, Val came out of the park. It turns out, she was just filling out a survey and they hadn't even asked to see her ticket. Be warned friends of mine, I will let you go to jail alone if I think it will save me $15.
I said goodbye to my drug dealing friends and we headed back to the hotel. We needed to figure out how we were going to get to Alajuela, our next stop. We, of course, went to talk to Alejandro, the knower of all, the booker of anything. He gave us our options with speed vs cost. Boat to Moin plus bus to San Jose then Alajuela (a million hours), a boat to La Pavone, bus to San Jose then Alajuela. Both of these options were cheapish but the buses were long and there were two connections that were difficult to make in time to get a seat. Or, Alejandro knows a guy who drives a taxi who will pick us up in La Pavone and drive us to our hostel door in Alajuela. This would cost more of course but would cut 3-4 hours off our trip. We wanted to get to Alajuela early enough to organize a day at Poas Volcano. So, we bit the expensive bullet and booked Tito and his cab. We would also spend a few extra bucks for the private taxi that only takes an hour to La Pavone instead of two. Big spenders.
We also asked Alejandro about that cool gift shop. It hadn't been open since our first night in Tortuguero. I hadn't bought anything because I didn't know my money situation but now I knew I had a bit left over to buy a gift for Melissa that I would inevitably decide to keep for myself. He said it would probably be open from 3-5 when the afternoon day tours were returning. It was almost 4 so we decided to go right away.
Yay, it was open. Melissa will love her gift when she sees me wearing it. And since we got back to late for my birthday dessert after the previous night's night walk, we went to the Buddha Cafe, that fancy restaurant in town and had a brownie with homemade ice cream and a latte. There dining room is a patio hanging over the river so it was especially lovely. Then home for a digestive rest before dinner (ceviche for me, garlic prawns for Val). Then early to bed.
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| Birthday treat (one day late) |
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| Buddha Cafe dining room |
We saw lots of cool herons, nothing new but they did stand still enough for the occasional photo. New bird, I think, Green Ibis. Oh yea, and a Sungrebe! Alejandro who was our guide in the canoe was super excited about that one. And a photo!
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| Anjinga |
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| Getting our safefy lecture from Alejandro |
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| In the canoe |
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| Little Blue Heron |
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| Northern Jacana |
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| Yellow Crowned Night Heron (watching the hawk) |
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| A juvenile hawk drying off from the rain |
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| Green Heron |
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| Snowy egret |
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| Tiger Heron |
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| Cayman |
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| Sungrebe! |
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| Hello |
I had mentioned that I really wanted a good look at a sloth but Alejandro said that there were 36 jaguars in the park so there weren't so many sloths. But just before we got back to the main river, low and behold, a sloth. And he was moving. And he was on a bare branch. Excellent view of him climbing down a branch and over to another tree. Lots of photos.
 |
I am going to leave it here even though I am days behind now. The trip to Alajuela is one of those stories that people who know us are going to read and shake their heads as they say 'this could only happen to Joanne and Val'. Needless to say, it is going to need it's own post.
Here are a few randon photos from Tortuguero
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| Bluegrey Tanager (or something like that). It has the prettiest iridescent blue wings. |
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| The seaside beach |
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| Even the nicest restaurants have dogs inside. |
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