Tuesday, November 13, 2007

October 24, 2007 Tortuguero, Costa Rica


On the morning of the 23rd, Ramon picked us up in his panga and we began the 40 K upstream trek to Tortuguero. On the way, we passed through a labryinth of canals and saw several caimans and turtles. The turtles were just resting on top of logs, basking in the intense sun. We got to Tortuguero and found that MINAE wouldnt let us camp there. Ramon ended up pulling a fast one on us by saying that the original price he quoted us was in colones, not dollars, so he wanted us to pay double what we thought we had agreed on. It's okay though, since it kept Graham out of the sun and in good spirits.





Tortuguero is beautiful, but seems wholly dedicated to tourism, which is unlike any of the places we have been on the Rio. We found a cheap travelers hostel that let us camp in their yard and use their facilities. We are a short walk from the beach. We've encountered many other travelers here from England, Canada, US, Holland, Spain, and Chile, among others. It's interesting to be back again in the community of kindred spirits traveling across Central America. Everyone has a story to tell. It's also very telling to see what the other traveler's comfort level is. I hung out in the hammock for about 3 hours after cooking dinner, nursing a Flor de Cana with freshly harvested coconut juice. I remained in a state of half-drunk/half-sleep until I could muster the strength to walk the 20 yards to the tent. There is a 17-year old from Alberta, Canada here that I believe was trying to ingratiate herself with me. Thank God I managed to circumvent that jailbait.




This morning (October 24th) we woke up early and took Jaime from Michigan and Holly, from England, on a tour of a Cano in our canoe. They loved it. Especially since they didn't have to pay $30 each for a guide for 3 hours and we were faster than all the guides and saw a ton of wildlife. We left around 5:45 and saw spider monkeys, cara blancas, and howlers; tons of kingfishers, a HUGE tucan up close, and tons of herons, etc. It was fun.







Yesterday we took the canoe out in the ocean and surfed it in the small waves- what a blast! Not possible today as the waves were a bit larger and perfect for body surfing or boogie boarding. As I write, I am looking onto the Caribe, toward Jaime laying on the beach. She is a beautiful, long-legged brunette with the most stunning blue eyes. She works as a biologist on a ship in the Aleutian Islands. A very cool girl and a true traveler endowed with the same wanderlust as myself. Its a shame that sometimes traveling doesn't allow for people to get to know each other more closely.




Now, a kid is hounding me to buy weed and all I want to do is write. We leave tommorrow morning at 10:00. $25 each to Moin and then we'll have to deal with a possible immigration fiasco. It is so beautiful here. It's weird being in the same place for more than one night, although the rest has been welcome. I'm starting to think about skiing. I can't wait.

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