What an amazing day - all the way from 5.15am till now - nearly 10pm. We started with a lovely pot of Costa Rican coffee, brewed in the hotel room while we tried to prise our eyes open. The coffee here is really delicious. After being picked up at the hotel in a van that seats about 30, we headed out to pick up all the others - all 4 of them! It was fantastic - an almost empty bus. And I had grabbed the seat as close to the front as I could get and Frank took the next one back so we could move around and see out of all sides of the bus. It really makes such a difference being able to see all around one. As we were climbing into the van, one of the hotel guys came running out with Franks camera! He is never ever going to live that one down.... poor man. We drove through some more utter poverty in San Jose, around impossible corners and then finally headed out of town into the mountains. Oh boy. We could not take the road through the Barillo National Park as there had been a good few mud slides and the road was closed, so we were diverted to this incredible zig zag of a 'road' which is the southern route to Tortuguero National Park. It wound itself around corners, through what seemed to be pure jungle, up hills and down valleys and at times we felt as if we could well be being kidnapped - the area looked so remote. But the sad part of it all was that because the other road was closed, all traffic was using this one...... the big tractor trailors, trucks, lorries, had a very difficult time manoevering around some of those corners and at times all traffic was firmly jammed while trucks and cars slowly untangled themselves. It got very interesting at times and we had a good many really close calls when even our driver yelled in horror! Actually, this driver is one of the reasons why we will never ever drive in this country either...
That driver had the most serious case of verbal diarreah I have ever come across! The words just spilled out of him non stop and we dont quite know where he fitted in the time to breathe. We all just laughed even though we could not understand a word of it, and he kept on keeping on. We had a driver and a tour guide today and when the guide needed to say something he would have to shush the driver up... They got on very well, and mostly it was funny :)
The countryside is beautiful - lush green, tall grasses, overgrown almost everywhere. The road was tiny as I said, with the grass and trees etc trying to reclaim it all over the place - no such thing as sidewalks here - if you go out of your lane, you are off the road and in a pile of poo too, in most places!. We drove through coffee plantations - the beans had been picked already, but its a lovely rich green shiny plant. And then through the sugar cane plantations we drove and on into the banana plantations where we stopped for a while... Oh, wait, before we got there we had an absolutely lovely view of one of the 6 active volcanoes in Costa Rica, spewing its stuff a good way into the air. Apparently for the past two years it has been building and the local farmers are getting upset because the 'toxic rain' from the volcano is ruining their crops. Apparently there are around 112 to 120 volcanoes in Costa Rica, and three of them are picking up the pace. This one, another one and the one we will be staying at after leaving here..... early next week. That would be Arenal Volcano - this one shows its fiery lava almost every night, spewing into the air giving everyone a great lights show. Cant wait!
We stopped for breakfast about an hour out of San Jose - it was good and the resturant had beautiful views. Not sure I really like the idea of black beans and rice for breakfast though.... Coffee was great! The cattle farmers had built their fences from sticks cut from local trees - and now, all along the road, there are living fences. Its quite lovely, creating a view easier on the eyes and also a windbreaker. Ok, back to the banana plantations......... I had a million questions..... . Why are the bananas covered with a light blue plastic bag? Because insects apparently cannot see light blue so they dont bug the fruit , it also stops the chemicals they spray from getting on the fruit as well as it creates a little hothouse for each bunch of bananas to grow in. We watched as the bananas came in out of the plantation - they are clipped onto an overhead rail and a worker pushes them into the processing plant on this rail setup. He sits in a little car and does his thing from way out in the plantation. I have a video of it - they scoot along quite fast. The bananas are sorted by quality and packed and shipped from right there.
Outside the plant was an oooold man, no doubt with a million stories and a face that told that he smiled more than frowned.... He was sitting under an umbrella selling coconut milk - still in the coconut, for a $1 - so we bought one. I dont like coconut as a general rule, but boy was this goood! He chopped open that husk right in front of us, dug out a bit of the flesh, handed us two straws and waited for our smiles. He got them - big ones :) And he had a beetle. No ordinary beetle at all, but a huge one, almost as long as my hand, with hornes and 'dont come near me' eyes. He looked harmless and slow moving, although I was not about to bet on that..... and he posed for photos very well indeed.
And on we went at a fair speed until we hit one of the worst roads we have ever travelled on. I am sure it was once upon a time a road, but well, it was definitely past its sell-by date. Just stones thrown together in a sort of ribbon, winding around small, hand tended farms and more rain forest. The countryside was beautiful but that was the longest 32 kilometers we have driven in a while.. We all felt very tender by the time we hit the river where the boat was to pick us up for the rest of the ride. And up the river we went... running parallel to the Caribbean coast line and every now and again seeing the breakers of the ocean. I just absolutely love the forest and jungle, its quiet, even with the sound of the engine revving high.... its a sort of peacefulness that seems to seep deep into my bones and kinda washes everything clean. The air here is clear and clean and fresh and at times when we stopped to look at some birds - we saw gorgeous pink spoonbills - the quiet was so intense and we could see that feeling happening to the others on board too.
About two hours upriver we arrived at the Laguna Lodge. From our cabin we can hear the ocean out of the back 'window' and see the river in the front. There are no windows as such - just netting stretched over the space and shutters if we want them closed, which we dont because there is no airconditioning here and the fan functions better with the shutters open. The bathroom has the same sort of deal, but way up high against the ceiling so no one can see in. There is no telephone, tv, air conditioning, coffee maker, iron( phew!), or anything like that in here. Its lovely! The building is made of proper wood, not laminate and the floor too. No carpets and the blankets are folded up and packed on a shelf - fat chance of needing them here. There are a good many power plugs to charge the camera stuff into and internet can be reached at the bar and resturant........ eat or drink while connecting - sounds good :)
The frogs screech outside and there are so many different birds all over, blue, yellow, woodpeckers woodpeckering away all over the place and the plants and flowers are just incredible. The Lodge can take 300 guests, I hear, but right now we are the only 4 here, two guys that came in on the boat with us have left already. There is a party of 10 coming in later today, but......its beautifully peaceful.
After arriving here, we were given a delicious lunch and off we went to visit the little town that houses all the staff that work at the lodges and hotels along the river. There are 2000 people that live there and one main road - straight through the town and parallel to the river. The kids play in the road, riding their bicycles at breakneck speed as close to one as possible, little toddlers stand with there fingers in their mouth looking at us with huge bright eyes and a few small kids had great fun drawing pictures in the sand while happily talking to themselves, no doubt playing imaginary games. Most of the main road there is geared totally to tourists, with the houses set to the back, away from the rivers edge. The prices of anything and everything is astronomical, but I just had to buy a small little tortuga made of mother of pearl shell. Its lightweight so wont be a concern to carry around till we head h-word (home) again.
After that visit we wandered around the grounds of the Lodge, finding the Caribbean coast with its dangerous rip tides and serious instructions not to swim in it! Its beautiful in a different way - rugged and totally empty of people. We just love it! We spent a few hours just rocking gently in the chairs provided on the porch of our rooms, watching the birds and critters wandering by. There is one little lizard type thing that is commonly known as the Jesus Lizard..... apparently it can run on water, but does so upright. We have seen a good many of these around here, but not managed to get it on video yet.
We ended the day with a delicious dinner and a very well made margarita right out on the dock with the river flowing beneath us, the sun setting and the tiny, brightly colored houses across the river, turning on their lights and creating multicolor streaks across the water. Perfect.
Tomorrow we have two different boat rides into the forest to see what we can see.... cant wait for that :)
Till then
love light and laughter
Annie
Love U3!
1 comment:
What on earth is a tortuga?
LOVED the description of why the Jesus Lizard is called that.
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