This week we travelled to Tortuguero on the north east Caribbean coast – heading towards the Nicaraguan border
The journey
----------------
This was definitely not our best prepared trip. I’d spoken to a teacher in the school who’d done the trip and although he said it was a bit awkward it sounded straightforward enough. The problem is that Tortuguero is only accessible by air or water. There are no roads. He said you take a bus from San José to Cariari, and then a boat to Tortuguero. However, we left later than planned, and on the bus to Cariari I read the ‘Lonely Planet’ and realised that we’d need a bus from Cariari for another hour before we got to a boat. So we were too late to complete the trip in one day. We had to make an unscheduled stop overnight in Cariari, which has absolutely nothing to recommend itself.
Early start
--------------
We were up at 4am the next day to get the 5am bus to Pavona. The bus picked up people along the way and was quite full when we reached a Del Monte banana plantation where they all got off. We continued and the bus stopped in the middle of what was basically a farm. When I asked where the boat was I was told it would leave at 8.30 from the bottom of the cattle track we were on. We took a look, but could only see a stream. But at 8.30, sure enough there was a boat taxi, which could take about 16 people. We sailed down the canal and into a bigger river, then a bigger river again. The journey was about an hour long through spectacular jungle scenery. It reminded me of the Amazon.
Tortuguero
---------------
The village of Tortuguero is very small, and just has walking tracks everywhere. Because there are no cars there are no roads. It’s just between the sea and a river and lagoon. The sea has an enormous beach with very strong surf and currents, but the real beauty is along the river. The Rio Tortuguero and lagoon is very wide at this point, and there are about 4 or 5 bodies of water off it in view of the town.
El Parque Nacional
--------------------------
We got our tickets to the National Park, and went on the 2km walking trail. After all the animals we’d seen in Manuel Antonio, it was a bit disappointing. However, when we were on the beach I could see marks like they had been made by vehicles with caterpillar tracks. Then I noticed big pits in the sand at the top of the beach, and realised that they were turtle tracks. We had yet to see fully what the Tortuguero National Park had in store.
Green sea turtles
-----------------------
That night there was a tour to see the green sea turtles come onto the beach to lay their eggs. I think it’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in my life. The beach was beautiful for a start because it was the night of the full moon. Throughout the night, the turtles would emerge from the surf and pull themselves slowly and clumsily up the beach. They dig a big pit (the only part of the process I didn’t see) and then lay over 100 eggs in the sand. You can get right up to them, but everything is strictly controlled. You must be with a guide, each guide can only have 10 visitors, and only 10 guides are allowed. With infrared torches, so as not to disturb the turtles, you can see the supple eggs being laid in the deepest part of the pit, looking just like ping pong balls. The turtle then covers them in sand (showering us in sand in the process). She then hauls herself back into the sea. The whole process takes each turtle 2½ hours. Since the conservation began the number of green sea turtles has grown from about 3,000 to over 20,000. When the eggs hatch 60 days later the little turtles will dig themselves out and scurry to the sea. But with predators on both land and sea only about 1% to 3% will survive. They will be adult in 30-40 years, and return, always to the same beach, to lay their eggs. They will live to be over 100.
Canoeing trip
------------------
The next morning allowed a relative lie-in until 5.15. There was canoeing trip for three hours through the park from 6-9am. Everything in Costa Rica looks better in the morning. The sky is blue and the light is beautiful. The views from the canoe as we passed through the lagoons, rivers and canals were amazing. We saw spider, howler and capuchin monkeys, toucans, sloths, morpho butterflies, blue and tiger herons, caimans, otters and huge spiders. I read that Costa Rica has only 0.03% of the planet’s surface, but has 6% of the world’s biodiversity. All of this was evident in Tortuguero that morning.
Photos and blogs
------------------------
I’ve now put some of our photos online. The site is very raw, but will improve over the next few weeks. It’s www.angelfire.com/journal2/eamon. In addition, I’ve put these weekly emails into a weblog, irishduo.blogspot.com, so you can check up back issues!
A longer mail again this week. Hope I haven’t lost any of you. Until next week!
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Puerto Viejo
Our first excursion to the very laid back Caribbean coast. Puerto Viejo is close to the Panamanian border.
Getting there
------------------
The bus journey from San José goes along a national park as it negotiates the Central Valley and then into banana plantations as it descends to the coast. The scenery is luscious and green, and the banana plantations were huge and ranged in every direction. After reaching Puerto Limón we turned and continued the journey along the Caribbean coast until we got to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca itself.
Building the railroad
---------------------------
When they decided in the 1860s to build a railroad to the Caribbean, the government subcontracted the project to an American entrepreneur. Most of the workers died from malaria (in some years, almost 90%). Locals stopped applying for jobs, and after employing convicts from the US and Chinese immigrants they started hiring recently freed and unemployed slaves from Jamaica. The main population on the Caribbean coast are still descendants of these former slaves, and they speak English and a Jamaican patois, as well as Spanish.
Surfers’ paradise
-----------------------
Puerto Viejo is a really nice, laid-back village, with the lethargy supported by a lot of marijuana, the smell of which is everywhere. It’s hugely popular with surfers, mainly because of the ‘Salsa Brava’, a large wave that is out in the bay just before the reef. Puerto Viejo is like a little piece of Jamaica, with Jamaican flags and pictures of Bob Marley everywhere, and reggae constantly playing. There is a beach all along one side of the village. This time, we could sit on the beach and watch the lightning in the distance from hurricane Emily.
Cocles beach
-------------------
The beach in Puerto Viejo itself is quite crowded, and there is a reef, so has fewer places where you can swim. We walked along the coast to the nearby Cocles beach, which is quite beautiful. It has great big waves, but you have to be very careful to observe the life guard flags because there are very strong rip currents.
Farewell to Fionn
-----------------------
Fionn left today, Monday. We headed into San José for his booze-up on Saturday. He’s been a great help to us since we arrived, and has become a good friend, and we’re going to miss him.
Harry Potter
-----------------
Harry Potter mania reaches as far as San José. The Librería Internacional has had a countdown clock to its release on Saturday. We went in to buy a copy on our way back from Puerto Viejo, and everyone in the queue was buying a copy, even though it’s currently only released in English.
We’re heading off on Wednesday to the little village of Tortuguero. Again it’s on the Caribbean coast, but it’s not accessible by road, and the last part of our trip will be by boat along canals.
Hasta luego
Getting there
------------------
The bus journey from San José goes along a national park as it negotiates the Central Valley and then into banana plantations as it descends to the coast. The scenery is luscious and green, and the banana plantations were huge and ranged in every direction. After reaching Puerto Limón we turned and continued the journey along the Caribbean coast until we got to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca itself.
Building the railroad
---------------------------
When they decided in the 1860s to build a railroad to the Caribbean, the government subcontracted the project to an American entrepreneur. Most of the workers died from malaria (in some years, almost 90%). Locals stopped applying for jobs, and after employing convicts from the US and Chinese immigrants they started hiring recently freed and unemployed slaves from Jamaica. The main population on the Caribbean coast are still descendants of these former slaves, and they speak English and a Jamaican patois, as well as Spanish.
Surfers’ paradise
-----------------------
Puerto Viejo is a really nice, laid-back village, with the lethargy supported by a lot of marijuana, the smell of which is everywhere. It’s hugely popular with surfers, mainly because of the ‘Salsa Brava’, a large wave that is out in the bay just before the reef. Puerto Viejo is like a little piece of Jamaica, with Jamaican flags and pictures of Bob Marley everywhere, and reggae constantly playing. There is a beach all along one side of the village. This time, we could sit on the beach and watch the lightning in the distance from hurricane Emily.
Cocles beach
-------------------
The beach in Puerto Viejo itself is quite crowded, and there is a reef, so has fewer places where you can swim. We walked along the coast to the nearby Cocles beach, which is quite beautiful. It has great big waves, but you have to be very careful to observe the life guard flags because there are very strong rip currents.
Farewell to Fionn
-----------------------
Fionn left today, Monday. We headed into San José for his booze-up on Saturday. He’s been a great help to us since we arrived, and has become a good friend, and we’re going to miss him.
Harry Potter
-----------------
Harry Potter mania reaches as far as San José. The Librería Internacional has had a countdown clock to its release on Saturday. We went in to buy a copy on our way back from Puerto Viejo, and everyone in the queue was buying a copy, even though it’s currently only released in English.
We’re heading off on Wednesday to the little village of Tortuguero. Again it’s on the Caribbean coast, but it’s not accessible by road, and the last part of our trip will be by boat along canals.
Hasta luego
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Sámara
The first week of our holidays is gone. We travelled to Sámara, in the province of Guanacaste.
Bus full
----------
We headed off on Monday, cutting it a bit fine in getting to the bus station. By the time we got there the Sámara bus was full. So we had to get a later bus to Nicoya, and then a local bus from there. As you travel down from the central valley you notice the temperature rising considerably.
Sámara
-----------
Sámara is a small town with a very big beach. It’s on the Pacific coast in the beautiful province of Guanacaste. We had directions from Shane to a hotel he’d stayed in before. It’s right on the beach. We were even able to pop back several times for a beer from the fridge.
Intercultura Sámara
---------------------------
The school I work in has another campus in Sámara. We popped down to it because we were trying to make contact with Tom and Elena. The school is beautiful. It has a long garden that goes right down to the beach. It’s totally air conditioned, and also holds a lot of classes in the garden. We met my boss Barbara while we were down there. She said it’s a great place to work, but there’s nothing left to do after about two weeks.
Sun and palm trees
--------------------------
The beach itself is really beautiful. It’s like a picture postcard, with the palm trees running all around, and a 3km long beach and big waves full of surfers. And it was hot. Despite plastering ourselves with factor 25 we both now have tomato heads. But our favourite thing was popping down to the beach at night before we went out. We’d take a few cans onto the sun loungers and watch the distant lightning. I think it may have been storms on the perimeter of hurricane Dennis.
Ridin’ along in my pushbike
-------------------------------------
On Friday we hired bikes and went on a 14km round trip to the next beach along, Playa Carillo. This was even more beautiful, and with less people. All week we swam in the warmest sea water I’ve ever been in. I’m normally such a coward about taking the plunge. The only drawback was that Jack emerged after one dip with a jellyfish sting on his foot. There must have been 100 people in the sea, and he was the only one chosen by the discerning fish.
We’d actually visited Carillo the evening before, but were waiting ages for the bus and ended up hitching there and back. On each occasion the first vehicle to pass stopped for us. An ancient VW minivan on the way out, and a Cherokee Jeep on the way back.
Caribbean here we come
----------------------------------
We’re back in Heredia now, but heading off to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca in the morning. Not wishing to leave the tickets to fate tomorrow, I headed off today (in the pouring rain!) to the Gran Terminal del Caribe bus terminal. The Grand Caribbean Terminal. Don’t you think Busarus should be called Gateway to the Atlantic or something? We head off on the lunchtime bus, and should be there around 5.30.
It’s an awful tough life out here, dragging ourselves from coast to coast in the hot sun. But we struggle on …
Bus full
----------
We headed off on Monday, cutting it a bit fine in getting to the bus station. By the time we got there the Sámara bus was full. So we had to get a later bus to Nicoya, and then a local bus from there. As you travel down from the central valley you notice the temperature rising considerably.
Sámara
-----------
Sámara is a small town with a very big beach. It’s on the Pacific coast in the beautiful province of Guanacaste. We had directions from Shane to a hotel he’d stayed in before. It’s right on the beach. We were even able to pop back several times for a beer from the fridge.
Intercultura Sámara
---------------------------
The school I work in has another campus in Sámara. We popped down to it because we were trying to make contact with Tom and Elena. The school is beautiful. It has a long garden that goes right down to the beach. It’s totally air conditioned, and also holds a lot of classes in the garden. We met my boss Barbara while we were down there. She said it’s a great place to work, but there’s nothing left to do after about two weeks.
Sun and palm trees
--------------------------
The beach itself is really beautiful. It’s like a picture postcard, with the palm trees running all around, and a 3km long beach and big waves full of surfers. And it was hot. Despite plastering ourselves with factor 25 we both now have tomato heads. But our favourite thing was popping down to the beach at night before we went out. We’d take a few cans onto the sun loungers and watch the distant lightning. I think it may have been storms on the perimeter of hurricane Dennis.
Ridin’ along in my pushbike
-------------------------------------
On Friday we hired bikes and went on a 14km round trip to the next beach along, Playa Carillo. This was even more beautiful, and with less people. All week we swam in the warmest sea water I’ve ever been in. I’m normally such a coward about taking the plunge. The only drawback was that Jack emerged after one dip with a jellyfish sting on his foot. There must have been 100 people in the sea, and he was the only one chosen by the discerning fish.
We’d actually visited Carillo the evening before, but were waiting ages for the bus and ended up hitching there and back. On each occasion the first vehicle to pass stopped for us. An ancient VW minivan on the way out, and a Cherokee Jeep on the way back.
Caribbean here we come
----------------------------------
We’re back in Heredia now, but heading off to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca in the morning. Not wishing to leave the tickets to fate tomorrow, I headed off today (in the pouring rain!) to the Gran Terminal del Caribe bus terminal. The Grand Caribbean Terminal. Don’t you think Busarus should be called Gateway to the Atlantic or something? We head off on the lunchtime bus, and should be there around 5.30.
It’s an awful tough life out here, dragging ourselves from coast to coast in the hot sun. But we struggle on …
Monday, July 04, 2005
Did the Earth move for you too?
One of the things about living in an earthquake zone is that you expect to feel the odd rumble. Unlike Jack, I’ve been looking forward to experiencing it, so you can imagine my disappointment that I missed the first one because I dozed off on the couch!
Earthquake!!
--------------
We were out with the teachers on Thursday night for end of term (see below), and on Friday we were going out for a meal to celebrate my birthday. I was so tired that I dozed off on the couch before going for the meal. The following day I read that there had been an earthquake in Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale. When I said this to Jack, he asked if it was at the time that I was asleep on the couch. It was. It turns out that the earthquake was quite far away, and out in the Pacific, so Jack just felt a rumble through the building, and had been unsure if it was a truck passing. So there you are. My first earthquake and I missed it.
School’s out
------------
Well, we got our holidays from school on Thursday. We went out for drinks with the teachers after. We started off in Cantina Mulo, which is the bar opposite the school. It’s regarded as ‘a typical Tico cantina’. Which basically means it’s a dive with a toilet that you avoid for as long as you possibly can. Anyway, after that it was off for karaoke to Nuevo Heidelburg, and finishing the night up, as ever in Miraflores, the nearest late night club. It was a great laugh.
English Horizons
-----------------
One of the teachers in the school was contacted by a new website called English Horizons. It’s in a pilot project at the moment, but the idea is that you teach English classes over the internet. Apparently they’re expecting a big market in Japan. There are only a few teachers so far, and he’s looking to Costa Rica (because we’re so badly paid!) for some more. So I think I’m going to be starting with them in August, for a few hours a week in addition to the school work. The rate of pay is over three times our hourly rate!
Birthday celebrations
----------------------
We ended up celebrating my birthday a few times, so it’s been quite a busy week. On Friday night, the two of us went to a pizza restaurant up in the mountains, which had been recommended by a student. We were really impressed. The pizza was so gorgeous, that after we finished we turned around and ordered another! It was our first time in the mountains, and we realised that it’s quite a bit colder up there. We had worn t-shirts (the only thing we’ve ever needed to wear since we arrived), and were distinctly chilly.
Getting ready for travel
------------------------
We’ve worked out a rough plan for our travels this month. We’re starting tomorrow, getting the bus to Sámara, which is a beach town on the north-western Pacific coast. We’ll be there for a week, and probably coming back here for a night or two, before heading to the Caribbean coast, and hopefully then to explore the Central Valley (where we live!).
Tom and Elena
---------------
One of the guys I work with is called Tom Todd, and he’s Canadian. He’s here with his Czech wife. He met her when he taught in Prague. They’re a really nice couple and we’ve met them a few times. They’re kind of stuck at the moment, because their application for a visa for Elena has run into problems. While they’re waiting, they also decided to head up to Sámara, so we’ll meet up with them when we’re there. They will have to move out of their accommodation before the visas are due to come through. We offered that they could stay here (we’ll probably be travelling) for the few days. They said they’d call around to discuss it. We were quite surprised when they arrived at 11.30 on Saturday with beers! So Saturday turned out to be another boozy day.
Six months
-----------
I’ve been mentioning in a couple of emails to people recently that I often look back on the first six months of the year, around my birthday, and wonder where the time had flown. I never seem to have achieved anything. However, this year I’m looking back and I can’t believe how much we’ve achieved. December seems such a long time ago.
Anyway, that’s it for another week. We’ll keep you posted on our travels.
Hasta luego
Earthquake!!
--------------
We were out with the teachers on Thursday night for end of term (see below), and on Friday we were going out for a meal to celebrate my birthday. I was so tired that I dozed off on the couch before going for the meal. The following day I read that there had been an earthquake in Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale. When I said this to Jack, he asked if it was at the time that I was asleep on the couch. It was. It turns out that the earthquake was quite far away, and out in the Pacific, so Jack just felt a rumble through the building, and had been unsure if it was a truck passing. So there you are. My first earthquake and I missed it.
School’s out
------------
Well, we got our holidays from school on Thursday. We went out for drinks with the teachers after. We started off in Cantina Mulo, which is the bar opposite the school. It’s regarded as ‘a typical Tico cantina’. Which basically means it’s a dive with a toilet that you avoid for as long as you possibly can. Anyway, after that it was off for karaoke to Nuevo Heidelburg, and finishing the night up, as ever in Miraflores, the nearest late night club. It was a great laugh.
English Horizons
-----------------
One of the teachers in the school was contacted by a new website called English Horizons. It’s in a pilot project at the moment, but the idea is that you teach English classes over the internet. Apparently they’re expecting a big market in Japan. There are only a few teachers so far, and he’s looking to Costa Rica (because we’re so badly paid!) for some more. So I think I’m going to be starting with them in August, for a few hours a week in addition to the school work. The rate of pay is over three times our hourly rate!
Birthday celebrations
----------------------
We ended up celebrating my birthday a few times, so it’s been quite a busy week. On Friday night, the two of us went to a pizza restaurant up in the mountains, which had been recommended by a student. We were really impressed. The pizza was so gorgeous, that after we finished we turned around and ordered another! It was our first time in the mountains, and we realised that it’s quite a bit colder up there. We had worn t-shirts (the only thing we’ve ever needed to wear since we arrived), and were distinctly chilly.
Getting ready for travel
------------------------
We’ve worked out a rough plan for our travels this month. We’re starting tomorrow, getting the bus to Sámara, which is a beach town on the north-western Pacific coast. We’ll be there for a week, and probably coming back here for a night or two, before heading to the Caribbean coast, and hopefully then to explore the Central Valley (where we live!).
Tom and Elena
---------------
One of the guys I work with is called Tom Todd, and he’s Canadian. He’s here with his Czech wife. He met her when he taught in Prague. They’re a really nice couple and we’ve met them a few times. They’re kind of stuck at the moment, because their application for a visa for Elena has run into problems. While they’re waiting, they also decided to head up to Sámara, so we’ll meet up with them when we’re there. They will have to move out of their accommodation before the visas are due to come through. We offered that they could stay here (we’ll probably be travelling) for the few days. They said they’d call around to discuss it. We were quite surprised when they arrived at 11.30 on Saturday with beers! So Saturday turned out to be another boozy day.
Six months
-----------
I’ve been mentioning in a couple of emails to people recently that I often look back on the first six months of the year, around my birthday, and wonder where the time had flown. I never seem to have achieved anything. However, this year I’m looking back and I can’t believe how much we’ve achieved. December seems such a long time ago.
Anyway, that’s it for another week. We’ll keep you posted on our travels.
Hasta luego
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Posts
