Tortuguero
The village of Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast is only accessible by boat, there are no roads or cars in the village. So we caught a boat at Pavona for a 1 hour ride down a calm river to the village. The village and national park are on a spit of land with the sea on one side and the river on the other. This area is most famous for nesting turtles and the canal and river network. The main green turtle nesting period is in July but there is a chance of spotting leatherback turtles now, however the leatherbacks are rare. The village has a much more Caribbean feel and the people look more Caribbean. Staying in a lovely river front hotel with a large veranda overlooking the water. First morning up at 5am for a boat tour, great trip saw caiman (small crocodile), toucans, basilisk lizards and iguanas. The scenery is stunning. Spent the afternoon walking in the national park, apart from the lovely jungle walk not much to see as it was the middle of the day. Had a great meal and a few beers to celebrate my birthday and then a siesta before a night walk to try and see turtles nesting. Didn't see turtles but had a lovely moonlit walk on the beach with an excellent local guide. We did see very large jaguar footprints in the sand though, which was exciting. Fantastic birthday. Thanks for all my cards and presents, as you can see I brought my cards with me. Following day borrowed a couple of bikes and rode to the end of the spit where the river runs into the sea. We saw a couple of sharks fleetingly in the river mouth. Lovely bike ride although we did have to cycle the full length of the airstrip. The H&S advice from the hotel was 'peddle fast and keep looking over your shoulder'!!!! Fortunately no planes tried to land. Spent the afternoon canoeing on the river. Back up the river to Pavona tomorrow and on with our travels. Tortuguero was a top visit.
