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Wow!
The Tortuguero National Park is a 300 square kilometre park protecting Northeastern Costa Rica's remaining rainforests, as well as the turtle nesting sites of its beaches.
This morning I got up at 5:30am to do a canoe tour of the network of canals that ply the jungles of Tortuguero, allowing visitors to get up close to the animals without making noise to scare them away. Whatsmore, getting up so early means its cool but still light so the animals are out and not hiding in the shaded interior.
The canoe trip was fantastic, guided by Jorge the Rasta and accompanied by Dutch and Greeks, we saw many Sloths, Howler Monkeys, birds and Caimans - including a nursery of half a dozen baby caimans. The wildlife viewing here is fantastic, thanks to the highly successful conservation efforts.
In the 20th century, Costa Rica did much to destroy it's natural wilderness. In the 21st century, it did much to restore them. There has been huge investment by the government in restoring populations of all animals and through ecotourism providing an alternative income source to poaching. The hostel owner even speaks German!
It was fantastic being out on the canoe, exploring a beautiful wilderness and seeing fabulous wildlife - and it was a pleasant temperature at that time of day.
As I write this, it is an unpleasant temperature. You feel like you've been swimming in all your clothes, I can't remember a place this humid!
After the canoe trip, I had a Costa Rican breakfast of black coffee and Gallo Pinto, the national dish (although its origin is fiercely contested with Nicaragua) of fried egg, rice and beans. It was great, and the restaurant even had an iguana feeding on leftovers!
After my late breakfast I decided to do 'the Jaguar Trail', the only trail in the national park you can do independently. My visit went...sour? ish... Lemme explain...
On getting to the beach I found myself in conversation with a 'guide' who had 'grown up on a research station' and was willing to take me on a night tour in the jungle. He'd shown me a sloth and for about for the first 10 minutes appeared to be a friendly local - it was deep into the conversation that it appeared he was trying to sell me a tour. He also helpfully added that he hadn't managed to find any other takers for his tour, his tour operator was closed today so he couldn't take me to the office and that it was okay that I didn't have the money to pay him to take me in the Costa Rican jungle (in the direction of perilous Nicaragua no-less) as he could meet me in the hostel later this afternoon (which very regretably - like a moron - I had told him during our conversation earlier on)...
So no, am not doing a tour with him, I went to the office of official guides for my night jungle tour for tomorrow...
Still, am ever so slightly nervous I'll bump into him expecting me to coff up... the town is tiny, I've seen the same people over and over again multiple times so that's hardly unlikely...not going to go to the beach alone for sure.
So yeah, that was a regrettable and ever so slightly surreal experience. Right now I'm just relaxing in the sweltering afternoon humidity, waiting for my turtle watching tour this evening...
Pura Vida!
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