After our epic travel last week, we decided to slow down the pace a bit this week. When our ship finally came in in the early hours of Tuesday morning, we only had time for a quick (and very poor) coffee and the obligatory battle with the Spanish language whilst buying tickets for yet another boat journey. This time a much more pleasant experience cruising along on a river boat for three hours against an amazing lush green backdrop, peppered with small communities...
This ride down the San Juan river took us to the cute town, El Castillo. We wanted to see this river as there is currently a planning application in to turn it into a canal :-( fingers crossed that it doesn't happen!!
This was to be our last day with Nick and Marie so after finding somewhere to stay we set off in search of food, first things first hey! The breakfast we found in a local cafe was good and satisfied our hunger, however after being described as an 'American style breakfast' we were a bit confused by what was set down in front of us.....
Who knew that the Americans were such a fan of peanut butter and rice and beans with their eggs?!
Feeling slightly cheated but no longer hungry we went off to explore the main attraction of El Castillo, a 17th century fort with great views over the town..
After a fair few beers we said our goodbyes to Nick and Marie and settled down ready for an early rise. We got up at 4.30am to catch 2 boats and 2 buses enroute to La Fortuna, Costa Rica. This being the smoothest border crossing yet, the River Frio boasting turtles, Jesus Christ lizards (they walk on water) and monkeys!
La Fortuna is a small town surrounded by mountains and volcano Arenal.....
We spent our time here wandering the streets eating local food, sampling coffees and planning our next move. We wanted to get to Tortuguero on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, a small town famed for the turtles which come to nest on the beach every year. After quite a stressful days planning (we had not quite appreciated just how difficult it was to reach by public transport) we set off the next day.
Small and friendly Tortuguero offered the chance to see amazing wildlife and during our two night stay we took a canoe tour and visited the national park where we saw a huge array of wildlife from snakes to rare birds to scary looking cayman....
Canoeing down river Tortuguero
The rare Povan bird
Cayman lurking in the undergrowth...very cool to get this close
Our next stop was to be Puerto Viejo. A bustling town with a lot of Caribbean charm. On Sunday evening we strolled down to an open air bar on the beach to watch live reggae music and a girl who was cutting some amazing shapes whilst climbing and hanging from a piece of cloth...
The weeks highlights:
Best view: The sunrise we witnessed over the misty river when leaving El Castillo...
Best food: Local food in La Fortuna, a strange but tasty mix of chicken, beans, beetroot, tuna and plantain...
Lesson learned: Don't book accommodation for the next day when you have not yet worked out how to get there!
Love Monday Funday: We had a glorious Famous Five esque day.... Laden with water, cookies and lemonade, we hired bikes and beach hopped all the way from Puerto Viejo to mazanilla (and back) amazing views, the sun on our faces and the Caribbean Sea and plenty of beer stops to cool us down.....
Number of hours on a boat: 11
Number of hours on buses: 7.5
Number of borders crossed: 1
Have a fantastic week everyone
Love Lisa and Rach xx
No comments:
Post a Comment