This morning i went for a canoe trip through the canals of Tortuguero. The canals are really smaller rivers but some are man made and others are real. Telling the difference is actually quite hard as the jungle has easily covered up any signs that it was created by man.
The idea of this canoe tour was to spot wildlife… A couple of guys on my canoe obviously didn’t care. They just kept talking and talking. When they shut up, you could hear the birds and monkeys as well as the sound of the canoe gliding along the river. Then they’d start again. I wasn’t sure of their nationality except I now know it was Estonian. First ones i’ve come across and a bad impression so far.
Anyway we did see a lot of animals. Mainly birds like the blue heron. also some green parrots and snowy somethings…. A photo is included. Also visible fairly high in the trees sunning themselves were iguanas. They were quite high up though and until i saw one move I didn’t believe the guide.
Meanwhile swimming around were caimans. Smallish crocodiles around 1 m long. they don’t even look dangerous, although one of the Estonian women was scared shitless. Which just made the two guys laugh and talk even louder.
As we were heading back we came across some white faced capuchin monkeys down near the bank of the river which was great.
Capuchin
Anyway the rest of the day was a bit boring. I couldn’t wait to escape here. Way too quiet and isolated for me. sure there are 6 supermarkets and nearly the same number of souvenir shops. But reality is this place is here for the turtles that nest here and right now its out of season. Still I thought I’d visit mainly for the canals to see some wildlife and that was good.
So tomorrow i’m off down the coast to a place called Cahuita.
