We have a 5 night booking at the Pension Santa Elena. This is very friendly place which has doubled the number of rooms since we last stayed here 7 years ago and we have one of the new garden rooms. Very small but comfortable. Breakfast which is included in the price, is by way of a token taken to the little taco stall out on the street. The owners have "adopted" several stray dogs including Lechuga, (translates to "Lettuce" in English) so for dog lovers like...

Our last day in Tortuguero but a bright and sunny one. We still haven't managed to see any of the hatching turtles despite several trips along the shore and again this morning proves fruitless. The only drama is a flock of ugly black vultures tearing in to the rotting corpse of some unfortunate animal. We head to the jetty but confusion arises as our boat pick up does not materialise as expected at 8:50am By chance we bump in to Castor at the jetty and we expl...

An early rise for a walk in the jungle is cut short when the heavens open and the rains pour with such force that within seconds everything is soaked. There are similar downpours all day with a few bright spells. Apparently it's been like this for all of December. We were obviously very lucky the previous day. Luckily we have sheltered balcony at our Hostal so we can sit out there and watch the world go by. In the evening we walk to the Buddha cafe restaura...

An early start today and our wildlife encounters start immediately. There's a rather large bat swooping around in the confined space of our small bedroom which explaines the "mouse" dropping we found on our bed earlier!. The bat disappears in to the rafters before we get a chance to shoo it out the door. We meet up with Castor just as the sun is rising at 05:30, to go on a three hour trip in his open canoe through the jungle canals and back waters. There are o...

After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast, we are ready for our 6:10 minibus pick. Eventually it arrives at 6:50. Apparently,another couple of tourists, also heading for Tortuguero but with another bus company, had inadvertently jumped in to our seats and the driver hadn't realised until a few miles in to the journey. The bus journey takes about 4 hours with a second breakfast on route where we spot some poisonous frogs in the restaurant gardens. Arrive...