Tortuguero is all about the sea-turtles (Tortuga is Spanish for turtle) and it's here that a huge number of leatherback turtles come back to lay their eggs in the sand along the shore. Just inland is a huge tropical nature reserve, resplendent with a huge variety of flora and fauna (do you ever get one without the other?). It's a proper swampy rainforest, complete with caiman and crocodile. Water taxis are the only way to get around, so after we made our way from San Jose by bus (finally seeing a huge sloth with baby just hanging from the flimsiest, highest branch in a really tall tree) we were packed into a boat and taken to our 'resort' hotel where we had a quick lunch before being taken to the nearby Tortuguero town to check it out. The town was relatively rundown but apparently prospering with the steady tourist trade. We stopped for a natural healthy fresh fruit juice and couldn't figure out why it tasted so sweet until we saw how they made it, nicely blending the chopped fruit with water before then adding four great tablespoons of sugar! So much for that healthy option. Back at the hotel we were having a quiet dinner sans any form of alcohol (shock, horror) when suddenly we were surprised with a massive pinã colada, a giant hollowed out pineapple decorated with all sorts of fruit. So much for not drinking!

The next morning we went on a zip-line tour of the reserve, we thought it would be nice to get above the canopy (canapé!) and see the forest up close, but we ended up just doing a few lines from tree to tree, not overly exciting and we didn't see any more sloths! That afternoon we were taken on a boat cruise of the river byways, basically a jungle safari on water. This was great fun and a fantastic way to see the jungle without actually putting any effort in, seeing loads of birds, monkeys, fish, caiman (small crocodiles) and lizards. No sloth, but we did see a troupe of monkeys crossing the river, climbing high up into a tree on one side before flinging themselves onto a branch metres down and away on the other side of the river. Think we got some good vids of that. So the boat ride was the highlight of the two days we spent there, but on our way out we had booked another boat ride south down to the town of Limon. I thought this would be a sea trip down the coast, but turned out to be a 3.5 hour trip along the windy river except this time at speed - this was also highly enjoyable as the jungle and river really are spectacular.

Costa Rica you beauty!
KL