19th & 20th January 2016

 
So Tuesday 19th and we're on our way to Quito airport for the final time, our Taxi driver wants to chat, in Spanish the whole 45 minutes, even though Peter tells him we speak Poco ( a little) of his language, we have a great laugh trying to keep up with him, so we head to check in and enjoy a sandwich in a bar close to our gate, but what we don't realise is they are calling our names at gate 9 and when Peter gets to check our flight is on time, he finds out we have a problem!
I join him at the gate and the migration security official, beckons Peter to follow her, as they disappear I run to the glass partition to ask him a question and the glass in inches thick and totally impenetrable to my voice, so then Peter has to come back within hearing distance, this is a nightmare! I sit for 5 minutes wondering where he is, but more importantly when is he coming back? I look worriedly to the gate official, who says nonchalantly, he will be back. But when??? Evidently at this point they asked Peter for his passport and that was safely with me, so they sent the security lady to get it and as Peter was in an area at the bottom of an escalator, they unbelievably put the passport on a piece of white A4 paper and placed it on a step at the top of the escalator and Peter and the other official watched as it decended and waited for it to arrive!!!
The problem was our case! They wanted to look inside and after one of our specially purchased American approved security straps had been cut off by a pair of scissors in Miami (instead of being easily unlocked as agreed by Airlines worldwide) Peter thought they had done the same to this one and he then said, very animatedly "Why have you called me down here if you've already cut the b****y thing off" luckily our Equadorian friends didn't understand his ranting, as this case didn't have a security strap on in the first place! It had small padlock on, which Peter then undid, they looked inside, rummaged around for a minute or two, then whisked him through another side door, for personal possessions to be checked and a body scan, which he promptly failed due to a metal strip running through his packet of chewing gum, no less! Then they let him go and he arrived and we then boarded as the last and final call for our flight was made. Oh travel is interesting.
We arrived into Panama and as our perfectly checked baggage was continuing on to San Jose, Costa Rica we could wander the airport at will. Panama airport is HUGE! As you leave the arrival gate you feel you are in the middle of Oxford or Regent Street. You are surrounded by every 'name' in retail therapy. Lacoste, Bally, Mac, high fashion shops, shoe stores, you name it, it's here. We have over 4 hours to wait for our connection, but no room for purchases as we are on such a tight luggage budget, due to the logistics of the completely different tours we are doing. The only thing we really wanted to buy is a new snorkel and mask as Peters had died a death in Galapagos, was this is not the sort of item you could buy in Nike, Adidas or any of the other high end shops around.
We fly to San Jose in just 50 minutes, eventually collect our bags and one more passport control and have a guy called Daniel with a board saying Elizabeth and Peter and are whisked off to The Hotel Grand Oro, it is now 11pm yawn, yawn and awaiting at reception is, I can only describe as something out of the Munsters! His suit is too big, he's not as tall as Herman, much rounder but with a very worn shirt around the collar which also didn't fit, he just didn't look right in such a beautiful, Art Deco, maybe 20s Costa Rican style, a very unusual place. 
We had to leave 7 hours later, but will return for our final night in the country, I will then report on the rest of the hotel. But our room was gorgeous. Fabulous wooden floors, marble bathroom and our own secluded garden with wooden chairs, table and a fountain lit up and looking beautiful. Quiet amazing.
Wednesday morning arrives far too quickly and we are on board a coach with around 30 others travelling through the lush Costa Rican countryside for around an hour and half before a breakfast stop at a restaurant used by other tour buses. Not the greatest meal on the planet, or even in C.R. But as always the fresh pineapple and juices were terrific. We then travel for another hour and half through pineapple, guava, banana and papaya plantations on dreadful dirt track roads to Cano Blanco the docking point where we will travel by wide berthed canal boats for about an hour to our lodge on the river in Torteguero. 
Before we board it's always a good idea to have a bathroom break! I tell you this for one very funny reason. The unit of currency in Costa Rica is the Colon, there are around 580 Colons to the U.S. Dollar, which is again approximately 800 Colons to the English pound. You'll see why I'm telling you all this information now. On walking to the restaurant building there is a very large notice saying DELUXE restrooms! Oh, and they were, beautifully clean, freshly painted, with lovely scenic paintings added on the actual walls of the cubicle. Well worth the U.S. $1 that was asked for. As I was leaving a very rounded American lady was attempting to impossibly bypass the toilet attendant sat right in front of the facilities. The attendant in a very loud voice said 'Lady, Uno, One!!!! Oh said our American cousin, One Colon! My!!!! I nearly choked with laughter as she was very quickly put in her place! So funny.
By this time in the melee that is boarding 200 odd people and their luggage onto various boats going to dozens of lodges and hotels along the canal/ river system around Torteguero is a total logistical nightmare, plus it's muddy and unless your fleet of foot, it really is quiet difficult. But we are in our life jackets and seated ready for the final part of today's journey. We are shown the wildlife along the way. Crocodiles are sat on tiny sandy beaches, watching with beady eyes, pure white Egrets catching fish, other birds I cannot remember, it's all fascinating. Imagine a trip down a much narrower Amazon, then you've got the idea. After an hour we pull into Evergreen lodges dock. We are welcomed with a pineapple cocktail and escorted by the monkey restaurant, the turtle shaped swimming pool and bar towards our Cabin number 11 which is our home for the next 2 nights. We've been told two nights will be enough, the Howler monkeys will keep us awake at 5am, that the wet of the rainforest will get to us - yes NOTHING dries in a rainforest - whether it's us or our clothes inside our room or out. When it rains and it does every day, it drenches down like the worse day on Dartmoor it does a days worth of water in a matter of minutes. It's one heck of an experience.
We go off on an expedition to see wildlife after lunch and even though everything gets so wet right through to the last ounce of skin, this is with huge ponchos on, we still manage to see Tiger Herons, iguanas, Pelicans and various other creatures. It's back to dinner and an early well earned sleep as our cabin is above the forest floor, constructed of wood with Windows do fine mesh, no glass, so you really feel completely at one with nature. The rooms are spotless, very large with great bathrooms. Other than that they are basic, no TVs, telephones, wardrobes, just shelving, a safe and very comfy beds. What more do we want?