Thursday, 21st January 2016

 
Torteguero is a typical rain forest village set around the river. It rains! It is warm rain, but it drenches down. This morning we are off into the rain forest for a walk, as its rained most of the night and the river levels have risen dramatically we are putting on rather fetching Wellington boots of the very plain black variety - no Hunters or pretty pink spotted Joules here! - and trundling off firstly via boat to wander and see what we can see, with Eddie our lovely guide who is born and raised in Torteguero. We see mainly flora and just an odd pit viper, but do not fret these are only less than a year old, the size of an espresso saucer when all coiled up and they are always dozing on leaves completely camouflaged. Except for a few birds we see before the heavens open again it's a slight disappointment. So it's back to Evergreen for a very exciting activity, oh this really is a WOW moment.
 
Peter has booked a Zipwire experience in the forest canopy! Yes, I can't wait as this is a huge bucket list tick. I am very scared of heights, but for exceptional moments of madness - remember I did that tandem paraglide off Babadag mountain in Turkey, 6552 feet? Very mad moment! - So today we walk to the Canopy Zipwire centre, within the grounds of our hotel and get kitted up with hard hats, belts, straps, large metal hooks, gosh it's very professional thank goodness. There are six guys that take a group of 12 through, firstly the safety issues, then the thumbs up type hand signals as we are heading 100 feet up to complete a series of 11 journeys from tree to tree. My stomach is churning, my heart is pounding, but gosh I'm excited. In front of the group is a lady, her name is Eleanor, who can't stand up for very long, she does the journeys in tandem with a guide as she is not the athletic sort, she is quite frail and 79 years young! But she is a determined bird and whoops and hoots during every flying dismount, like Tarzans Jane. She's a real pleasure to watch, her enthusiasm is so infectious.
 
Peter goes next, then me. The first one is quite tame, but none the less extremely exciting and we go from tree to tree getting more daring as we go. Yahoooooo! I screech at the top of my voice, wow, wow, wow! The final one starts at the highest point and takes us down about 180 metres back to the forest floor and one of the guides, Wesley who's smiling face has been a pleasure to see at alternate tree landings. This has been a total hoot. Brilliant! We've all survived the scares, from ages of the eldest, an incredible 83 years to mere youngsters in their 30s. That was fabulous as hopefully the video will show, if we get it home safely!
 
This afternoon we are going visit Torteguero village. The heart of the village is a small area, there are 1400 villagers spread over a large area around four main branches of two rivers that converge here. Remember there are no roads here, just a network of waterways. The only way in and out of this area is either by boat, our mode of transport to arrive and by small plane and that is how we will leave tomorrow - more on that then!!!
 
We get a guided tour from the small jetty when we land with Eddie and a walk to the beach. Torteguero is a small strip of land between the river and the Caribbean Sea. The sea is rough, with huge surf type waves but understandably strong under currents, so there is no one in the water and although it's a warm day maybe 70+ the grey rain clouds are lurking. The group splits up and we wander off in different directions and Peter and I saunter along the shore for a lovely walk, stopping to chat to some Brits who are in the middle of a Central American adventure and we then arrive at the Sea Turtle Conservancy. What a lucky find because for 2$ each we get a look around the interesting exhibits, but also sit in the small theatre to watch a 20 minute film about what they do to save the Turtles here and promote their terrific work around the globe. The best part is the water starts falling once more in buckets from the sky and we are snug and dry! It's great, except for the 20 or Americans that take shelter just along the side of the theatre with only the large fine mesh Windows between us, the trouble is as they gabble 10 to the dozen, they are totally oblivious to the fact we are trying to listen to a very interesting documentary inches from them!
 
 Once it eases we walk back into the village which consists of a dozen or more very basic shops set down a small street with one pavement about 20 feet from door to door across. We decide on a coffee stop, with a A board advertising Milkshakes, sandwiches and Sodas, we enter the cafe. What can I say, it's a huge expanse of emptiness. Spotlessly clean, white tiles cover both floor and walls, not a picture or advertising sign. No menus, no list of coffee choices, not a cake or biscuit on show, in fact except 8 tables, maybe 24 chairs, little else! We order 2 coffees ( at a utterly cheap cost of 40p each but with the currency exchange rate we actually paid £1.20) and view the fantastic river frontage, with its working barges delivering supplies, wandering by. Another dozy day in Tortuguero.
 
Once back at our lodge we make use of the Wifi to catch up with blogging, footy results and e.mail, then relax at the beautiful turtle shaped pool by the monkey bar. This is fabulous tranquillity and just what we need after 2 weeks of non-stop buzzing from one activity to another. When we enjoy our second dinner here, we sit again with a lovely couple from Carnoustie, Scotland Ian and Ann, who are our companions at all meals. We really enjoy their company and once more are the last to leave the dining room. We are so lucky at the friends we've met along the way on this trip, fingers crossed this continues!