We left Tortuguero yesterday afternoon, somewhat regretting that I had followed Casa Marbella owner Daryl's advice not to stay longer than 3 nights - it was a magical place and perfect to just sit on the riverside, letting time flow by.....
We were picked up by Jungle Tom Safaris' riverboat and headed back to civilisation up the Rio la Suerte - the lucky river - guide Mario joking the name was because you would be lucky not to be eaten by a crocodile if you fell in! And we sure saw some big fat crocodiles as the boat carefully navigated up the meandering and fast-flowing stream, with dense rain forest on both banks.
Then after an hour or so we reached the "bus station" at La Pavona and were packed into a minibus overflowing with people and luggage for the 110 km and 2 hour road journey back to San Jose. First driving through endless banana plantations on the deforested coastal plain, with the pretty primitive houses/shacks that Del Monte, Dole and Chiquita provide for their poorly paid and highly pesticided mainly Nicaraguan workers - the backside of the Costa Rican "La Pura Vida" medal!
Suddenly the Cordillera Central mountain chain rose through the clouds and we started on the climb from near sea-level to 1500 m, the dense rain forest of the Claudio Barillo National Park and its clouds hiding the sheer cliff above and the equally sheer drop below.... We were on Route 32, the only highway between the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, often clogged with heavy trucks or closed because of landslides, but this Sunday evening all went smoothly...
Emerging from the clouds on the 500 m drop to San Jose just after tropical sundown, we saw the lights of San Jose glittering in the valley below, before endlessly criss-crosscrossing the city and dropping people off here and there and then the 20 km drive out to our hotel near the airport.....Pretty tired by the time we got our chicken dinner at nearby Rosti Pollo!
Today a quiet day,visiting nearby Alejuela for lunch, a pleasant market town and province capital, now in the dry climate west of the Cordillera, a dry and pleasant maximum of 28 degrees in contrast to the humid rainforest we left yesterday. A once in a lifetime experience at lunch - giving a begging old lady 100 colones - about 1 krone - through the railings surrounding the cafe, just to get some peace, then 5 minutes later she returned, with a triumphant smile on her face, an ice-cream in one hand and a thumbs up as muchas gracias with the other! Nice to see my little coin appreciated....Then off to Europcar to pick up our sparkling white Toyota SUV, in which we'll drive on to the next instalment of our Costa Rican adventure tomorrow - watch this spot!
We were picked up by Jungle Tom Safaris' riverboat and headed back to civilisation up the Rio la Suerte - the lucky river - guide Mario joking the name was because you would be lucky not to be eaten by a crocodile if you fell in! And we sure saw some big fat crocodiles as the boat carefully navigated up the meandering and fast-flowing stream, with dense rain forest on both banks.
Then after an hour or so we reached the "bus station" at La Pavona and were packed into a minibus overflowing with people and luggage for the 110 km and 2 hour road journey back to San Jose. First driving through endless banana plantations on the deforested coastal plain, with the pretty primitive houses/shacks that Del Monte, Dole and Chiquita provide for their poorly paid and highly pesticided mainly Nicaraguan workers - the backside of the Costa Rican "La Pura Vida" medal!
Suddenly the Cordillera Central mountain chain rose through the clouds and we started on the climb from near sea-level to 1500 m, the dense rain forest of the Claudio Barillo National Park and its clouds hiding the sheer cliff above and the equally sheer drop below.... We were on Route 32, the only highway between the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, often clogged with heavy trucks or closed because of landslides, but this Sunday evening all went smoothly...
Emerging from the clouds on the 500 m drop to San Jose just after tropical sundown, we saw the lights of San Jose glittering in the valley below, before endlessly criss-crosscrossing the city and dropping people off here and there and then the 20 km drive out to our hotel near the airport.....Pretty tired by the time we got our chicken dinner at nearby Rosti Pollo!
Today a quiet day,visiting nearby Alejuela for lunch, a pleasant market town and province capital, now in the dry climate west of the Cordillera, a dry and pleasant maximum of 28 degrees in contrast to the humid rainforest we left yesterday. A once in a lifetime experience at lunch - giving a begging old lady 100 colones - about 1 krone - through the railings surrounding the cafe, just to get some peace, then 5 minutes later she returned, with a triumphant smile on her face, an ice-cream in one hand and a thumbs up as muchas gracias with the other! Nice to see my little coin appreciated....Then off to Europcar to pick up our sparkling white Toyota SUV, in which we'll drive on to the next instalment of our Costa Rican adventure tomorrow - watch this spot!
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