Monday, February 4, 2013

Costa Rica Day 2 - San Jose to Tortuguero National Park

Brochure:  Begin the day traveling through the Braulio Carrillo National Park to the Caribbean low lands • En route, experience mountain scenery, changes in eco-systems, and Caribbean-style villages • Later, your guide explains the rain forest eco-system as you cruise the rivers and canals of Tortuguero National Park • Stay for two nights at your eco-lodge surrounded by the beauty of a tropical forest and wildlife • Learn more about your surroundings with a visit to the world's first Green Turtle Research Station • Discover how to protect the turtle's nesting habitat and eggs • Join your fellow travelers this evening for a welcome reception followed by dinner.
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6am - got up at 5, packed and we are in the lobby waiting to board the bus. This is a beautiful hotel but we didn't get to see much of it. Looking forward to seeing the countryside. More later.

Beautiful drive through the national park. Now we're stopped for breakfast. See the picture of our first Costa Rican meal. I'm going to get fat on this 3 meals a day plan. Took a couple of pictures of a Ceibo tree. Very big. A few of us wandered away from the group (tsk, tsk) and saw a sloth, those dirty rats.
1:30
The boat ride to Tortuguero was amazing. It was like the Disney Jungle cruise except with real animals. No hippos, but we saw a crocodile, caiman, emerald basalisk, egrets, herons and a spider money. Got pictures of the crocodile. Eating lunch now, heading to town later. Cottages are great.


5:30
Took the boat into town and walked on the beach. Didn't have time to go for the geocache, didn't want to miss the boat back. Going to go swimming before dinner. Then I'll upload this and the rest of the pictures I took today. Early to bed tonight, we're all really tired.

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