We arrived late in the evening in San Jose, Costa Rica to a bus station located in a dark, dilapidated part of the city (as bus stations often are). We did not have reservations for a place to stay but luckily we saw that the Motel Elvis was located right across the street. It was a slightly seedy place with gaudy old Hollywood memorabilia (Elvis, Marilyn Monroe…) decorating the lobby. The room was a tiny little box but it was secure, had a bathroom, a fan and was cleanish. So we stayed, but we were out before 8:00 the next morning headed for Tortuguera.

Getting to Tortuguera was no easy matter as it cannot be reached by road, only boat. Our two bus rides took us further and further into the jungle as we went east toward the Atlantic coast. Our final mode of travel was a small, flat-bottomed public transportation boat.

Tortuguera is a tourist town of approximately 1,500 residents that sits on the edge of a national park. One side of town faces onto the river and two blocks away the other side town faces onto the Atlantic Ocean. The population of youthful Rastas contribute to the very Caribbean feel of the town. We took an electric motor (very quiet) boat tour of the national park going up small fingers of the river to look for wildlife. It was pouring rain and although I was doubtful, the guide said it was a small rain so we put on ponchos and off we went.

Our guide was very good at spotting the wildlife. We saw many birds (Tiger Heron, Blue Heron, parrots, toucans and macaws), lizards, a crocodile, a Cayman and several monkeys. There were large bird nests hanging from the trees called Montezuma’s Pendulum. Legend has it that Montezuma fed gold nuggets to the birds who took it to their nests thus hiding it from the Spanish.

Getting out of Tortuguera was as adventurous as getting there. Leaving we took a three hour, 55 mile boat ride to Moin on our way south to the beach town of Puerto Viejo. It was raining again the morning we left, I guess that’s why it’s so lush and green. Our boat was fully loaded with ten passengers and all of our backpacks. I didn’t realize that was significant until we reached a shallow part of the river and our boat started churning up mud. We all had to get off the boat and the driver moved our backpacks to the bow of the boat. The driver pulled the boat up the river as we walked along the shore. After about an hour we reached a wider, deeper part of the waterway and sped downriver to the port.