Day 12 - Tortuguera to La Fortuna
I got up very early to have a walk around the grounds as it was getting light As I was getting dressed the whole lodge must have been woken up by Howler Monkeys. There were a few other guests wandering around but it was much quieter at this time of day. I didn't see a lot but did find some huge spiders. One had built a web right across the path and the spider was in the middle at my head height. I took some photos and went back without disturbing him. There was also a butterfly - the first I have been able to photograph here. We have seen some enormous ones including one that is lilac in colour but they flitter about without stopping.
I went to check out before having breakfast and had a long wait at reception. While there I heard our guide saying that there was a boa constrictor sleeping in a nearby tree. I went down and sure enough it was very still and coiled up in the tree with just its tail hanging down. After taking my photos I went back to tell another couple in the group who are very interested in wildlife. Louise, who was just starting a freshly cooked omlette, just left it and came down with me to take a look before it moved away. Her husband and Paul waited till they had finished and went down and it was still there. In fact it was still there an hour later when we left the lodge.
There was a visit by Spider Monkeys near the pool just before we left so we went to see them.
The boat was 30 mins late leaving because 1 Llama couple were missing. They claimed they were told 10.30 but everyone else was told 8.30. The Llama group for the rest of our time is very big now as we have joined up with those just doing the Costa Rica tour. We had a good trip back and said goodbye to the guide who had travelled with us from San Jose (but wasnt our guide on the excursions unfortunately) and then we had a minibus just for the Llama group who had been to Guatemala.
The bus trip took over 5 hours including 3 stops. The first was for lunch and it was the restaurant where we had breakfast on the way out. We went to see if the Sloths were still about and sure enough we found 2 of them and 1 was awake. I was so pleased to get photos of their faces. I celebrated by buying a sloth necklace from a glassmaker who is Costa Rican but lived in Italy for a while and learned about glass blowing. He had some really lovely things.
This is the link to a video of the sloth. It was too big to download.
We passed cattle grazing countryside along the way. Water Buffalo are suited to this climate and they can be seen in various farms.
We later stopped for an ice cream at a small village/town. There is a tree in the town with lots of iguanas in it. We only saw one there today but there were others much further away. We were also advised to buy any alcohol at the supermarket as the prices in the hotels are very expensive so we got a bottle of wine and some cans of beer. The bus had a fridge on it so we could keep it cool.
Our final short stop was at a pineapple farm to just have a look at the crops. They are graded according to size and retailers around the world specify what size pineapple they want. Tesco may want size 8 and Waitrose size 10. Only the very best A grade pineapples are exported. B grade are for the local market and C grade are used for making juice and flavourings and other pineapple byproducts.
We arrived at our hotel, just outside the town of La Fortuna and have a fabulous room with huge patio windows looking out to the Arenal Volcano. The hotel grounds seem far more spacious than we had in Tortuguera. We have 3 nights here so are doing some clothes washing. It is a hot spring hotel so the pool is thermally heated. We have a free morning tomorrow so will give the pool a try then.
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