Costa Rica

BOAC Instructor - is that snakes on a plane?

Just caught your posting Moulesy. Thanks for such great photos and the description of your trip. You certainly saw plenty and obviously thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Welcome home to snowy England, must be quite a shock to the system. 

How's the weather in San Jose today, micky?  

Is he nearly there yet? 

Does he know the way?

Sunny and warm, yet to recover from the travelling. San Jose is not the prettiest of cities but folk are friendly and I've been surprised by the cuisine. On the move again to the rain forest now so will post photos and comments later.

Mickey Boy, see if you can find anywhere M has been👍🏻

 Yesterday we visited the Irazu Volcano. Unfortunately one of the nearby volcanoes was erupting but thankfully the wind was in the right direction so the powers that be were allowing us up there. As a result it was very busy as all the local tours were consequently headed up this one. The flora there here is very similar to some areas back home with much of the flowers, herbs and grasses recognisable. In fact, despite the altitude much of the landscape looked not dissimilar to some areas of England.
Today we traveled across the high mountains to the Caribbean coast, through primary and secondary rainforests, through cultivated plains and into the wetlands, rivers and canals of the Tortuguero. What a wonderfully diverse country this is, each turn reveals a different habitat, a different Eco system. We are now staying in the Mawamba Lodges and are looking forward to wild life encounters of a wetter variety, it's raining! Apparently the river systems here are likened to the Amazon but amazingly Tortuguero has a higher natural diversity index. Already seen iguana, basilisk, crocodile and no end of birds including oriels, anhinga, hummingbirds, raptors, parrots, several species of kingfishers and many of the herons family on the way into the lodges, the river in front of our veranda and the rolling Caribbean Sea out the back just a few metres away. No toucans or macaws yet.

Now an example of Costa Rican humour according to our tour guide.
'One day the sloth was busy doing his own thing in his tree above the intersection of the jungle paths when along came two tortoises traveling in opposite directions. Unfortunately they bumped into each other and the police were called and duly attended the incident. The officer turned his head up and asked the sloth what had happened. The sloth replied, "Sorry officer, I don't know, it all happened so very fast!"

Micky you need some sleep...

Seriously, it sounds great, hope you can post some photos?

Tortuoguero is definitely one of the highlights of the tour, micky, but it can be very wet. We were out on one of the boat trips when the skipper saw a sheet of rain heading towards us and made a break for shelter at one of the docks - sadly not quite making it in time!. If you go to the township itself try to get onto the beach behind all the houses where you can see remains of the turtle nests and even a few unhatched eggs. But don't be tempted by the coconut and rum sellers!