Costa Rica

I have so much to say about my experience in Costa Rica (and I will), but for now I wanted to share images and info from the trip. Feel free to skip the text and just look at pix.

The main export of Costa Rica is bananas. Harvested when they are green for shipment to the US and other global destinations, they’re often referred to as Green Gold (Oro Verde).

ref=”http://ronstempkowski.com/?attachment_id=6797#main” rel=”attachment wp-att-6797″> A map of Costa Rica and our unforgettable journey there.[/ca

After spending one night in San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, we were picked up and driven by van to Tortuguero National Park–well, as far as we could be driven. The last part of the journey was by boat. Laguna Lodge Tortuguero is located on essentially a long island, accessible only by boat. (Though it’s more of a peninsula, the part that is attached by land is impassible.)

We drove past miles and miles of banana plantations. The bunches of bananas are wrapped up in colored bags to indicate either when they should be picked and where they’re going to be shipped.

Fun Fact: 70% of the worlds bananas are pollinated by bats.

Once we drove as far as we could, we ended up at this restaurant on the River Suerte where we would complete our journey to Tortuguero.

Our boat is the kind of in the middle with the orange seats (which were life preservers).

Come with me on the boat with our captain and our guide Clarence. (Who I called Terrance for 2 days.)

We arrived on Day 2 at the Laguna Lodge around noon. We’d traveled about four hours from San Jose via bus then boat. The scenery on the way was stunning. The two days there were rife with the sights and sounds of local wildlife.

The birds of paradise were everywhere.

The porch of our little cabin.

The view of the grounds from our porch.

We took all of our meals at this table, overlooking the Suerte River.

A raccoon visited us for every dinner. The good news: there is no rabies in Costa Rica.

The two iguanas lazed around the grounds.

The grounds of Laguna Lodge were lush and colorful.

This little guy dived into the pool to evade a bird then popped up by us when the coast was clear.

The red-eyed tree frog (after a very, very long hunt.)

We felt a little worn out after hunting so long for the frog. Obviously. (But it was worth it.)

We visited the village of Tortuguero. It was a small village that was once home to lumber mills from the 1940s through the 1970s. It’s only current industry is tourism. Though its only connection to the rest of Costa Rica, the Suerte River is home to deadly predators such as the bull shark, Cayman and other crocodiles which make it dangerous to play, swim or fish in.

But wait, there’s more!

The beach on the Caribbean side of the village is home to the spawning grounds for the Caribbean’s Green Turtle. Once the spawning season begins (mid-June through mid-August), it brings jaguars from up in the mountains hundreds of miles away. They trek through the jungle, swim across the Suerte, walk through the village to the beach on the other side of the island to feed. As a result, the town closes up at 8 p.m. Doors are closed and windows are shut. Children are brought inside. We saw warning signs about what to do if we see a jaguar in the river. (Hint: avoid it, because they can still jump from a full swim into your freakin’ boat.)

A huge highlight of the trip was zip lining in the Arenal Volcano Region where we went after leaving our own private “Amazon” at Tortuguero. It was my first time, but as soon as we decided on Costa Rica for a destination, I knew it was something I wanted to do.

And it’s something I will definitely do again.