costa rica day 3 | canals of tortuguero

Hi! I unintentionally took a few weeks off from blogging, but I'm back. I hope this next portion of our trip to Costa Rica helps inspire you, even in some small way, to explore - your passions, your interests, this world of ours, your own back yard, your kitchen - whatever or wherever it may be. 

I keep nodding off in the boat from Tortuguero to Moin, the port at Limon. We woke up at 5:00am, before the roosters or even the alarm, to take a morning boat tour through the canals.

We set off in a boat powered by a silent engine, the first of its kind in Tortuguero. It was slow-moving and silent - except for the occasional chatter among those of us in the boat. Ricardo, the captain and guide, could make just about any animal sound I've ever heard - and many more I never knew existed. From the screeches of Howler monkeys to the guttural call of a "Tiger" bird to the gurgles of a caiman mother calling to its offspring, Ricardo could imitate it. Often he received calls back from the wild - sing-song, playful conversations between man and nature.

We saw spider monkeys - with their prehensile tails acting like a 5th limb, allowing them to swing through the jungle on vines and branches without any effort at all. We watched Howler monkeys leap through the air and land with a thud on a nearby tree, sending the sounds of cracking branches and scattering leaves through the jungle.

We saw four caiman; we were lucky, Ricardo said, to see so many. The last two were sunbathing on a log together. They're solitary creatures, Ricardo noted, but we were there during mating season. They didn't look like they were hot for each other, to me, but what do I know about reptilian attraction?

And we saw two kaleidoscopic toucans - total "Fruit Loops" birds, Ricardo joked.

Back to our current situation, me writing to stay awake on our powerboat that was minutes ago cruising through the canals, a breeze blowing through my air. Now we are stuck in the low, low waters of the river. What was swiftly flowing water minutes ago is too low, and the vegetation has nearly beached us in the swampland. Several canoes have passed by, the oarsmen standing in the water to get better traction on the muddy, slimy swamp floor. Millis, our Captain, hopped out of the boat and is standing erect in the river, and the water comes only up to his knees. Zan offered to hop out and help push us to higher waters - but Willis has it under control.

After getting us over the shallowest area, we're off again, the spray back on my arms and face - a nice reprieve from the sweltering heat and humidity of the last few days.

Soon we'll dock at Limon and share a cab with new friends we met at our hotel to Puerto Viejo. We'll spend three days exploring the beaches of Costa Rica's Caribbean coast. Tortuguero is peaceful, a jungle swamp in the middle of a lush, green country, a respite and habitat for creatures large and small, and now it's small, indistinct in our wake.