And the adventure continues...
Missed the beginning of this two-part adventure in Costa Rica? Read where it all started here.
Having calmed my reactive imagination for the remainder of the journey, the touchdown into the San José area was uneventful.
San José is a bustling metropolis swarming with people and activity. It remained our central hub as we took connecting flights to our subsequent destinations from here.
I have conflicting emotions about big cities. While I love them (I grew up in one), I also don't.
The human potential for innovation and development excites me. But, big cities are also reminders that something had to give to make way for innovation. And more often than not, it is the animals and the forests that bear the burden.
This is, perhaps, more obvious in a country like Costa Rica which is abundant in mother nature's gifts.
Our time in San José was spent roaming the streets and checking the local markets. For more information on the capital, click here. Between maneuvering the traffic, and a few cat-calling incidents, the capital city of Costa Rica was our least favorite stop.
We felt more in our element boarding a quaint little plane, this time to Tortuguero, a famous turtle nesting site. The name Tortuguero in Spanish means “turtle catcher.”
Gotta love ‘em airports
After the Arenal experience, the airports were a topic of delight for us.
“What’s the next one going to be like?” we wondered, getting our bags out of the taxi.
To our surprise, the bags weren't the only 'items' that were weighed at the airport. Each of us was asked to step on a scale and then directed to sit in specific seats to 'balance' the plane.
The aircraft didn't need any turbulence at that point. Our uncontrolled laughter was enough to make it unstable.
The little green building above at Tortugeuro was the 'airport' a decade and a half ago. I was curious to see what it looked like now, and was shocked to see the state of disrepair it is in.
Check the link below for the recent pictures. Some of the reviews have the little planes and pilots in them too.
The Tortuguero National Park
- The Tortuguero National Park is a protected land on the picturesque north-east Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.
- The park has eleven different habitats, including rainforests, mangrove forests, swamps, beaches, and lagoons.
- The area consists of a series of interconnected canals, which we traversed in water taxis and boats.
- The region is exceptionally humid, and rain is abundant.
- We spotted many exotic animals and birds during our tour through the waterways.
- Also hidden in the swamps were 'Caimans' - small alligator look-alikes. They camouflaged themselves so well among the tree branches and dead leaves that we almost missed them.
- Watching newly hatched baby turtles make their way to the sea wrapped up our time in this eco wonder.
- For more information on the park, click here.
The Driver
With a few hours to spare for our flight back to the US, we decided our Costa Rica adventure needed a finale. Poás Volcano National Park, with its smoking crater and beautiful lagoon would tie up our travels nicely. But first, how do we get there?
While the hotel in San José offered many expensive options, we managed to flag a taxi off the road.
Quoting a price sizeably smaller than the hotel's, we struck a deal with a local taxi driver who spoke little English. He agreed, and we mentally congratulated ourselves on scoring a good bargain.
... until we sat in the taxi with all our bags, and it veered away from the city and into remoteness again. That is.
"Was the bargain too good to be true?" a tiny voice said, coming back in full force.
This time my two friends felt their tiny voices too.
"What if he runs away with our luggage, while we are at the park?" was another shared thought that crossed our minds.
As we discussed the dire possibilities in hushed tones, the driver pulled into the Poás Volcano National Park parking lot. To our absolute astonishment, he offered to accompany us around the park.
In the hour that followed, the driver guided us to the tourist-friendly spots and obliged us with photographs. When our flight time neared he drove us to the airport and gave us a warm goodbye. He even helped unload our bags.
Quite the contrast from our 'what if he steals our bags' theory :)
As the flight took off, I swiped my phone to look at the hundreds of pictures we had taken during our trip. They were all so different. In some, we looked neat and tidy, while in others, our hair was unkept and dirty. In some, we held each other tight, while in others, we stood at a comfortable distance.
After reaching home, I organized our adventure into a neat yellow folder and forgot about it.
Years went by, and the three twenty-something-year-olds became almost-forty-year-olds. We collected children and spouses and jobs and life along the way, but that yellow folder remained intact - frozen in time with memories and a gentle reminder.
A reminder to see beauty in people and places despite the dirt, and to ignore tiny uninvited voices that whispered, “No.”
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