It's hard to take notes on soggy paper

Rain Forest

Our accommodations at the Lodge are rustic but comfortable and charming. The grounds are like being in the rain forest itself. In the immediate area of our room we have seen Macaws, Toucans, and various other birds I’m not sure of the names of --along with caymons (small crocodiles) and several sorts of monkeys. Howler monkeys are our alarm clock. The first morning I thought that a car was peeling out on a gravel road—but there are no cars and no roads. That’s sort of what a howler monkey sounded like to me. They do their thing between 5 and 5:30 am.

Every meal we have been offered rice and beans and this place is no exception. One day we had the option of white or brown rice. Juice, freshly squeezed/blended, is available with almost every meal. The variety in the meals is lacking with the same meats and veggies offered at most meals. Breakfast usually has an omelet station, but we’ve not seen bacon or sausage at all so far.

After we saw the turtle exhibit, yesterday (this is the place where more turtles lay eggs than anywhere in this hemisphere), we walked along the beach to the town of Tortuguera, where there was a little shopping. (I bought a size 2 shirt for someone) As we were walking to the shopping area, I noticed a sign on a school porch asking for funds to pay the utility bills. Yep, you guessed it, I’m a sucker for troubled schools with money problems. I hope it was a legitimate request.

We have 2 cruises today, the morning one in the smaller canals of the Rain Forest and afternoon in the more open areas.



Duh! They call it the RAIN forest for a reason. We rode in 3 open boats, for better visibility of the canopy and got soaked. The boats carried vinyl rain ponchos which were needed, but we were still absolutely soaked to the skin (in the morning)



Our guide was Noel, who was very knowledgeable, but wasn’t very loquacious. He didn’t chat, or tell stories much, just the facts ma’am. We heard later that another guide, made hats with a sort of tree bark, and was real talkative. Oh, well, we enjoyed our morning time on the cruise.

We saw all different kinds of herons, as we went from lagoon, to lake to river then canal. We saw mahogany trees and royal plams and raffia palms. Almond trees have very hard wood which makes the wood very expensive to buy and use.

When we saw a termite nest, my thought was “kill 'um”. The guide told us that they are one of the most important species in the forest. They recycle the dead wood. Without them, rotting logs would be everywhere. I guess they are the vultures of the rain forest cleaning up the place. And all creatures have a purpose, we just need to understand where it is.

We saw a “caymon” very close up. This is a small crocodile that is not strong enough to attack people. It is actually a different animal from a croc.




Our guide “called” to some monkeys and they answered back and came to where we were so check us out. My little camera didn’t do well, but some folks got great monkey pictures..

Now remember all this time we’re roaming around in boats,-- it is raining, hard. Sometimes drizzling, other times coming down in buckets. It is really hard to take notes on wet paper.

Tortuguera became a National Park area in 1975. Before that date, this area was a major place for lumber harvest. This part of the rain forest has been saved and is being reforested.

We were about to head back for lunch and our boat turned. We heard a slapping on/in the water and before we knew what happened, Connie, the lady in front of me and I were shrieking. A fish had jumped, hit her shoulder and landed in my lap. The guide came back to get it, he thought about throwing it back, but instead said it would be his lunch. Actually, we tasted it for supper. He said it was a Snook and that this happens often, that a fish jumps in the boat, trying to get away from a barracuda.