Day 13

It was already time to go to our final destination in Tortuguero, which I have to say was pretty freakin’ awesome. Every place in this big nature reserve can only be reached by taking a boat through dense jungle. So Chavo drove us to some desolate place, where suddenly a big ‘parking lot’ with luxurious toilets appeared. There was a sandy strip along the river, where boats that were not too big stopped. The whole thing did not look too impressive or coordinated. Tourists’ luggage and pretty much all other provisions were manually carried down and loaded onto the boats. I found it hard to imagine that all supplies really had to go through this process in this place and I felt sorry for those guys carrying all the heavy stuff in those temperatures and humidity.
We said goodbye to Chavo and then got on our boat. After making sure that we had equally distributed our weight over the boat, we took off. Water levels were very low that day and because by law trees that fall in the water cannot be removed (as they still contribute to the ecosystem) except the parts that are blocking the river completely, we could tell that it took incredible skills to navigate these rivers. We could not see below the surface, but in some places the captain did not even completely submerge the engine to get around. All-in-all it took almost 1.5 hours to get to a small village that way, but given the awesome surroundings, this was not a problem at all. The village was located on a small strip of land separating the sea from the natural canal inland. We had a quick walk around (as the place was really not that big or vibrant) and then we went to our hotel, which took another 30 or 40 minutes to get to. In the end a small man-made canal, indicated with a sign, led us to the docs of the resort.
The cottages were relatively simple, constructed of wood, with ‘windows’ that consisted of mosquito screens. As this area is known for turtles laying their eggs, the towels were this time folded as a turtle. The restaurant was a roof again, with a bell that would be rang when breakfast, lunch, or dinner were being served. The surroundings were awesome as stated. Dense jungle on one side and a beautiful beach on the other. The water looked very inviting, but we were warned to not even get in up to our knees because of the treacherous currents. I therefore had a small walk on the beach and then took a swim in the pool. The water was – again – a bit too warm to be refreshing, but they were also serving cocktails and I can report that that works adequately for refreshment as well. There was an orgasm on the menu, but as they did not serve in our rooms, I stuck with a piña colada.
The rain started just after I retired to my room that night, which was usually around 9 already. Like most people I was generally exhausted after dinner. Even if I tried to read a bit in bed, I would not be able to keep that up for more than 10 minutes, so then I would just go to sleep. As that cottage had ‘windows’ in both the front and the back, the winds that accompany the rain, were blowing straight through my cottage, but that did not keep me from sleep like an angel again.