Costa Rica And New York, March 2009

2-7th March - Rara Avis And La Fortuna

Once we got to Tortuguero the rain started, and followed us for a week. Apart from swimming in the Carribean, we didn't do much in Tortuguero, and we left the next day for Rara Avis, which involved another super fast river boat trip. The final 15 kilometres to the Rara Avis Rainforest Lodge was in a trailer with no suspension towed by a tractor up the gnarliest track known to man - I'm not sure you'd get a landrover up it! The lodge is remote, and as everything has to be brought up to it by tractor, quite an achievement. The rooms were comfortable, barely lit by kerosene lamps, and shared with nocturnal creatures that we never saw, but heard. All our meals were cooked for us in the covered canteen area. The days (and nights) were spent on nature walks with guides, and the rest of the time we sat in the canteen area watching the hummingbirds on the feeders and drinking coffee and beer (ok, maybe I speak for myself there). The fact that they had a huge insulated tank of coffee was enough to win me over.

In Rara Avis it rained. A lot. 47 millimetres in 24 hours in fact, which apparently is quite a lot. They get 12 metres of rain a year here, which is also, apparently, quite a lot. Wildlife-wise, we saw frogs, spiders, countless types of bird, a swarm of thousands of vultures and plenty of huge compost heap eating coatimundis. The trip back to civilisation was eventful. Most of us started off walking with the intention of being picked up half way by the tractor and its trailer. Due to the wheel falling off the trailer on the way down, many of us walked the entire way back - in wellies. There were lots of blisters and missing bits of toe.

We then drove cold and wet to La Fortuna and its hot springs, next to a volcano called Arenal. Since it rained constantly and the cloud never went above a few hundred feet, we began to think that maybe the volcano was a myth. On the plus side, the rain made the rivers swell to the point even the white water rafting instructors were excited, and within thirty seconds we were soaked through and had lost one of our crew - though we did get him back. As for my aim of staying dry - well, I've never been rafting before, so how was I to know I'd get wet?