The Beautiful Rainforest of Sarapiqui

Today we left Tortuguero and we took just over a 2 hour ride to Sarapiqui Rain Forest.  On the way we stopped at a local restaurant for a bite to eat on the way to get on the tractor.



When we were taken to Sarapiqui rainforest, we rode on a tractor for about 2 hours.  It was an amazing ride through the rain forest to see how people lived in a country style setting.  Horses, beautiful different types of birds, endless wildlife like frogs, spiders, and snakes.

Today is Carol's birthday and the group celebrated with a cake in her honor!  Dinner was served, beans, rice, fish and pasta with white sauce.   After we had dinner and desert we went for a night walk in the rain forest.

How About A Hike In Torteguero?

We got settled and after a rough two hours we were taken on a hike up this beautiful steep mountain.  It felt like the stairmaster would never stop.  Once we got to the first part of the mountain where you can see the beautiful scenery of the beach and the island itself.  I felt so proud that I did not give up on this rough obstacle course.  We made our way up to the tallest peek of the mountain were we saw an ever more beautiful view of the first scenery we saw.

Along the way the tour guide was very informative with all the species of bugs and plants in the mountains.  As we headed back the tour guide offered to take us to a nearby dirt area that gave you direct access to the ocean.  As the others got off the boat I stayed on and had the driver take me near the waves of the ocean.  Felt very energized after making that hike up the mountains.

We had free time after our hike to just relax, I was so muddy and dirty from the hike.  I slipped a few times, those stupid hiking boots were quite heavy.  People walked around the property of the hotel to check out the plants and different animals that could be walking around.  He was just kidding.  The tour guide found some sort of bird that he was walking all over the place to find.  Before you knew it, it was dinner time.  The whole group sat down for dinner and we had a meeting to discuss what the plans were for the next day.  After dinner everyone went their separate ways.  I happened to go with my two besties Dan and Jessica into town, to grab some groceries and Jessica needed flip flops.  We took a fast boat for about 10 minutes, to a really small town.  We walked around to a couple of grocery/convenience stores and then head back to the hotel/lodge.  Once we got back it was happy hour at the hotel.  We had a few drinks and before you knew it, it was time to go night, night!

Next Stop, Tortuguero

As we sadly left the beautiful Puerto Viejo in our air-conditioned van with the driver being Mario, we took a few hours drive up to a small town called Tortuguero.

On our way up to Tortuguero we stopped on the side of the road where there is lots of banana fields, across from there was a banana factory where they put the unripe bananas on a line and sent them across to be washed in a huge tub of water where there were lots of workers who were thoroughly cleaning the bananas, once the bananas were properly washed they were packaged up to be shipped out.

In order to get to the town you have to take a boat through the swamps, where there are various species of birds including the toucan as well as there being alligators in the water.  The boat ride down the water would take about two hours which included making several stops to see if we found any howling monkeys or a variety of special birds.  Everyone was also hoping to see the alligators, but there were none to be found.





Tortuguero Tour Guide

Once we arrived in Tortugero we were greeted off the boat with a refreshing strawberry juice drink.  The staff were all very friendly.  Our tour guide introduced us to everyone and gave us a mini tour of the property itself.  The rooms were very rainforest like, with the sounds of snakes, birds, and howling monkeys.



The German Dancing to Drum Bass Music



My bestie!!