August 24, 2005 - Banana Republic

It was amazing I actually got some Zzzs at Tortuguero. I was not expecting to sleep. The crickets were so loud and the air so hot and humid. Yet amazingly, with the ceiling fan on , I was actually cold and couldn’t sleep at first because I was too cold. Gave up and got the comforter and actually managed to sleep about 4.5 hours. Of course I heard the Howler monkeys screaming at predawn ( despite the ear plugs). Finally, what got me up was the sunlight streaming in onto me & birds singing at 6am.

Today was pretty much a travel day. I am very disappointed with Costa Rica expeditions. Based on out prearranged itinerary, I was expecting a 2-4 hour guided wildlife tour of the canals on the way to Limon. Instead, we were transported water taxi style directly to Limon in 1hr 10minutes. There was certainly no ‘guiding’ from our boat driver. We got to Limon we had to wait another 35minutes for our van to arrive. Our van ride started with 1.5hours on a bumpy dirt road. We pass through the Banana Republic of CR, where all the major banana exporters ( Dole, Chiquita, Del Monte) have their banana plantation and processing plant. We stop the Del Monte processing area and watch the workers wash and sort the bananas.

We stopped for lunch at some butterfly farm restaurant. I had the Arroz Arreglar – which was seasoned rice with mixed meats ( chicken, beef and bacon). It was a sweltering afternoon. Lucky for us we were no longer in Tortuguero.

Checked back into Tryp Corobici where a fax from Undersea hunter was waiting for us, stating that the ‘vessel is ready and waiting, the sharks, mantas and dolphins are all lined up and we’ve even put in an order for a whale shark or whale and all that’s missing is you…’ J can’t wait J


We had dinner at Le Monastere, a converted restaurant up on a hill in the suburb of Escazu that had a panoramic view of the city light of San Jose. It was a beautiful and romantic place. Food was so-so.