On the second day of our stay in Tortuguero, we had to get up at 6am for a boat tour through the national park. The reason for the early start was that this would increase our chances of seeing wildlife. When we woke, however, there was torrential rain and thunder - and the couples in the cabins right and left of us said that in these conditions they'd stay in. When we got to the boat at 6:30, however, the rain had stopped, and we started the tour with only four out of eight participants.
About ten minutes into the tour the rain started again, but luckily our guide had thought of packing raincoats. Most of the animals seemed disinclined to do much in the rain: we saw a sloth hanging lazily on a branch, a group of howler monkeys huddling together, and birds keeping their flights as short as possible. About an hour into the tour, our guide stopped at a short canal and, seeing four sad figures huddled in raincoats, said he'd go looking for a frog and bring him to the boat. After about two minutes of him rummaging around in the bush, he returned with this cute red frog:
About ten minutes into the tour the rain started again, but luckily our guide had thought of packing raincoats. Most of the animals seemed disinclined to do much in the rain: we saw a sloth hanging lazily on a branch, a group of howler monkeys huddling together, and birds keeping their flights as short as possible. About an hour into the tour, our guide stopped at a short canal and, seeing four sad figures huddled in raincoats, said he'd go looking for a frog and bring him to the boat. After about two minutes of him rummaging around in the bush, he returned with this cute red frog:
Cute or not, apparently this strawberry poison-dart frog is highly poisonous, capable of stopping a human's heart. A small cut in the hand, or touching your eyes after touching the frog, is enough to warrant a stay in the hospital (or morgue, if you're unlucky).
Of course, we saw not only animals but a ton of plants as well. One rather interesting example was this tree whose roots resembled walls spread out in every direction. According to our guide, this increases the tree's stability on the swampy river bank.
After breakfast, we started our way back along the rivers and canals to the wharf in Moin. Again, we saw a lot of wildlife during the ride. Can you spot them in the following pictures? Here's a spot-the-toucan:
And this one is a spot-the-sloth (if you're interested in detail, it was a three-toed sloth):
And, finally, this picture is a spot-the-basilisk, or more precisely a plumed basilisk. Its nick name is Jesus Christ lizard because it has the ability to walk on water.
At lunch break, we had the chance to admire these golden orb-web spiders. Apparently, the female had just killed the male - after having mated - and would now proceed to eat it. What an appropriate thing to view at lunch time! ;-)
We also saw several crocodiles again today, some of them even doing us the favor of actually moving and thus disproving the theory that they were just 'logodiles' - carved logs placed there for the tourists. This one in particular was very impressive: it seems to stare right at us, probably wondering who to eat first...
