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Tortuguero: Beyond Roads

January 17, 2022 /

Two of Cahuita’s most colourful characters are downtown on our last night in the village, firstly the “Latin Hendrix” who is again strumming his guitar and wisecracking in Luisa restaurant, seemingly amusing himself as much as anyone else, like all good performers. Our other new friend Boa, meanwhile, is in Coco’s Bar and has obviously had more than enough booze already, his normally darting eyes unfocussed and his walk decidedly unsteady.

Latin Hendrix

We chat for a while, kind of, until a waiter tells Boa that it’s time for him to go home, and by his actions it’s clear that Boa is intending to ride his motor bike home despite being too drunk to walk.

“Boa”, I say, a while later, “you’re not seriously riding home?”.

“No” he says.

We are mightily relieved, until to our horror he finishes his sentence:

“No. I don’t need to drive, my Honda knows the way home”.

Oh My God, he means it. With some trepidation we text him the following day: he replies full of cheer. Welcome to Costa Rica, where drunk driving is the norm.

Tortuguero

Our new base is the village of Tortuguero (literal translation: Turtle catcher) the first of three brief stops on the next stage of our Costa Rica tour. In truth our main reason for coming here is the unusual journey to get here in the first place, as there are no roads to Tortuguero and, apart from a small airstrip for light aircraft, the only way to get here is by water. This close-up map shows its unusual setting on a tiny strip of land between the Caribbean and the inland waterway:-

The journey matches our expectations, the first bit by road, then a three-and-a-half hour boat ride through a network of jungle rivers, lakes and lagoons, linked by man made canal channels just inside the coastline. Sometimes through narrow passages between draping palms, sometimes in wide waterways, our boat streaks through the water, slaloming around boughs of trees and floating logs. 

  • Journey to Tortuguero
  • Jungle river
Village dwelling Rio Tortuguero

At one point our “driver” slows down, spins the boat around to come alongside a huge crocodile sliding into the water. Along the way we spy many water birds and waders, and are amused by the fact that in this deepest jungle, directional signs and even gas stations exist to service the many boats using these stretches.

  • Crocodile in Rio Tortuguero
Road signs for boats

Tortuguero, within a stone’s throw of the Nicaragua border, is a real outpost. Originally a den for illegal loggers and illegal turtle fishermen, a complete about-turn has made it a destination for ecotourism and conservation where the turtle species in particular are given special protection. However in reality it is a rather strange mix now: the tiny village is a melange of hostels, lodges, cafes and souvenir stalls, and we’re not altogether convinced that sending throbbing bass rhythms out across the water will do nocturnal creatures much of a favour.

  • Tortuguero
  • Tortuguero

The village seems to have as many weird artworks as it does buildings: odd statues, turtles carved from rock or wood, large pieces of rusting machinery, and, perhaps strangest of all, a myriad of recycled satellite dishes variously decorated, used for everything from shop signs and tour adverts to depictions of wildlife.

Tortuguero beach remains, despite the years of poaching, a major turtle nesting ground for four different species, although we’re not here in the nesting season and consequently don’t get to see the village’s major attraction. Protection and conservation of the turtles suffered a major setback, and tragedy, in 2013. A young local named Jairo Mora Sandoval, a staunch environmentalist and instigator of protective sanctuaries for turtles, was murdered by poachers one night whilst patrolling the turtle breeding ground on beaches just south of here. His influence hasn’t been forgotten; his legacy is the many reserves.

On our only full day in Tortuguero we cross the river on the “Pereferiqua” shuttle boat and climb to the top of Cerro Tortuguero, the highest point on the Caribbean coast, for an almost aerial view of the unusual land- and seascapes here. And unusual is the right word as we look out across the network of waterways, the thin fingers of land, and the rolling waves of the Caribbean.

View from Cerro Tortuguero

Tortuguero village fronts on to the river rather than the sea despite the extensive strand of dark coloured sand and the picture perfect rolling surf of the Caribbean – in part no doubt because the sea is unforgiving here with its potentially deadly mix of rip currents, sharks and barracuda. Plus, sit at the riverside restaurants and you bask in balmy heat, sit on the beach and you face the fresher sea breeze. There is something about the Tortuguero area which feels more like Asia than the Americas, this remote outpost village reminding us very much of northern Malaysia.

Tortuguero beach

Coco Loco is the appropriate name for a gorgeous cocktail invented at Cafe Bambu here, where the rum and local spirit Flor Caña are poured with orange juice and crushed ice into a freshly opened coconut still full of the coconut milk – and then you drink the delicious mix straight from the fruit. It’s almost as delicious as the rich and spicy Caribbean meal at the amusingly named El Patio which completes our time here: we’re ending our 9-day Caribbean culinary adventure on a high.

We leave this coast having witnessed rain only during night hours, pretty incredible given the significant annual rainfall here: Tortuguero is actually within  Costa Rica’s wettest region. Caribbean vibe has been great, Caribbean food an absolute revelation. And so on to the next experience…

  • Green Macaw
  • Toucan
  • Green Macaw
  • Tortuguero Church
  • Tortuguero Church
  • Rio Tortuguero
  • Cooling off
  • Unidentified monkey
  • Tortuguero “Port”

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