Our guide was named Enrique Ricardo by his mother.... now we thought she must of been a big fan of Lucille Ball..... but in fact his father was Cuban so that makes him the real deal unlike Desi Arnez.
We were actually docked at the Puntarenas Pier at 2am in the morning, but even if you were up immigration was not coming on to clear us until 6am in the morning....
By 7am we were walking down the gangway looking for our guide Ricky Ricardo. We had a bit of walk up the pier to get to the private tours as only the larger princess buses were allowed down.... no u turns at the end of this pier, if you drove in you reversed out, or visa versa....After the buses had all despatched they started a little petit train to move passengers up and down the pier, but that didn’t help poor Dennis who was with us today.....but he made it...
This gave us a chance to see up close the skid marks left on the side of the boat from our touch test with one of the locks in the Panama Canal. Also next to us was docked the US Naval Hospital Ship “Comfort” apparently this ship travels to some of the poorer countries and performs operations that may not be available in that country and to those who can’t afford it... Not often you hear the good stories.
Now at the end of the pier we found Ricky holding up his sign.... Just like most of the tour operators I have dealt with I was welcomed like a long lost relative with hugs and kisses... You just knew that in that first 5 minutes that this trip will be good...
We drove out of Puntarenas following the coast line in our big bus with only 8 people in it... first stop was a little village where we saw some monkeys up close... it was hard to snap a shot as these little fellows scamper around the trees. One even had a little baby on her back... soooo cute.... the villagers cut some banana for us and they would take the slices right out of our hand... one of the men place a piece on my head where a monkey promptly picked it off and with Anthea they snapped up the piece placed on her shoulder....
Next stop was a farm where they grow plants for Medicinal purposes... herbs that we use in our cooking for flavour they use for all different purposes such as stomach cramps and other ailments... You will see in the photos Ricky holding us a funny looking yellow fruit..... it is one of those rare fruits who’s seed grows on the outside.... see at the top.... the dark green bit.... that is where cashews come from....
Ricky arranged for them to make us a treat.... we watched as they turned on the press and feed a combination of sugar cane, lime and ginger... more commonly known to them as liquid Viagra.... We all got cup full and it was yummy..... One of the older gentlemen went and picked some flowers and gave each of our husbands a little bouquet to give to their wives ........very romantic except we still had a full day of touring in front of us LOL....
We moved further along till we got to the Tarcoles Bridge..... from the bridge we looked over the side to see the crocodiles lurking in the river.... We must of stopped here cause of the huge croc that inhabits the area under the bridge.... and we were lucky enough to be there just as one of the river boat cruises pulled up.... Now these guys in Costa Rica have no fear of these crocs and I am sure they still treat them with a lot of respect... Here is this fellow out on the bank holding up a piece of chicken in front of this huge crocodile..... jumping back every time the croc jumps up to grab it.... this country is full of Steve Erwins..... Eventually he relents and lets the croc take the food.... so close I am sure his hand is in the crocs mouth...... That is ok that he plays with the croc in front of him but it is the others circling in the water that had us worried....
Costa Rica plays host to around 5% of the worlds flora and fauna, not bad considering the worlds average is only .25%......
We then drove up into the mountains where were took a skywalk through the rainforest... This is where Dennis became our hero.... Considering Dennis can’t walk long distances because of his leg, he decided to attempt this skywalk with us.... According to Ricky ... it wasn’t that far.... well that must be in Costa Rica measurements because we ended up walking over 2.5 km up and down some rough terrain, across a couple of really long suspension bridges and up a steep muddy hill to get us back to the bus.... Poor Dennis... I think he slept well that night..... or was it the port at the sail away party...
Not far away at the foot of the mountain was a resort that also boasts a small handicraft village created just how the villages would have been ...... Here there were the 2 cutest iguana’s ( if you can call them cute ) wandering the grounds feeding on the berries that had fallen from the trees. There was a cute little white church here. Just behind the alter there is a rock wall with different plants growing and when there is a service ( mainly weddings ) it turns into a water fall....
Ricky wanted to show us a Scarlet Macaw, so he took us to little fishing village.... but alas not one to be seen as they tend to appear in the early morning... instead we grabbed some nice pictures of fishermen and boats...
We decided to make a last minute inclusion to our tour, a boat ride on the river to really get up close and personal with some of the wildlife..... So the 10 of us .... 8 plus Ricky and driver George jumped into one of the motor boats and off we went in search of ..... well anything that moves..... Felt like we were in of the scene’s from African Queen...... First stop was the big croc ..... this time it was our boat trip being shown the cat and mouse game between man and wild beast... Our boat driver jumps out of the boat with a big piece of chicken in his hand... on the shore there is this huge alpha male croc.... our driver walks straight pass him as if he isn’t there... standing next to him is waving this piece of chicken... not to attract him but the female croc who was now making her way out of the water... Here he is standing next to this dormant huge croc teasing the littler frisker croc with chicken.... all was going well but I might say our fellow was looking a little concerned when another female croc starting coming to him from behind also looking for that piece of chicken..... Did I mention by this stage the driver was also sitting on the alpha crocs back.... the croc was finding all this a big boring just opened his jaws wide as if he was just letting our one big yawn........( this is how they regulate their body temperature ). Once the chicken was gobbled up the females lost interest and headed back into the water..... By this stage might I add there were crocs swimming all around.... they would come out from under our boat and it felt like you could just reach out and pat them....but we refrained...
When he had finished the boat driver jumped up went around to the front of the alpha croc... bent over and thanked him with a pat on the nose..... back in the boat and we were off again.... We saw lots of birds and lizards along the shore and then down into the mangroves to see the little crabs moving in and out of their burrows....
The 2 guys that take these boats have eyes like hawks... and can spot anything from any distance.... The boat driver spotted a baby croc no longer than a couple of feet sitting on a branch.... he took the boat right up to it so we could snap a photo.... we all nearly died when Dennis stuck his hand out over the side to pull the branch over so we could get a better view.... we had visions of the baby’s mother jumping out of the water and snapping off Dennis’s hand assuming he has food....
Another great spotto was our friends from the ship, the other “Ratcliffe’s” ..... It has come to the stage that no port tour is the same without running into these two.
We really enjoyed this boat ride and was well and truly worth the extra money we paid.... for our $20 each we got way more value and enjoyment than we had in Darwin where we paid $200 to swim with the crocodiles that weren’t even in the water... 2012er’s save money and see the crocs in Puntarenas.
Now back on terra ferma we drove to Oratina for lunch, first we stopped at a fruit shop were we tried some local watermelon, guava and avocado.... they were the biggest avo’s I had ever seen... then we walked across to a local outdoor restaurant for a traditional dish called “Queso Tierno”. Cooked over wood and served from the outdoor kitchen.... The dish was made up of spicy chicken, black beans, rice, coleslaw and a fruit chutney.... It was all very delicious washed down with their natural fruit juices... We had the white juice from the sour sap fruit and the others had a mix fruit blend...yummy and cold...
Back on the bus for a relaxing drive through the countryside back to our ship. As with most ports the locals set up their market stalls to sell us their wares... We were more than happy with our day with Ricky and would recommend him... If we were impressed when we got off the bus.... we were really really impressed when 10 mins later whilst walking along the markets stalls we were tapped on the shoulder by Ricky returning Garry’s hat to us that he had left on the bus..... How is that for service... Thankyou Ricky...
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