Happy New Year. Our welcome to 2008 was a wake up call for 5.00am for a 5.30am start. Why so early? Apparantly, this is the best time to view wildlife. We hopped into our uncovered boats with our excellent guide, Mario. We quietly moved down the canals with much of the wildlife apparently wanting to take the day off also being New Years Day. We finally spotted something though – small bats (I hate bats) and perched a little to close to their tree for my comfort!
We then stopped with our guide showing us some flowers when he casually handed out rain poncho’s the rain kicked in and it absolutely bucketed down.
We then stopped with our guide showing us some flowers when he casually handed out rain poncho’s the rain kicked in and it absolutely bucketed down.
Our top half stayed relatively dry but our pants got soaked.. oh well! The heavy rain finally stopped about thirty minutes later. But rain or no rain, we continued on down the canal. Tortuguero gets between 6 – 7 metres of rain a year and have two seasons, the wet season and the rainy season.
We saw monkeys, hawk eagles, toucans, many species of birds and a spectacled caiman (looks like a crocodile). Also, lots of trees and some bromeliads.
It was beautiful out on the water, so calm and quiet with the sounds of the jungle coming alive around us. We headed back to the hotel around 8.00am for breakfast.
Next up was a walk through the jungle behind the lodge. There was lots of mud on and off the track. Lucky, Dan had gum boots on. He also tried eating live termites from a nest perched on a tree. They tasted like pepper.
The crimson frog, commonly shown on guide books for Costa Rica, actually turns more crimson with warm air blown onto it and if it gets stirred up. This little creature is quite poisonous!
Other things on the walk, other than the rain (well, it is a rain forest!) were the buttress roots on this large tree and a chameleon. 
Just as we finished the jungle walk it decided to absolutely bucket down. We haven’t seen rain this hard for a very long time.
The afternoon was spent sheltered under a tree trying to grab glimpses of the sun in between intermittent showers. It was nice and relaxing and a good way to start the new year. The beach still had pounding surf and some pelicans flying along the coast in V formation.
These palm trees with an awesome fan of fronds are common as a decorative plant in all of Central America.
We saw monkeys, hawk eagles, toucans, many species of birds and a spectacled caiman (looks like a crocodile). Also, lots of trees and some bromeliads.
It was beautiful out on the water, so calm and quiet with the sounds of the jungle coming alive around us. We headed back to the hotel around 8.00am for breakfast.Next up was a walk through the jungle behind the lodge. There was lots of mud on and off the track. Lucky, Dan had gum boots on. He also tried eating live termites from a nest perched on a tree. They tasted like pepper.
The crimson frog, commonly shown on guide books for Costa Rica, actually turns more crimson with warm air blown onto it and if it gets stirred up. This little creature is quite poisonous!Other things on the walk, other than the rain (well, it is a rain forest!) were the buttress roots on this large tree and a chameleon. Just as we finished the jungle walk it decided to absolutely bucket down. We haven’t seen rain this hard for a very long time.The afternoon was spent sheltered under a tree trying to grab glimpses of the sun in between intermittent showers. It was nice and relaxing and a good way to start the new year. The beach still had pounding surf and some pelicans flying along the coast in V formation.
These palm trees with an awesome fan of fronds are common as a decorative plant in all of Central America.
After an hour of zip lining we met our local guide who showed us around the ruins of Tikal. Our guide was locally known as “The Bird Man”. He was an A1 twitcher which made our experience so much more worth while. He could spot a bird or a monkey from miles away and know exactly what they were (alarmingly he did carry a bird identification book too). He also was able to call to the monkies – much better than Dan’s dodgy effort of a Howler Monkey!!
The ruins are located in thick jungle and only 20% of the buildings are uncovered. Towering piles of rock completely covered in undergrowth and large trees dot the site.
If you didn’t know you would mistake these buildings for just another hill. Tikal is also a UNESCO site (tick another one off the list).
In the grand plaza we climbed Temple Two which overlooked a grassy flat and Temple One in the background. After sucking in the views and listening to this really cool bird that sounded like a robot we strolled to Temple Four.
Temple Five is 58 metres high and has only been recently restored. Due to the steepness of the Temple stairs, you are required to climb an almost vertical ladder that appears to be rather unsafe. Now this was steep!! We made it to the top, with a narrow ledge and no guards to stop us toppling to the ground. The views of the jungle canopy were fantastic and we could see monkeys swinging in the nearby trees. We sat and enjoyed it for a while and then made the slow climb back down. 
Another walk through the jungle stopping to see Toucans led us to Temple Four which we climbed the stairs to sit and watch the sun set in the distance. 
With the jungle alive with the sounds of the animals it was breathtaking (chaperoned with a man with a big gun). Sunset was fantastic, and our third and final visit to ruins on this trip had been our favourite. 
We walked back through the jungle in the dark via torchlight. Our birdman spotting all sorts of animals and even a Tarantula on the side of the path. Eww. Dan got a little too close for comfort for this shot.
