A 6.30am start today. We have a full day ahead of us. First stop on the road was a small town high in the mountains away from the coast. We feasted on freshly cooked corn on the cob.
We were amused by the signs on the poles including Chicken Punchie Don and the Crew presenting Girls Naked Run. Another sign down the road had “funded with tax payers money”. This town was inundated with flood water some years after one of the hurricanes come through.
After two and half hours of driving on windy narrow roads, we had lots of Jamaicans passing us with death wishes. I think we had three near accidents in that time, the worst when a car passed us on a crest with a bend in it and narrowly squeezed in between us and the oncoming car who both braked and swerved. These guys are crazy on the road.
Our first major stop was the Appleton rum distillery. The factory had a large stack spewing out steam set in a valley full of sugar cane.
We saw a donkey, Paz, work some magic and crush some sugar cane to produce the sugar syrup. After a few laps, he was happy to get his crushed pulp from the cane for his efforts.
Inside the distillery, a hot environment, we got to see rum getting distilled from molasses in four large stills. The factory was like a “rum sauna”, it did smell pretty bad. Azza would have been in heaven. The next building across held barrels and barrels of rum ageing on oak. The room was cold, mainly due to the alcohol slowly evaporating, or rum air conditioning. They lose 6% by volume in each barrel on a yearly basis. 
Outside of the fenced part of the factory, our guide took us through the production of sugar syrup again and we got to taste molasses.
We got up to our usual capers and took photos, the best was Tan relaxing in the drivers seat of the period style rum truck. 
We got to taste the rum inside, though with no breakfast and an early morning we took it easy. I did try the 127 Overproof white rum (63.5% alcohol). I dipped my tongue in it and it burned.
Another 25 minutes down the road we ended up at the YS Estate. Here we all climbed aboard a jitney, a trailer which was towed by a Massey Ferguson tractor and drove through paddocks to the YS Falls.
The YS Falls are a series of cascades, eight in total, sit in a tropical environment. We put on our bathers and walked to the top pool were we swam in the pool. Now we have abseiled down water falls in Costa Rica, ascended the Dunns River falls and now we showered in the cascading water here. The water was a little cool but it was great fun getting hydro massages. 
We had to laugh at the sign posted here. No ganja smoking was allowed at the falls.
In the bus again with more driving ahead of us, we stopped along the way to buy Spicy Shrimp from an old lady. These are freshwater shrimp cooked with salt, spice and pepper. We were told there are two ways to eat these shrimp, peel them and eat the flesh or throw the whole thing in your mouth. I had to try the shrimp and I followed the traditional way. It was good at the start but you end up with a lot of trash in your mouth once the good stuff is gone. 
We stopped for lunch in Luana where we saw our first cricket ground (well we are in the West Indies!) The view was of the broad Black River morass, a large swamp land with many rivers snaking through it. Lunch was fried chicken (a Jamaican (and Costa Rican) favourite), pork and rice and beans. Not bad.
We finally arrived at Black River, where it met the sea. We jumped aboard our boat and Tan and I got pole position at the front of the boat. The crocodiles here are more friendly than what you would see at the Crocoseum. We only went 100m up the river to see our first, sunning himself on the bank with its’ jaws propped open.
Further up, we saw Patricia, yes, these crocs have names. Patricia was keen for some chicken and a belly rub. The crocodiles are less aggressive than their Australian counterparts. It might be all the hooch that is in this country. One of the captains of the other boat grabbed this crocodile by the leg and even patted it. Now this thing was only a good 12 feet long too!! 
The river itself was picturesque, with different types of mangroves and bird life. Even Tan (the twitcher) spotted a few helped by the punch she was drinking. 
We had a three hour drive ahead of us, via a different way this time via Montego Bay and then onto the best road in the country along the northern shore. The trip was 14 hours in total, but it was good to see the real Jamaica, by getting out and about, compared to sitting in the resort.
We were amused by the signs on the poles including Chicken Punchie Don and the Crew presenting Girls Naked Run. Another sign down the road had “funded with tax payers money”. This town was inundated with flood water some years after one of the hurricanes come through.After two and half hours of driving on windy narrow roads, we had lots of Jamaicans passing us with death wishes. I think we had three near accidents in that time, the worst when a car passed us on a crest with a bend in it and narrowly squeezed in between us and the oncoming car who both braked and swerved. These guys are crazy on the road.Our first major stop was the Appleton rum distillery. The factory had a large stack spewing out steam set in a valley full of sugar cane.
We saw a donkey, Paz, work some magic and crush some sugar cane to produce the sugar syrup. After a few laps, he was happy to get his crushed pulp from the cane for his efforts.Inside the distillery, a hot environment, we got to see rum getting distilled from molasses in four large stills. The factory was like a “rum sauna”, it did smell pretty bad. Azza would have been in heaven. The next building across held barrels and barrels of rum ageing on oak. The room was cold, mainly due to the alcohol slowly evaporating, or rum air conditioning. They lose 6% by volume in each barrel on a yearly basis. Outside of the fenced part of the factory, our guide took us through the production of sugar syrup again and we got to taste molasses. We got up to our usual capers and took photos, the best was Tan relaxing in the drivers seat of the period style rum truck. We got to taste the rum inside, though with no breakfast and an early morning we took it easy. I did try the 127 Overproof white rum (63.5% alcohol). I dipped my tongue in it and it burned.Another 25 minutes down the road we ended up at the YS Estate. Here we all climbed aboard a jitney, a trailer which was towed by a Massey Ferguson tractor and drove through paddocks to the YS Falls.
The YS Falls are a series of cascades, eight in total, sit in a tropical environment. We put on our bathers and walked to the top pool were we swam in the pool. Now we have abseiled down water falls in Costa Rica, ascended the Dunns River falls and now we showered in the cascading water here. The water was a little cool but it was great fun getting hydro massages. We had to laugh at the sign posted here. No ganja smoking was allowed at the falls.In the bus again with more driving ahead of us, we stopped along the way to buy Spicy Shrimp from an old lady. These are freshwater shrimp cooked with salt, spice and pepper. We were told there are two ways to eat these shrimp, peel them and eat the flesh or throw the whole thing in your mouth. I had to try the shrimp and I followed the traditional way. It was good at the start but you end up with a lot of trash in your mouth once the good stuff is gone. We stopped for lunch in Luana where we saw our first cricket ground (well we are in the West Indies!) The view was of the broad Black River morass, a large swamp land with many rivers snaking through it. Lunch was fried chicken (a Jamaican (and Costa Rican) favourite), pork and rice and beans. Not bad.We finally arrived at Black River, where it met the sea. We jumped aboard our boat and Tan and I got pole position at the front of the boat. The crocodiles here are more friendly than what you would see at the Crocoseum. We only went 100m up the river to see our first, sunning himself on the bank with its’ jaws propped open.
Further up, we saw Patricia, yes, these crocs have names. Patricia was keen for some chicken and a belly rub. The crocodiles are less aggressive than their Australian counterparts. It might be all the hooch that is in this country. One of the captains of the other boat grabbed this crocodile by the leg and even patted it. Now this thing was only a good 12 feet long too!! The river itself was picturesque, with different types of mangroves and bird life. Even Tan (the twitcher) spotted a few helped by the punch she was drinking. We had a three hour drive ahead of us, via a different way this time via Montego Bay and then onto the best road in the country along the northern shore. The trip was 14 hours in total, but it was good to see the real Jamaica, by getting out and about, compared to sitting in the resort.
Along the way near Jaco, we stopped off at the crocodile bridge. It seems everyone does this as there were at least 50 people on the highway bridge looking over the edge at these big monsters. Tan had a chance to do a Stevie Irwin and wrestle one before crossing. These crocs in estuarine water were happy basking in the mud. The biggest would have been around 4m in length and we got to see them have a scrap over a piece of real estate.
The beaches on the Pacific side around Jaco were white sands and awesome. It was great to see the sea again.
In Quepos, itself an uninspiring town we drove up the hill to hotel, Mono Azul (Blue Monkey). It’s a nice hotel and out of the razor wire rich township.
That night we went to Mamma Mia, where the sevice was slow (as we were told) but it was well worth the wait. The prawns were sensational and the beer was cold.
We’ve gone for a better class of travel for this tour (mainly because there was nothing else available) and our group is significantly older than our last one with representation from Canada, US, UK and of course Australians. We also thought being a better class of travel would mean less early morning starts… wrong! Up this morning at 5.45am to leave for 6.20am.
We all hopped out for a photo opportunity. This is where I considered a change of career- tour bus driving!!
We stopped off half an hour for breakfast which also included for those that were keen the traditional Costa Rica breakfast, gallo pinto or beans and rice. Full up, we hit the road again passing small pineapple plants in large paddocks. They grow around 60,000 pineapples per hectare on these lands and it is a top export earner. We stopped briefly at a banana plantation but mainly just to stretch the legs. To get to the banana plantation we had to drive through huge puddles (almost rivers) and some poorly maintained roads. Banana plants were everywhere. Those with white bags on them indicated that they were almost ready for harvest and those with blue bags indicated that they still had a while to go. 
Out in the field they had a wire system where the banana’s were strung up and made there way back to the factory for sorting and cleaning and then some went to the local market, simply thrown in the back of the truck. The remainder (most of them) were boxed for export. It was quite interesting to see.
After a long drive we finally made it to the port where the boats take off to bring us to our final destination for the next couple of days, Turtle Lodge Hotel in Tortuguero, population 750. Tortuguero is the rainiest of all rain forests and it is impossible to drive here. You must go by boat, through the canals. Tortuguero is sometimes called “the mini amazon” due to its many canals and abundance of wildlife but is biggest drawcard is that is a turtle breeding site with approximately 40,000 turtles laying their eggs per year.
We finally arrived on the main town of Tortuguero where we stretched our legs for 45 minutes, admired the Carribean Sea and had some hot apple pie… as you do! 
Back on the boat we turned into a small hidden canal, slowed right down and made it to our hotel, complete with a 4 foot crocodile perched in the water out the front metres from where we landed. 
Our room is has three sides covered with fly wire and no glass. The beach is only 100m away and the jungle is just behind us. Noises from birds, frogs and the occasional roar of a howler monkey come from behind us but the sound of the surf is constant and relaxing. It’s like paradise inside paradise!! 
We checked in, had a late lunch and then relaxing in hammocks and around the turtle shaped pool with a Dan partaking in some body boarding action in the ocean were the order of the day. 
We were told not to swim in the canal (crocodiles) or the sea (sharks) so Dan went out in waist deep water to catch some waves, in the brownish water. We met for drinks at 7.00pm (this place makes a mean cocktail) followed by dinner.
We decided to see in the new year and went back to the bar at 10.30pm but we were just to tired and went to bed waking to hear the fireworks. Happy New Year everyone. We hope you have a fantastic 2008!
