We wake early. It is raining but no surprise there. It has rained heavily every night. Fortunately the weather always improves in the daytime with just the occasional afternoon shower. We take a last look at the Caribbean. It is still raw and wild with masses of washed up debris and sadly huge amounts of plastic litter the shoreline.
We are taking the 08.40 boat back to La Pavona. It is a 100 yards or so to the dock so the hotel organise our bags to go to the dock in a wheelbarrow. Everything here is very efficient and the boat departs on time.
It’s an hourish trip back to La Pavona where we stop for a coffee, put our route into Waze and depart. The drive is easy with great views of the cloud forest in the distance.
We are delighted with our choice of hotel – Ara Ambigua. It is in the heart of the forest, birds abound in the foliage and howler monkeys call in the distance. We have a well earned G&T, a light lunch and then I go out with the camera.
I work out my problem with the big zoom lens yesterday. I had knocked the lever and it was set to 6m to infinity instead of 1.3m to infinity. Hence I could not focus on anything close up.
The hotel organises guided night walks and we have signed up. Our guide is very good with sharp eyes he first finds us the famous red-eyed frog but then finds many other species of frog, assorted insects and a snake – non-venomous. I am pleased with the photographic results.
After yesterday’s gruelling itinerary, today is a much gentler day. We have nothing to do until our canoe trip into the Tortuguero National Park this afternoon. The morning comprises breakfast, writing up yesterday’s blog and finding a good bar for a cocktail and lunch. El Patio wins for that. The food, service, drinks, ambience and views are spot on.
Initially we feel that the canoe trip is going to be a big fail. Our guide Roy sits at the stern with a paddle. The river is huge and we are moving very slowly. I think by the time we get to the park it will be time to get back. The reality is different. Once we have shown our tickets to the park authorities we paddle upstream and start to take in the slower pace and tranquility. This could not be more different from yesterday’s adrenalin fuelled blast up the river. We notice the small things and can hear leaves fall. Our guide picks up on this and immediately spots a howler monkey above us. It’s a long way away up and fast moving and the canoe wobbles a lot. I capture some shots. Not great but its something.
Howler monkey
We spot some beautiful water birds in a courtship dance. Annoyingly we were too close and my lens was too long so taking a sharp image impossible but they are too pretty not to show you.
We paddled up a narrow channel that only a canoe could navigate. it was a peaceful and totally different world from the sunlit river beyond.
I spent a significant amount of time changing lenses and never seemed to have the correct one on for the task in hand. I must buy a second camera body so I have instant access to either lens. I did capture a few reasonable shots but nothing amazing.
The weather here can change in a blink of an eye. We set out in bright sunshine but suddenly clouds appear and ponchos are donned before a short spell of rain ensues. This coincided with our sighting of a troop of white faced capuchins. I therefore have no photos but have imprinted their antics in my minds eye.
As we set back parrots squawked noisily and I have to admit to an element of relief. Two days sitting on hard boat seats has taken its toll. I should really like a soft chair for a couple of days please… We feel much less tired than yesterday and have the energy to find a bar for a G&T.
Our final dinner in Tortuguero was back at El Patio. It is absolutely the place to go. Everything yet again was spot on.
A very early start for us today. We are meeting Elvin at 06.00 who is taking us the 35km north to the remote Barra del Colorado. Here, where the Rio Colorado meets the Caribbean, at certain times of year, large numbers of tarpon congregate and Paul is hoping to catch something big.
Elgin’s boat is powerful (200hp) and we are really motoring. Lush jungle surrounds us but there is no opportunity to spot much wildlife. We are going too fast. We eventually drop anchor in the mouth of the river. It is anything but calm but it is a beautiful yet raw location. We are anchored by a sandy spit, which is like a tree graveyard, with hundreds of huge logs marooned ashore.
Elvin and Paul set up their fly rods and start fishing. The water is very churned up and rough and nothing is biting. Elvin thinks, given the conditions, that the tarpon will be the other side of the sandbar where the surf is breaking. Over the course of several hours we make numerous attempts to cross but it is just to dangerous. It feels like a scene from a movie where you are trapped on a desert island and trying to work out how to traverse the reef.
Basically nothing happens for 7 hours. I amuse myself by trying to capture as great a variety of shots as possible. No easy task as the boat is bouncing around like some kind of wurlitzer. Amazingly I am not in the least sea sick. Clearly I still have my sea legs despite not sailing for a few years.
We avoid a few squalls which is lucky and I enjoy watching the huge colony of terns that periodically launch themselves from the shore in mesmerising clouds.
At 15.15 we weigh anchor and head back to Tortuguero. Elvin suggests I sit on the front seat. I feel like I am flying down the river as we speed our way back.
When we disembark we both have incredibly wobbly legs. It feels as though the land is moving and we are both completely exhausted. This has been a long day and boat seats are so uncomfortable. I recall our comments from back in the BVI sailing days, that pretty much anything on a boat is more comfortable to sit on than the seats!
Fortunately we have booked a massage and it was bliss. Afterwards, we were almost too tired and relaxed to walk to a restaurant for dinner and jet lag is definitely playing its part. We found a very rustic bar where we ordered a beer and medium sized pizza. Glad we did not order a large one. It was huge….and delicious.
We had a smooth journey from the UK yesterday. The flight was on time and took just over 11 hours. We were certainly pleased to arrive at the airport hotel for some R&R.
We slept very well and woke refreshed and ready for the adventure ahead. We are staying at the Hampton which is very close to the airport. Breakfast was a buffet, but with a decent choice, and the food quality was pretty good.
Appetites suitably sated, we walk outside to be greeted by clear blue skies and there is a brisk breeze which takes the edge off the temperature, but it is probably already 20C and it is only 08.00.
We take the hotel shuttle to the airport to collect the hire car. Alamo are incredibly efficient. They escorted us to their shuttle which took us to the car pickup. Paperwork was completed in a few minutes and we were on our way. We have a brand new Toyota RAV4 which is way better than we expected. Even better my iPhone connects to the navigation system through CarPlay. Therefore Waze shows up on the dashboard. Brilliant. Navigation is going to be a breeze.
The drive out of San Jose is straightforward.
The traffic is light, drivers are incredibly polite and Waze is giving us excellent directions. The roads are not busy at all. We drive through lush countryside which gradually becomes hillier.
The gradient becomes steeper, it becomes cloudier and then we are driving through mist and thick, lush vegetation scrambles up the steep banks by the side of the road. The temperature drops and rain falls as we drive up into the cloud forest. We seem to be driving uphill forever but then we start the descent. We must have been very high as we seem to be driving downhill relentlessly. The traffic coming toward us is heavy and crawling up the slope. Huge American lorries claw their way up the hill. They really are amazing and impressive vehicles. We saw a depot selling them as we left San Jose. You can obviously ‘pimp your lorry’ as there were loads of different bonnets for sale and indeed pretty much every truck we saw had been personalised.
Eventually the terrain flattens out. We pass through the occasional small town that bustles with life.
The land is fertile and every inch is being farmed with neat rows of crops or grazing cattle. This gives way to banana plantations as we approach Tortuguero.
We arrive at La Pavona which is the embarkation point for the boat which will takes us up river to our hotel in Tortuguero. It is 11.45 and the drive took 2.5 hours.
Yet again we are met with complete efficiency. We are shown where to park, given our boat ticket and guided to the restaurant to wait for departure at 13.00. We grab a toasted sandwich and beer then go back to the car to collect our bags. We load them in a wheelbarrow and walk down to the waiting boats.
There are probably a dozen boats at the water’s edge. Initially their are few people but then coaches arrive and throngs fill the waiting boats. We finally depart at 13.15 for the hour trip which is just as beautiful as I remember from 3 years ago.
Then Tortuguero comes in to view.
We are met by a guide who takes us to our hotel which is a short walk away from the dock. We check-in, ditch our bags and head off in search of cold drinks. Paul chose a coco loco and I have a pina colada. They are exceedingly good!
The day then consists of taking a quick nap, strolling round Tortuguero which does not take long and eating and drinking. We like a place called El Patio that has an upstairs with terrace overlooking the river.
It is a five 5 hour drive back to Havana. We stop briefly for a comfort break and arrive back at our hotel at 14.00 having been told that is when our rooms will be ready. That is not the case and we are told to wait until 16.00. This is really annoying as we want to go for lunch without carrying loads of kit around and have a final shoot in Havana. We can leave our suitcases with the concierge but it does means carrying full backpacks around in the mid-day heat. Less than ideal.
People have different plans for the afternoon but a group of us head back to what we call the LP bar. It has a music theme and all the table mats are LP mock-ups. The food and company is good. Fully sated we set off for one last photography session.
The light is perfect and I decide to set myself the challenge showing the essence of Havana using light and shadow. I felt I failed in this when we first arrived so have something to prove to myself and I am delighted with the results.
My new room has a great view of the pool, which looks inviting…
… but I do not have time for such niceties. I have photos to analyse before our presentation. We meet on the 2nd floor lobby for a final review. We all have completely different styles and without exception everyone has made tremendous progress and met their personal goals.
Matt has told us we are going to a very special restaurant for dinner. He is not wrong. It is THE place to go and be seen in Havana. We enter the building through a courtyard with a sweeping staircase.
We climb right to the top storey where there is a magnificent roof-top bar with great views over the city.
Our table is not ready so we order cocktails and enjoy the ambience. What a great last night. Now the problem with swanky restaurants is that they have swankier prices. By UK standards it was still not hugely expensive but by Cuban standards it was. Our bar bill alone was more than the cost of previous night’s meals and drinks.
This led to a problem when ordering food as people had not brought enough money out with them. In the knowledge that credit cards are generally not accepted and it is hit and miss whether credit cards, US$ or Euros will be acceptable, I took them all out with me, so did not have a problem. Not everyone did likewise and some people could not pay their bill. I will not bore you with the minutiae of the problem but settling the bill took easily over an hour and somehow I ended up being the accountant for the evening. Not easy as the alcohol had been flowing!!
I certainly needed more when we left the restaurant! I will say that the food was very good indeed.
The important thing to know about Cuba is that things don’t always go according to plan and you need to be flexible. But it is just the most amazing country with so much to offer the open minded traveller. I shall return….
