Jeff Vader on tour: Anti-climax

(Wednesday, 13 May 2009)

Google map for Tortuguero: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=pt-PT&geocode=&q=tortuguero+costa+rica&ie=UTF8&ll=10.401378,-83.489227&spn=1.264253,2.801514&z=9

Google map for Monteverde: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=pt-PT&geocode=&q=monte+verde+costa+rica&sll=10.374362,-84.159393&sspn=0.66461,0.878906&ie=UTF8&ll=10.325052,-84.940109&spn=0.664716,1.400757&z=10

One knows life is made of ups and downs, and that after a long time on an “up” you should expect a “down” pretty soon.

Wait a minute; actually no, you shouldn’t. If consecutive life events are independent from each other (which, rigorously speaking, is not true, as psychology kicks in the way you behave, but is still probably a good enough assumption), a “down” should be equally likely, regardless where you are on your hype-curve of life…

Anyway…

What I wanted to say is that after a few weeks of absolute amazement with Costa Rica – how beautiful it is, how much of it I’ve been having only for myself – there came disappointments.

First, Tortuguero. Often called the “mini-Amazon”, it’s a beautiful tropical rain forest by the northern Caribbean coast. River canals and a lagoon surround it and make it accessible only by boat or airplane. And there is a bonus: it’s one of the most popular places in the world for turtles to come to shore to nest. That even though I couldn’t see one, as this was the season for the "Leatherback” species – the biggest of all, measuring up to 3m long! – which comes in small numbers: up to 2 or 3 per night, in a beach which is 30km long, so…

It’s nice to kayak in the canals on your own, but it’s hard to spot any animals that way, as they just stand still in the middle of the green and you can’t really distinguish them. And riding the canals is not as “interactive” as hiking on a trail by land, where you can see things moving around or crossing in front of you – or you can just deviate from your path and get closer to them.

The alternative is to go with a guide in a canoe, as these guys know exactly what type of food each animal eats, and it’s easier for them to spot and finger point the wild life for you. It’s incredible how they can see things several meters away which are the exact same colours as the surroundings. Sometimes I had my nose almost glued to the damn animal and still couldn’t see it. It makes you wonder whether the things are made of plastic, have been there nailed to the tree forever, and the guide knows those fixed spots by heart. But no, the animals are for real.

But going with a guide makes you always feel like you’re going through the exact same path as all the other tourists – either in other canoes or in the numerous motor boats that cruise those waters.

Yes, the place was a bit crowded with tourists, and experiencing it as if you’re buying a pre-packaged experience doesn’t do it for me. It makes me feel stupid and really ruins my idea of travelling.

This is probably an emotional and over-reaction, but I just left Tortuguero feeling it falls short on its huge potential. It would be so much more interesting if you could just hike freely in the jungle, creating your own experience of it. It’s for a good a reason you can’t do that – to protect the wild life – but the way you end up experiencing Tortuguero can make you feel like you’re watching a beautiful National Geographic documentary on TV or through an aquarium window. Beautiful, but still through a screen.

Even when you’re kayaking on your own, you end up inevitably visiting the same places you went in the guided tour, as there aren’t that many canals you can navigate in the park. After a couple of hours of exploration of what I thought were new and exciting water paths, I suddenly started recognizing the places I had been to earlier in the day with my guide: “where have I seen that fallen tree before?”

And then, second, there was Monteverde. It’s one of the most popular places in Costa Rica for its rain cloudy forests. That popularity is typically enough for me to stay away from the place, but the idea of staying in one of the ranger stations in the middle of the park – one full day of hiking away from everything and everyone – was good enough to excite me.

Tough luck – I came all the way to Monteverde to find out that the stations are closed for maintenance during the rainy season. So, the only thing you’re left with are a few short trails that go through beautiful forest – that’s true! – but that are so short and well marked that make you feel like you’re walking in the a botanic garden of any city in this world. Not exactly my type of nature walk…

I still ended up having some fun while hiking outside the national park. I was looking for "Cerro Amigos", the highest point in that small region, but have apparently followed directions wrongly and ended up walking – and getting lost – in a completely different area. The place had many trails along the surrounding hills, none of them marked. So, I had the genial idea of memorising my turns on my way up – “I’ve turned left, and right twice, and then left again…” – so that I could reverse my steps on my way down.

Key take away: don’t do that. There are many crossroads you don’t even notice on your way up, and you’ll also often wonder on your way down whether or not you had considered a crossroad a certain part of the trail where there seems to be a junction with another very poorly marked path - "did I even noticed this before and considered it?". Needless to say that if you use the right sequence of “right, left, left, right” in the wrong crossroads, you end up in a completely different place. Ah! And walking without a compass in unmarked trails in deep jungle which is always covered in mist and clouds is not smart either.

It ended up all right: just two hours of some excitement with dusk approaching at a scaring pace. But next time, bring a compass and mark your turns with a sign on the trees or something.

You live to learn. And learn to live…