The river journey
Once back on the coach we resumed listening to information about Costa Rica. For example, their army was abolished in 1949 after a 20 minute people’s revolt against the army’s power. I was particularly impressed that Costa Rica had declared war on Germany in WW II before the USA!
As we crossed over a river we could see crocodiles on the sandbanks.
This was the river that we would be going on shortly. Once off the main road the road narrowed alarmingly as we passed through a village and eventually came to the car park where we would be catching our boats.
Just as on the train, each coach’s occupants were separated, this time into different boats, We again managed to to get far to the back. As we boarded we were given a useful guide to the wildlife that we might see.
The river looked very slow and and lazy and it was hard to imagine it in full flood. The banks were vertical walls of soil and didn’t look very stable. As we passed down the river either our guide or driver would call out the type of bird that we were passing or sometimes just the number from the wild life guide.
Our first crocodiles were lazing on the shore with their mouths open to keep cool.
Moving to the opposite bank we paused by a couple of iguanas resting in the sun amongst the banana plants.
We then passed fields with cattle grazing, wading birds along the shore and birds up in the trees. All seemingly unfazed by the nearby crocodiles.
Ahead of us another boat suddenly veered towards a small channel and out boat followed. There we could see the largest crocodile on the river at over 17 feet long. It was swimming up and down in the channel.
In the recent tropical storm the river had flooded covering all the land around and had eroded the foundations of the nearby restaurant.
Then it was time to return to the dock.
After leaving the boat we went back to the covered area where a couple of musicians were now playing. This is where we could have our promised fruit and drinks and of course buy more souvenirs.
The journey back to the ship gave us even more information about Costa Rica and then we had the slow realisation that we were going to be late back to the ship. Luckily this was a Princess Cruises’ excursion so being late would not be a problem, hopefully.