Sometimes you have to be willing to get in the boat and sometimes you have to be willing to jump out and push.
Today we left San Jose and traveled to the remote village called Tortuguero. Thank goodness we were able to sleep in until 5 am this morning. For the pure sake of protecting the environment Tortuguero is a region in the eastern coast off the Caribbean island that does not permit trucks, cars, motorcycles, nor any other motorized vehicles except for small boats. In other words the road literally stops and in order to get to the village you either fly, take a boat, or swim. The Ticos, the name given to anyone from Costa Rica, strongly discourages swimming due to the “crocodiles, sharks, and barracudas.”
So far today we have seen be following wild life:
- Egrets
- Bats
- Toucan
- Poison dart frogs
- Ants
- Spiders
- Sloths
- Howler monkeys
- Jesus Christ lizards (one of my favorites)
- Crocodile
Not bad for a first day of trekking the jungle.
There are only two seasons in Costa Rica: wet and dry. It happens to be the dry season and so the water in rivers, lakes, and streams are very low. In fact, extremely low. So low that at one point our boat got stuck in the river. Now under normal circumstances this would not be an issue, however this was no normal circumstance. Why? Because about four hundred yards prior to getting stuck we saw a ten foot crocodile basking in the sun: half of its body on the banks and half of it in the water. The decision, despite the threat (I did mention something about a ten foot crocodile, right?), was easy to make. Jump in and help push. If not, we would have been stuck a very long time. Probably until someone came and pulled us out.
What a life lesson! Sometimes it’s good to hop in the boat and ride the peaceful current. However sometimes one gets stuck. To continue “running the motor” deeper in the mud is like to continue digging oneself deeper in the “proverbial ditch” thinking that it will help. Sometimes you have to make a different decision. Sometimes one has to jump out and challenge the norms and potential threats to rescue oneself from the current situation or problem.
Thanks to those who jumped in with me and to those who encouraged us along the way.
Pura Vida!