Time to complete the Bucket List

Day 4 we left Mawamba Lodge by boat and went back the same route to pick up our small bus with driver.

Notwithstanding that the rainy season had just ended, the small rivers that we had to take were extremely shallow and the boats would only be able to use this drop off point for a short time as the outboard motors would be hitting the bottom.

We retraced the route of a few days before for an hour and a half and then proceeded a different way to reach our hotel in Sarapiqui. The hotel is the Hacienda LaIsla Boutique Lodge which has quite an extensive garden for wildlife spotting. Here they grow cocoa which they make into chocolate the traditional indigenous way pre-Christopher Columbus.

Our first visit that afternoon was to the organic farm of Mr Rodolpho called Finca Sura which is to show tourists the diverse crops that grow in a tropical climate. He originally grew tropical plants on the farm for international export but after the crash of 2008 changed his business to the current tourist format.

His main crop is now pineapples which were the best we have tasted but he also grows vanilla, pepper, sugar cane, cinnamon, ginger, and palm heart amongst many others.

The farm is part of the eco tourism that Costa Rica is promoting in addition to the wildlife. We were also able to press sugar cane which had cinnamon and some of Mr Rodolpho’s moonshine added which was a very nice drink.

As nothing went to waste at the farm, any left over pineapples were fed to Mr Rodolpho’s Vietnamese pot bellied pig, Matilda.

Day 5 the owner of the Hacienda LaIsla, Jean-Pierre, gave a tour of his cacao plants and explained the growing of harvesting process before giving us the history of chocolate pre the Spanish arriving in the region in 1502. He then went on to make in the traditional way the chocolate drink that the indigenous people would have made pre 1502 (as documented by the Spanish) and the drink that Spanish made as they did not like the indigenous version.

The process involved the seeds of the cocao being sucked in the mouth to take off the outside layer and then dried. Once the bean was dry it was crushed until it became a paste. The paste was then mixed with maize, cinnamon and chilli and cold water to make the chocolate drink. It may sound disgusting but tasted good. The Spanish thought it was disgusting so they changed it and eventually made the drink with sugar cane added and using hot water. Again this tasted good.

In the afternoon we visited a leaf cutter ant farm. This is another eco-tourism project where the owner, Leo, has been studying two colonies of ants in a purpose built environment. He explained how the ants fitted into the eco system and the life process. The queen lived for 25 years and the colony, which contained 5 to 6 million ants, died when she did. The ants collect the leaves from up to 240 different plants to use to make a fungus that they eat. There is a structure with workers who cut the leaves, smaller ants whose job is to do quality control and large soldier ants who protect the colony. The Queen only mates once and does not have to do so again for the rest of her life as she stores the sperm. The poor old males die after mating and all the other ants in the colony are not able to mate but just do their allotted tasks. Who said it was a man’s world?

Another interesting visit. You learn something everyday.

Day 2 was an early start so that we could leave San Jose before the morning traffic. The Police seemed to have every road out of San Jose blocked and they were stopping cars and trucks. We saw them stopping an illegal taxi driver and were told that his car licence plate would be removed and he only got it back after paying his fine. Our guide’s comment was ” the police making everyone’s day miserable” as it seems that the Costa Rican public like using the illegal taxis as they are much cheaper even than Uber.

After taking breakfast on the way to catching the boat we arrived the embarkation point which was a lot busier than we expected and were greeted with the following sign:

We boarded the boat 40 minutes later and left for the 1 hour trip to Tortuguero. The river was very low even though the wet season was just finishing so the driver had to drive carefully to make sure he was in the channel and to avoid going aground. We saw a caiman (small crocodile) on the way sunning itself on the river bank and a few vultures and arrived at the Mawamba Lodge in time for lunch.

After lunch we were going for a walk down the beach to Tortuguero village and ran into one of the Lodge’s resident large male green Iguanas:

These Iguanas are good climbers and swimmers and we saw many of them in the trees. The female is much smaller and a dark grey colour.

The main street of Tortuguero village was not very long but was much more commercialise than we expected. On the way we visited the Sea Turtle Conservancy which was set up in the 1950’s by an American, Dr Archie Carr, to stop the locals killing the green, hawksbill, loggerhead and leatherback turtles that lay their eggs on Tortuguero beach. It seems to be working through an education programme which also uses the young locals to act a tour guides when the turtles are on the beach laying their eggs between July and October. We were just too late to see any hatching turtles but the remains of the nests were evident on the beach.

Day 3 we took 2 boat trips into the Tortuguero National Park wildlife spotting. As we are in the rain forest, it decided to rain heavily on our first boat trip which, although not pleasant for us, did not put off the wildlife. We were lucky enough to see all three types of monkeys, Howler, Spider and White Throated Capuchin as well as many birds including the Scarlet and Great Green Macaw. We also saw many more Caiman, a 3 toed Sloth and fresh water turtles. When we got back for lunch after the first boat trip, there was even a spider monkey in the bar area of the hotel for good measure,

The Mawamba Lodge also has a butterfly and poisonous frog enclosures where they have the likes of the Great Owl Butterfly and the poisonous, but extremely small (size of a finger nail) red and green Poison Dart frogs. The frogs secrete a poison from their skin so if you ingest even through a cut on your hand, the consequences are dire and can lead to death. The is also a small area they have for the red eye tree frog which seems to appear on every holiday brochure for Costa Rica. These were again quite small but very attractive. I will post a picture of one in the next blog.

The Costa Ricans seems to be doing a lot to try and conserve this area by not letting any more people settle here or hotels be built so hopefully this area will continue to support the wildlife even though some species are thought to be endangered.

Tomorrow morning we move on the the Braulio Carrillo National Park.

After 18 hours door to door we reached our hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica, That said, the journey was fine with 10 hours flying time between Gatwick and San Jose.

There are only 9 people on our tour including ourselves so a nice number. Our tour guide, Ed, is a very lively Costa Rican and has so far displayed a good and interesting knowledge of his country on our first day. With our driver, our group is 11 in total.

Our first day, Sunday 2nd, consisted of a visit to the Irazú Volcano, the old capital of Costa Rica, Cartago, and the National Museum. We were very lucky with the visit to the volcano, one of many in Costa Rica, as the weather was clear and 27 degrees centigrade which is not always the case as Costa Rica is just coming out of the wet season so low cloud and thunderstorms still occur at this time of the year.

From the top of the Volcano, which is still active, we could just make out the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.

We then went to Cartago for a traditional Costa Rican lunch, rice and beans, which for those following this year’s “I’m a Celebrity” does not sound too appetising. The dish we had is called a Casado and can be rice and black beans with chicken, beef or fish plus sweet potato and salad. We tried the fish version and with a local beer, Imperial, was really excellent.

The main Catholic Church in Cartago was famous for it black Madonna which legend says has miraculous healing powers. Not just the Madonna but the church also has water with healing properties. The local people still seem to believe this as they were queuing to touch the stone and ask for their ailments to be cured. They then made a donation of a small silver jewellery piece of the part of the body that was healed so there were cases full of legs, lungs, arms, heads and whole bodies.

Finally we visited the National Museum that charts Costa Rican history from migrants coming from Asia across the Bering Strait, through Christopher Columbus, the Spanish to modern day. An interesting journey when you hear about most of the indigenous population being wiped out by common diseases from Europe, the slave trade and a country that had disbanded its army. There are many interesting animals and bird here some of which were shown in the museum like the Zoplite Rey ” King Buzzard” below.

We leave for the Caribbean coast and Tortuguero tomorrow morning through the Braulio Carrillo National Park and will make part of the journey by boat.

Delve into a travel book or surf the Internet and it will quickly become clear that Costa Rica has an abundance of wildlife, flora and fauna. But dig deeper and one can find something rather different to the usual destination details. Costa Rica, according to the UK think-tank the New Economics Foundation, has been voted the top country for ‘happiness’ three times in the last decade, in 2009, 2012 and 2016.

Initial thoughts spring to mind of smiling faces of Costa Rican women (known colloquially as ticas) and men (ticos). That will be welcome, but the research captures a broader view. It bases the findings, recorded in its Happy Planet Index, on four elements: how satisfied citizens feel with life overall (their ‘wellbeing’); ‘life expectancy’ (the country boasts a ‘blue zone’, one of only five in the world where residents thrive over the age of 100); ‘inequality of outcomes’ (a calculation based on the two previous categories); and ‘ecological footprint’ (the impact residents have on their environment).

One of the biggest factors influencing Costa Rica’s frequent leading position is its environmental protection. This includes almost all of its electricity coming from renewable sources, and the country being committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2021.

Other factors aiding a more positive environment include the greater expenditure the country has put towards education, health and pensions since abolishing its army in 1949. It now boasts a 97.8% literacy rate; and increased women’s education has been attributed to the declining birth rate. A culture of building social networks of friends, families and neighbourhoods has also been attributed to enhanced happiness and is strong within that ‘blue zone’.

It is noted that while wealthier countries may be seen as successful, they do not necessarily come out tops for happiness. The 2016 Index shows Mexico and Colombia in second and third places behind Costa Rica for happiness, while the UK was 34th and the US 108th.

It will be interesting to see if we detect happiness being noticeably different when visiting Costa Rica compared with other countries through which we have travelled. Of course, heading to the country with an awareness of this might influence our view, but it will give us an additional focus when learning more about the culture. For sure, seeing the immense amount of wildlife, plants and different scenery, particularly in the national parks and rainforests will make us happy, but it could be enlightening to find out if happiness reflects strongly amongst the population and for us to gain some insights about how to live well past 100 years!

Not long to go now before we leave for Costa Rica with the first stop being the capital, San Jose.

The high season starts in December and runs through to April with the most expensive period being over Christmas and Easter. No visa is required for UK passport holders and the currency is the Costa Rican Colon although US Dollars can also be used.

The country appears to be split into four main regions being the Pacific Dry Forest, Pacific Rain Forest, Mountains and Caribbean Atlantic Lowlands with countless mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, butterflies and invertebrates so we should be in for a treat of culture and wildlife.

After two nights in San Jose we leave by road for Caribbean lowlands and a remote lodge in the Tortuguero National Park where we should have our first chance to see the wildlife.

After two nights in Tortuguero we move on to Sarapiqui by boat and road to visit an eco-plantation, see more wildlife and finish that day at our hotel in the foothills of the Braulio Carrillo National Park.

After visits to the likes of a chocolate factory and leaf cutter ant farm, and two nights in Sarapiqui, we move on to Arenal and stay close to the Arenal Volcano and lake. We visit the Arenal Volcano National Park for some hiking along trails that follow the 1968 lava flow which give the opportunity for seeing wildlife.

We then travel to the mountains and misty cloud forests of Monteverde for a rain forest adventure.

After two nights in Monteverde we travel back to San Jose for our flight home.

The country looks beautiful from the pictures on the internet with such a wide diversity of wildlife so we are really looking forward to everything Costa Rica has to offer.

Hopefully the internet connections will be good enough to post blogs as we travel around but Lonely Planet suggest the internet is slow. Time with tell.

We are off to Costa Rica on the 1st December for our second trip of our quest titled “Time to complete the bucket list”. 

More to follow over the next month as we get ready to travel.

Some might consider us unlucky. Unlucky that our Sir John Franklin adventure to the Northwest Passage had to be abandoned within the first 24 hours. At times I might think that myself, but the harsh reality is that we have been extremely lucky, and more than we will ever know.

John and I had just been to the mudroom on a lower deck to change the rubber boots, which had been loaned to us by One Ocean – along with essential wind/waterproof jacket and trousers. My boots were far too big, whereas John had been given two right boots. If he was not to spend the whole adventure walking around in circles, we had to get his changed!

This was to be followed by a zodiac safety briefing – zodiacs are the small inflatable boats which take us from ship to shore. We had just completed the mandatory lifeboat evacuation briefing some 20 minutes earlier.

Having wondered if we had missed the call to attend the second briefing I headed to reception to enquire further. As I almost reached the stairwell taking me down a deck there was an almighty crash and shudder. My initial thoughts turned to an earthquake – it couldn’t be an iceberg as there was no ice in the region. Then milliseconds later there was another crash and juddering. A crewmember rushed past me. This was serious, I thought. I realised I had to get back to John in the cabin. I dashed back so quickly that my Apple Watch recorded my heart rate had increased 300% over my norm. I rushed along the passage, bumping into the captain coming in the other direction. His cabin was next to ours. The thoughts of ‘serious’ turned into thoughts of ‘danger’.

Once in the cabin I hurriedly put my windproof trousers and jacket over the four layers I was already wearing. The cold weather can get to one’s bones almost immediately and putting on this gear is a slow process. We grabbed the lifejackets and awaited instruction. John did his best to reassure me that the evacuation sirens had not been sounded, but as I stared towards our cabin window through which we once saw a low horizon, that horizon was now way up in the air. Our ship was listing to the starboard side – the side our cabin was located.

After some time the ship steadied itself and the many tannoy reports and briefings did much to reassure us that we were not in immediate danger. We were told to go to bed, dressed in preparation should the worst scenario happen – a command to leave the ship. A sister ship was on its way, but there was no knowing when it would arrive. In typical reassuring fashion, we were told of a beautiful sunset and I took myself off to view it. The realisation of our danger was awakened again when I saw a Hercules aeroplane circling overhead. A crewmember, with a strong Russian accent, said: “It’s the coastguard…. About our problem.”

Rather than the 7am wake-up call, we were awoken again at midnight with further reassurances. We found out later this was to ensure we were at least somewhat alert. The  rocks had relinquished the ship’s hull after almost 12 hours and there were tense inspections to see any changes inside the hull.

The sister ship did arrive the following morning, along with a coastguard ship and helicopter. Again, in a most orderly way we disembarked, joining the Akademik Sergey Valivov’s most sympathetic passengers who, although their departure was delayed, at least had completed their trip.

We eventually got back to Edmonton on Sunday, having spent three days basically getting nowhere. Arriving on terra firma we discovered more of our dangers. The hull had been breached and water had come in although into a confined area. Had we not been stalling for time we may well have been going faster. Had we been positioned more to the left or right there were additional dangers too awful to imagine.

So although greatly disappointed that we are not currently delving into Franklin’s voyage history, seeing the wildlife, and gaining knowledge from the feedback of our 35 scientists aboard from the University of Rhode Island Northwest Project, at least we live to tell the tale. Thankfully, I didn’t need that apple sauce after all.

©Sue Barnard 2018

We were all woken at 7.30am for breakfast at 8am so that we could be taken ashore on the Zodiacs for a 11.36am charter flight back to Edmonton via Yellowknife.

As it was a nice sunny day and the wind had dropped, it was a much nicer walk of 2km back to the airport and on the way, the local people of Pelly Bay (called Kugaaruk in the Inuit language) opened their new community centre for us to look at. It had some bone carvings by local artists in display cases, pictures of the Inuit games and a room where the leaders of the Hamlet of Pelly Bay met which included a Polar bear skin laid out in the room.

Pelly Bay was very pleasant in the sunshine with no wind but does get colder as the sign below at the airport states.

The RJ85 aircraft of Summit air arrived and the first 80 of us left for the 3 hours flight to Edmonton via Yellowknife.

As promised One Ocean had put us up in a hotel near the airport which was very nice and were paying for dinner and the bar bill for over 100 people. We got stuck into the the C$45 per bottle Malbec, their most expensive, and were thrown out of the restaurant at 12 midnight as the staff wanted to go home and were not used to so many people crowding into their bar.

I managed to rebook the same flights home today that we would have had next Sunday although at addition cost so at least we will arrive in the UK on Tuesday morning.

As I write this we are just sitting in the lounge at Toronto airport feeling disappointed that we are not still cruising the Artic Ocean spotting Polar bears and Narwhal, although we did see a couple of Narwhal yesterday on the way back into Pelly Bay.

Once we get home, we will have to console ourselves with the thought of Costa Rica in December this year.

We were woken at 6.00am to find the sister ship, Akademik Sergey Vavilov, moored next to our ship and we were told that we would be transferred across with our baggage at 8.30am.

When we got to the Akademik Sergey Vavilov we found that it was full of passengers who had finished their tour but had not been able to fly out of Pelly Bay the night before as the weather had been so bad. So we did not have cabins and were asked to go to the bar area and camp out there. The ship then left and headed for Pelly Bay.

We then had two shifts of passengers going for breakfast, lunch and dinner and were concerned what would happen if we all had to stay on the ship that night. Luckily for us, One Ocean had arranged for a charter flight for the 100 original passengers so after dinner they left and we took over the ship and their cabins as we would be leaving the next day.

The plan was for 2 aircraft to arrive the next day and take us back to Edmonton where we would be put in a hotel at the expense of One Ocean. We even got some free wine with dinner so the day did not end too badly.

The call came over the ships tannoy at 7am that a polar bear had been spotted on the pack ice on the port side at nine o’clock so we rushed up to get a glimpse. The bear had disappeared but shortly after another was spotted on the pack ice. Unfortunately no photos, as it was too far away, but we got a great view through the Nikon binoculars that have been provided to each passenger.

We then went down for breakfast at 7.30am and the tour leader gave us some information about how the day would pan out and the team of experts introduced themselves. They were a very impressive bunch of seasoned guides, historians, writers, photographers and archaeologists whose expertise was in wildlife, history, photography, the Inuit culture and we even have an artist in residence. The Chief Scientist of the Northwest Passage project from the University of Rhode Island gave a brief talk on what the project was doing and the many experts that they had as part of the team. In addition to the scientific side they would be making a feature length documentary of the project. The scientists and their students will be on the boat for 20 days so will do the trip we are doing and return the other way with the next group of fare paying passengers.

After breakfast we had to do the mandatory lifeboat drill and were able to go into the lifeboat to see how it looked inside. As the boat was a Russian Cold War vessel, all the writing around the boat is in Russian and in the mud room (this is where you exit the boat to go ashore in the zodiacs) there is a massive long range antenna used for more sinister purposes during the Cold War period.

As we joked about not wanting to have to use the lifeboats, at 11.43am, there was an enormous scrapping noise and the ship juddered to a halt. We had grounded. After a short while, the tour leader came over the radio saying that the Captain had said that there was no breach of the ship’s hull and he was trying to get the ship back afloat using the thrusters.

Apparently, we were not in danger, and the sister ship is not too far away but at this time it was unclear what it meant for our trip.

Our intended destination for our first landing by Zodiac was the Astronomical Society Islands and the map below shows where we hit the rocks.

The tour leader was not sure if and when we will have to leave the ship but he said that after a grounding the Maritime Authorities will not allow the ship to continue without a full inspection of the hull.

Therefore, Day Two continued with the Captain trying to get the ship off the rocks.

Apparently, this was the first time that One Ocean had picked up passengers in the Pelly Bay Area and the route the ship was taking was not one they had used before so it was down to the Captain to approve whether or not we took a particular route through the many islands that the ship had to go through to exit Pelly Bay into the Gulf of Boothia.

We were then told that we would be transferred to the sister ship, Akademik Sergey Vavilov, which would be coming to pick us up the next day and take us back to Pelly Bay. The Akademik Ioffe had to go to be inspected and repaired. The holiday for us was over as the sister ship was taking the next group of people for their tour.

Not a good way to end Day Two.