Jungle Boat Ride

2006-02-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

More rockets for an alarm clock. Up early again for a boat ride up the river. We catch the first boat out at 7am. I get out of the car and within the first 20 feet towards the boat, I am attacked and bitten by around 50 no-see-ums, the barely visible black blood-sucking evil demons that I have encountered before in the Caribbean. I rush back to the car to apply some bug repellant cream that we bought yesterday. It works great to keep any new ones away but the damage is done. By tonight I'll have dozens of little red welts on my legs and arms. A little itchy but not that bad. We get in our panga and head out but Alden is concerned with the guide. He wants to make sure the guide knows the location of the habitat of the less common birds we're interested in seeing i.e. the rare boat-billed heron, a nocturnal feeder that camps out and sleeps during the day. Once again, Victor is a godsend, translating our desires to the guide.

This ride should be much more like what Alden is looking for that what we did yesterday, but right from the start he thinks we're going the wrong way from what he remembers. We wind down the river for a mile or so when we pull into a much narrower passage. Birds are everywhere! Each turn reveals something new. Little Blue Herons, Green Herons, Kingfishers, Snowy Egrets, more Great Blue Herons, White Ibises, sunning Anhingas, Yellow Crowned Night Herons, etc. Various Kiskadee, an adorable bird with a yellow belly, dart across our path but they're too fast to get a shot and never perch where I can see them. There is a beautiful mist rising from the water into the sun that is peeking through the leaves. Aside from the putter of the motor, it is quiet with the calming sounds of nature coming surrounding us. After a while we pass by dock with a dozen pangas and we realize that we are doing the La Tovara ride after all. The first section was just a way to make the trip a little longer.

La Tovara is a tourist destination. The little pangas speed up the narrow river-like estuary to area that opens up into a pool complete with souvenir stand and restaurant. Kind of like the Disneyland jungleboat ride without the plastic animals. We're traveling very slowly to not disturb the birds and luckily there aren't any other tourists around yet. We continue toward La Tovarra and see more birds, great picture opportunities continue to great us around every corner. We pull up under the canopy of a large tree overhanging the river. The guide points up into the trees and there they are, three boat-billed heron are idling on the branches. I instantly have a new favorite bird (at least until I see the kingfishers again). With big black eye, a fat beak, and pink & bluish feathers, they barely resemble the herons I'm used to from the Northwest. They notice us and and shuffle away a bit, making a surprisingly chimpanzee-like ooh-ooh ahh-ahh noise. I could stay here for an hour, but we pull away and continue on to the next find. Around another bend in the river the guide points out a crocodile catching some sun on a log up toward our left. On the right side is another croc motionless and floating. The top of its head breaks the surface but we can see its form under the cool clear water below. The croc on the log scrambles off the log as soon as we're too close for his comfort. As we press on, a panga with 6 american tourists overtakes us from behind and speeds past. We bobble in its wake for a few moments and say goodbye to all the birds & animals that they'll be scaring away in front of us. Sigh.

Link to The Birds of Nayarit photo page.

The end isn't much further. As we approach the pool, the guide nearly beaches us in front of a large crocodile that appears to be sunning on a bank. His wide-open mouth and beautiful white teeth are momentarily startling until I see that he is completely still. I suddenly realize that he is fake. He would have slipped into the water like the other one did and we are way closer to him. This must be the croc that the guides show if no real ones are spotted by the ignorant tourist. I look back to the guide. I'm laughing and giving him the OK sign. Yeah, let's go. Nice one. I'm in on the joke. Forget what I said earlier about no plastic animals. The guide has a straight face and pulls away and we glide the final few yards to the dock at the pool.

Later I learn that there is a croc that the restaurant people have been feeding for years that is pretty much tame. That was him?!? Explains why he didn't move if he's used to boats coming right up to him. I study the picture I took and realize that it would be pretty difficult to keep a fake croc looking that realistic. Now I wish I would have hung out with him a bit longer.

It's deserted here save for the boat of tourists that passed us on the way who are now spread out and sunning on a concrete ledge. We find a table and pull out some food that we had brought to nibble on. I throw a scrap of my sandwich into the pool and throngs catfish and tilapia suddenly turn the surface into a churning froth fighting for the morsel. We sit for 15 minutes or so and find our guide and head back. Much quicker this time, we only stop to see the boat-billed herons again.

Back to the car. Lunch time. I don't think I have to tell you where this time. I try something different once again. This time it's not so bad. Camarones Gigante. Large prawns still in the shell, split down the middle and simply grilled. Served with melted butter and garlic oil, with frijoles and rice on the side. Pretty tasty stuff for a change.

With no plans for the afternoon, we decide to visit some local beaches. There is a beach right in town where the tourists and stoner surfers go, but Alden wants us to see some more pristine beaches a few miles south on Matanchen Bay. It's about 10 minutes away, we pull off the highway onto sandy roads that follow the coast back north. The beaches here are covered with restaurants, so we keep driving until they all disappear and the roads get sandier. Too sandy for a 2-wheel drive vehicle. We stop and get out. I walk on the sand out the the water and then scramble over some rocks to check the next beach over. Scouting for a good place to snorkel. I brought my gear, I'm not leaving without getting wet! The beaches are devoid of people and very nice. Alden and Victor come out to the beach, but no one feels like spending much time hanging out here. Victor brings his gear down to the water and gets some great ambient beach sounds. I see a beautiful black bumble bee, the largest I've ever seen. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's the size of my thumb. My friend Mark would freak. It's taken some convincing to keep him from killing the harmless honey bees that find their way onto our tennis court.

Alden wants us to see some ancient Mayan structures that were discovered in a small farm village nearby in the hills. We head out to the the village, Chocolilla, on dirt roads and begin searching for the location of the structures that are described by Alden as like the tips of pyramids poking through the farm land. We drive around as Alden tries to recall where they are. No luck, so we stop three different times for Victor to ask directions. We eventually come to the end of a road at a farm house. We park and walk through the barbwired gate into the farmers fields. We see something that looks like dirt mounds overgrown with grasses and bushes. Alden thinks this could be the place but doesn't know for sure. We walk further and come to another one and it's vaguely apparent they are man made structures.

In Alden's recollection from many years ago, when the villagers see you coming, the children run out of their houses and try to sell you artifacts that have been pulled from the fields. Arrowheads, Mayan idol statues, etc. But from where we are, no one can see us in this field and the people in the village that we pass are ambivalent to the fact that there are gringos cruising their streets. I climb the mound and see that it's home to the thorniest bushes ever grown. Walking back over the fields, Alden takes a hard fall out of his shoe onto the ground. I witness more than ever the physical decline over the past year or so. What we're doing here isn't really on the beaten path and although Alden thinks he can go anywhere, at 86, his body is betraying him more and more. He could still have many active years but it will require some proactive physical preparation, rehab really, that I don't think he's ready to commit to right now. He needs to be helped all along the way on this trip. In and out of the boats, the car, up and down steps, getting out of low chairs, etc. Still I give him all the credit in the world for keeping going and staying curious about everything.

Back on the road. On the way down the hill we see the massive aquaculture pools that are used for farming shrimp—one of the areas major exports. In town we get some postcards and find the post office for some stamps. We stop by a place that advertises banana bread and surfing lessons. I get a very nice large loaf fresh out of the oven for $2. Heavenly smell but I have to let it cool a bit before I indulge.

We go to the plaza where it's now dark and people are dancing on the stage. I want to film this so I drop Victor and Alden and go back to the room for my camera. By the time I got back they were done dancing so we just hang out for a bit. Two little boys are fascinated with my video camera. I showed them a closeup of la Luna in the sky on the monitor screen and then reverse the lens to show them pictures of themselves. They are delighted.

We snack a bit back at the bungalow and Alden isn't feeling like going to dinner, so Victor and I head out to get some real food! We first go to the Garza Canal, the luxury hotel, to mail our postcards and do a quick tour of the grounds. Looks very nice. I love that their logo is a boat-billed heron. Restaurant with a great looking menu, lovely pool, beautifully clean marble covered lobby, and a souvenir shop that sells the same stuff from the booths on the town plaza for twice as much. Rooms start at $100. Seems pretty reasonable to me, but Alden is still proud of his $20 room that he stayed in last time. We're paying $50 a night for 3 of us at our bungalow which I'm plenty happy about.

We stop by a small restaurant that doesn't have any signs anywhere and ask for Sopes, a small round crispy tortilla covered with meat, lettuce, and salsa. It's fantastic! Just what I needed. Then to top it off, we go to the taco stand on the plaza and get some carne asada tacos from the smiling proprietor. She has a sign that calculates prices for her tacos and quantities one by one up to ninety. Don't know if it's wishful thinking or she's really had an order for 90 tacos. The tacos are served with grilled whole small onions and you have a choice of a half dozen salsas that you can drench your taco with. Mucho Gusto!! Wonderful! I should have been eating here every day.

San Blas Day 4

Jungle Boat Ride