I had booked myself a “Jungle Tour Ecologico by Boat” with a
private company. No one else in our group was interested, so I went by myself.
There were about 30 people, all from the Veendam. It was a great tour, we saw
the tuna and shrimp boat fleet in the port, then lots of birds (over 40
species) as we cruised through the estuary and the mangroves. We disembarked on
the far side of Stone Island, and took a “Mexican limo” which is a cart with
bench seats pulled by a tractor. It took us to the Ocean side of Stone Island,
and along a long beautiful beach. There was quite a bit of surf. We passed some
groups of ATVs and also horseback riders. After several miles we came to the
swimming beach with many restaurants, and stopped for a wonderful lunch with
salsa and chips, garlic fish served with tortillas, rice & beans, salad and
sauces. We had about an hour free time, so I went for a walk on the beach,
wading through the water. It felt quite warm, but I decided not to swim. It was
about 21C today, comfortable when dry but a little cool if you’re wet. Lots of
kids in swimming though! We went back a different way, much quicker, and our
guide Polo fed the birds on the way back. They look for him, and will eat out
of his hand. Back at the port I looked
through the little marketplace they had set up. There looked to be some nice
things, but I wasn’t in the mood for shopping today! I’ll need to meet up with
the rest of the group to find out what they got up to today.
