On one trip to Tortuguero a drought had reduced the water level of the Río Suerte so far that the collectivo water taxi couldn’t navigate the last kilometer to the landing at La Povona. We found ourselves shouldering our backpacks and joining our fellow passengers dragging their wheeled suitcases through the dried cow paddies of a dusty pasture to get to the bus waiting at the end of the road. Notice the photo is taken from the shore. That’s because the male passengers we asked to disembark half a km earlier to make it easier to pole the ladies and the luggage upstream.