Tortuguero

Tortuguero here we come! We were so excited to go up to the land without cars. Everyone has raved about the park and we definitely weren´t going to miss out on the turtles. When we arrived back in Limon from Cahuita we filled up on cash and again manuevered to find our bus to Moin. We got a group together to take a boat to Tortuguero and we were actually pretty lucky we got it. It was 1 in the afternoon and most of the boats were already gone...we learned. Our group was 2 other med students from Ohio State and a German couple; we gave our money to the captain and he said we had to wait an hour to leave. We rested and got some water (man our packs are heavy!) and then started to realize what we had just done. Six of us had just given $25 each to a man with no official uniform (unless you count his marijuana hat) and he told us to come back later for a supposed ride up the canals. Well lady luck was on our side and the man was good to his word...we left at 2.

The canals were amazing! I imagine the Amazon river to be similar...lined with trees and full of wildlife. Our captain stopped off for gas and the boys on the boat stopped for beers...it would be a long boat ride, might as well make it fun. Captain Ganja (as we named him) grabbed one for himself as well. So you´re getting the picture...pura vida right? We did see another sloth in the trees, more howler monkeys, and lots of beautiful birds. The 3 hour ride turned into 4 (our boat was being passed like we were there for a nature tour) and we arrived in Tortuguero village at sunset. So to orient you, most of the wealthy folks stay at a fancy, all-inclusive lodge somewhere up the canal...and the village is more for backpackers...just our style. We had a little trouble finding a cheap yet not horrible place to stay, but finally found a place to take off our packs. The 2 med students wanted to go in on a set of tours for the next day, so we secured our plans for the park and headed off to eat.

Everyone had recommended Miss Miriam´s as, again, some of the best creole in town. We were served family style, jerk chicken, rice, black beans, cabbage salad and fried plantains...yum! We headed back to a cool place with a big screen TV and pool tables...and right on the canal. It was great to watch the boats go back and forth. Oh and nothing here is allowed to be on the beach, the lights disturb the turtles. Thank goodness they made it a national park, you know us humans would immediately tear down the trees and put up big hotels (sorry thats just the tree hugger in me). But really, this place was so "tranquilo"...clean air and lush green rainforest cut through with tons of canals and rivers...it was breathtaking.

So you might be seeing a pattern here...we woke up the next morning for our wildlife searching canoe trip...and yes it started to rain. In a moment of brillance, we all had left our raincoats at the cabina...and we got poured on! Our guide wasn´t about to turn back and possibly loose out on his pay, so we proceeded to get drenched for 2 1/2 hours. The wildlife were probably laughing at us, but they definitely were no where to be seen. The rich folk in their fancy lodge powered boats were given complimentary ponchos...they too were laughing at us. Brian and I huddled together for warmth and sang ¨every little thing´s gonna be alright¨ in honor of the local hero. We were able to see 2 Caiman´s hiding under some mangroves, very cool.

Our turtle hike was set to begin at 10pm with our same guide. The park does not allow people on the beach without guides and only allows 200 people a night...a great idea. Well as the deal drift continued here in CR...we were greeted by our ¨guides¨- his cousin and her wife. They didn´t speak any english, which was fine because we were able to understand them...but wasn´t exactly the experience guide we were expecting, oh well. The moon was completely covered by the clouds and the beach was rouring loud. The hike was really cool, our guides are only allowed red flashlights to be turned on occasionally, so it was really dark.

They found some tracks headed up towards land, obviously a turtle had come up from sea. The tracks look like a huge tractor had come through, they were a lot bigger than I expected. You could tell the sweet girl had used her flippers to make her way ashore and left quite a path. You cannot disturb the turtles while they are preparing the nest, they will go back to sea. However, once they start laying, they enter a trance and you can go behind them and watch. For us, this turtle´s job was complete and she already returned to sea. We walked on. Luckily we found another set of tracks, we waited for the digging of the nest to be complete and our guides signalled it was time to come take a look. The turtle was huge! She looked beautiful in the whole in the sand and she definitely had worked hard on her nest. She went on to lay over 45 eggs (volunteers were on hand to make sure no one disturbed her). The whole process was amazingly natural and almost moving. We felt so fortunate to be in her presence, it was one of the coolest things we´ve ever seen.

So it turns out we had a good showing that night. We passed another turtle finishing her camoflauging of her nest, so we saw 2 turtles in the end. During peak season, our guide told us that 3,000 turtles come ashore in a night in a 3 km distance...thats one per meter! What a sight it must be! However, we felt lucky enough to had seen 2 of the only 3 turtles that laid that night. I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone!

The next morning we decided we didn´t want to leave yet, so we rented a double kayak and headed back to see the nature around us. Brian was a pro paddler despite the not so great kayak. We were able to get into the little creeks and had trees surrounding us, the light was coming through in little cracks, it was fantastic. We headed back and realized it was Wednesday (its really hard to keep track of days much less dates) and that the US game and the Italy game were tomorrow. We had to get somewhere where we could watch it. We hurdily packed up our stuff and got a 3pm boat through Cariari...or so we thought. The shadyness about deals continued, no matter how many questions you ask, I swear you don´t find out you didn´t get a full answer until later.

We got on this boat and spead through the rivers, Brian loved every minute of it. But then only about 45 minutes into what we knew was a 3 hour journey, the captain said, get off here. We sat around for another half hour and figured out a bus was going to come. It finally did, and then the driver asked us for our tickets...well we had given them to the captain of the boat. After a few times of coming back and forth, and us thinking we were just going to have to pay again, it was worked out. So this made us realize that we were in the middle of NO-where and we were obviously somewhat well-off tourists with huge packs and probably cash. There were many times when we thought they might rob us, leave us, or at least hassle us...but luckily not. So I say this not to make anyone think that Ticos are out to get you or that it is unsafe here, but rather to give you a more honest version of what is really happening on our travels.

So we make it through the very bumpy back roads to Cariari and realize we have just missed the last bus to San Jose. So we board a bus for Guapiles and hope that there is a bus still going to San Jose. We jumped off at 7:02 in Guapiles and ran up to a bus; it was the 7:00 bound for San Jose. They hassled us but let us on the bus. Brian had to sit next to a crazy man who kept talking about his veins and was probably an IV drug user. We were both starving and it was definitely dark. So when we arrived at the bus station in San Jose, as is typical, you get swarmed by people asking you if you need a taxi. We knew enough that there are official and definitely not-so-official taxis here, and lucked into getting a nice driver from the real taxi service. He brought us to our hostel and it was like a home away from home. Free internet, free coffee, and a caesar salad on the menu! I almost cried :) We slept great, got some laundry done, and now we´re ready for more adventure.