Tortugero

We finally went on our first trip! Last weekend my housemate and I went to Tortugero on a turtle-spotting expedition. It was a fantastic trip. Not only did we get to go tool around some cool rain forest canals, we also saw tons of wildlife, had good accommodations, were accompanied by the tour organizer who was a self-proclaimed expert on everything, and visited with an odd assortment of traveling companions that seemed to be included for free in the tour. Some of our group included:
-the taciturn Swiss who was a civil engineer. He didn't really help to make the dinner conversation any less awkward than it already was.
-the pessimistic Brit who complained about everything, especially about the fact that people in this country did not know how to make a decent cup of tea.
-the honeymooning Israeli couple. The recent groom had a great command of English and added a lot of jokes to otherwise boring tour lectures.
-the drunk couple from Colorado. The wife was scared of everything!

But aside from the human oddities, the wildlife was great. The only thing we didn't see was a manatee. Of course, the turtles were the star of the show. They were huge! When I heard that the endangered green turtles were big, I was picturing something slightly larger than a serving platter. It came as a bit of shock then, when I saw turtles about four feet long and at least three feet wide. I'm pretty sure that these turtles could have squashed me flat if they'd really wanted to. We went on a night tour with a local guide to see the turtles and got to see several turtles digging nests, laying eggs, and then going back to the ocean. We weren't allowed to bring lights or cameras with us, but I did manage to take this picture of a baby turtle during the afternoon. We just happened to be walking down the beach and were near a spot where some eggs were hatching. It's hard to believe, but these little guys were flying down the beach. I think they covered about a hundred feet in under a minute!

Here are some of the other fun locals we got to see:

A sloth with its baby was just chilling beside the road. We pulled the whole van over so we could take advantage of the photo opp.

Can you tell what's looking at you?

A sign at our hotel (which as you can see, was right next to one of the canals). No big deal, right?

This is the "town" of Tortugero. It has one main street. The Tortugero area is really a bunch of islands surround by the ocean on one side and a network of canals on the others. The only way to reach this town is by an hour and a half boat ride, so it's a little weird to think that some people live their entire lives in this one secluded spot. Our local guide was a third generation member of one of the founding families. He said his grandfather had originally come to the area as a pirate who was looking to hunt turtles. Now all of the inhabitants are working to save the turtles since Tortugero has been turned into a national park and one of the only ways to bring in income is to be a guide for the tourists.

Overall, quite a fun trip. If any of you happen to be in Costa Rica between late August and early October, I would highly recommend it!