If men were like mosquitoes...
Trip Start
Sep 30, 2007
1
12
Trip End
Nov 04, 2007
Tortuguero, Costa Rica
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Deet, schmeet. The stuff does nothing for me. Even when I found a citronella plant and rubbed it all over myself, they still attacked. Sorry that my trip is coming to an end, but soooo glad to be getting away from the skeeters tomorrow.
So, after a long trek to Tortuguero National Park, I have found my turtles. Por fin! Tortugas! I had some seriously good luck, too. Turtle nesting season is officially over the end of October, but I saw everything last night. A big ole green sea turtle laying her eggs and covering them, and then on the way back, 5 little tortugitos flipping their way to the ocean. It was so precious... and totally worth the wait.
The mama turtle I saw was small for the breed at maybe 3 feet long and 2 feet wide... my guide estimated that she was around 50 years old (they can live to be 150y!) I watched her lay a lot of eggs, but they can lay over 100 in one night. It was by far one of the coolest things I've seen in my life. Unfortunately, the rule is no lights (we went at 10pm), which means no cameras, which means no pics to share. You'll just have to trust me and then go see it for yourself!
I spent the night at a lodge outside of Pueblo Tortuguero in one of the nicer places I've stayed on this trip. I had the whole little cabin to myself in the middle of the rainforest... pretty cool when the rain puts you to sleep and the howler monkeys wake you up in the morning.
This morning we set out first by boat, then on foot, to see more animals in the rainforest. Very cool...saw lots more monkeys, gorgeous birds, and scary crocodiles. It was a long trip, but worth it. We also stopped at a banano distribution site along the way... did I mention that a big part of the road to the park is unpaved through banana plantations? Very fun. But, very bumpy.
Got back to San Jose around 7:30pm tonight, and now I'm just packing up... catching a flight tomorrow morning.
Can't wait to see you all very soon!
sara
