Tortuguero

My week-long fall break consisted of 2 different aventuras: Tortuguero, here in Costa Rica, and Bocas del Toro in Panama. Tortuguero was parte numero uno of the trip. It is on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, and is made of a small town of about 1500 people, with various resort and lodging areas dispersed throughout the surrounding islands. Obviously tourism is the way these people survive. The town and area has only developed within the last 50-75 years, so it's relatively young. Tortuguero gets its name from all of the turtles (in Spanish, tortugas) that come there. We're talking the BIG ones, that lay thousands of tiny eggs. Unfortunately, people hunt for and steal the eggs to eat or to make money, though a conservation association there is doing a lot to combat this. Our guide told us that out of every 1000 eggs that a mother lays, chances are that only ONE out of those will survive, considering all the factors surrounding their little precious lives - hunting/poaching, difficulty making it to the ocean, etc. He also told us that if you EVER see a baby turtle trying to find its way around, LEAVE IT ALONE and let it find its own way. Usually if they are roaming around they are memorizing the beach and the land and will definitely return one day to lay their own eggs, and they need to explore the land on their own, and if left alone, they WILL find the ocean!

We left San Ramon around 5:30 am and stopped in Heredia to get on a big chartered bus to pick up that group of about 30 or so. We then headed off to Tortuguero! Our guide, of Panamanian descent, told us all about the landscape around us as we rode. We had breakfast at a cute lodge nestled somewhere, and proceeded on our way. We stopped at another point to view a banana processing place. There are pictures of this below that you should definitely see. Next to coffee and tourism, bananas are a HUGE part of Costa Rican industry. On our ride to Tortuguero, we passed miles and miles and miles and MORE MILES of banana trees. I have NEVER seen so many banana trees in my life, and now I understand where all the bananas come from. The process of processing the bananas is a bit corrupt, and workers don't always live in the best of conditions. It was really cool to see CR industry firsthand though. We finally arrived in Tortuguero and checked in to our little lodges - 2 to a room. They were so adorable! We basically stayed in the middle of the jungle on an island, so we woke to the sounds of howler monkeys each morning, which was pretty cool! The food at this place was great, and so was the coffee!!! It was pretty touristy, but hey, it's okay to have that sometimes! Some of the activities we did included: a walk on the beach (a bit dirty), a walk through the town, a jungle walk to observe plants and animals, a boat ride to take a tour of the canals and rivers nearby, swimming in a turtle-shaped pool, consuming large amounts of (complimentary) coffee, and for me and some others who payed $35, a RELAXING MASSAGE!!! I have never had a real massage before, and this was my first. They offered us a special deal, so I took it!!! It was INCREDIBLE - being near the water with no sounds but the ocean and the tranquil music they played. It was like paradise!

Howler monkey in the tree outside of our room - common in Tortuguero

View from dock at our lodge

River/canal exploration

Boots we had to wear on our jungle hike so that we wouldn't be up to our knees in mud!

Cute rooms

Lodges

Banana processing

HAHAHAHA

Scenery

Tortuguero overall was fun. It was nice to be away from a city - no car alarms, no dogs barking, no noise at all but howler monkeys and geckos chirping.

Stay tuned for the adventures of PANAMA!