Its been a while since the last update but not for any lack of things to write about! We spent 3 days in Tortuguero and loved every moment of it. We did get out on a turtle walk at 10pm to midnight and managed to see one female who had come in to lay some eggs. They've managed to make that into quite a commercial racket. They have "guides" at $20/person who bring you to a holding area just off the beach (which is probably 25 kms long) and there you wait until one of the spotters finds a turtle that has already made it up to the nesting area (about 50 metres from the water up about 15'). They watch for them using red night lights (just like the ones we bought prior to the trip). I did find out the guides flip out when you bring out your own red lights... only guides are allowed to use them apparently! Anyway, we got to the holding area at 10pm as planned which was about a 15 minute walk down a path that parallels the beach. When we got there we met another group of 30 people (we had just the four of us with our guide but there were a bunch of guides so probably 20-25 people in our group). That group sat their whole time from 8-10pm in the holding area without seeing anything. At about 9:30, a turtle came in but it was too late for them to get out and see it before their permits expired... but so much the better for us - as soon as they kicked that group out, we headed down the beach for another 1-2km's to spot number 17 (we started at 33) to see the turtle.
When we got there she was just finishing digging her nesting hole and they wouldn't let us near her until she started to lay which took about 10 minutes. We must have picked the right guide or something as we got to see her first leaving a bunch of grumpy Germans waiting. We got to watch 3-4 eggs drop (they normally drop 100-120/night for 4-5 times during the season... but not until they are 25-35 years old!). The hole was at least a metre deep and she popped them out at a rate of about one every 10-15 seconds. Then we were shuffled away so the rest of the group could get a look and got sent to the back of the line for our next look. The group ahead of us (the last one to see her) was about 10 people and for some stupid reason they all ran up at the same time and crowded her... so she stopped laying eggs and then moved off. According to the guides she only laid about 15 eggs in total before heading back to the water. We did get to watch her drag her self down the beach and into the water but it was kind of sad as we knew she was leaving the nest uncovered (the guides did her job for her but she wouldn't have known that).
They told us she'd make another attempt tomorrow night to lay the rest of them but that's got to take a bunch more energy so I can't imagine this was low impact on her. The guides said there were no other turtles coming in at the moment and if there were one to pop out of the water, by the time she'd get to the nesting area, our time would be up so by 10:30 or so we were done and just faced the long walk back to the hotel. During the night (and early morning) the little ones will also bust out of the sand and try to make their way to the water... about one in 120 make it back to lay eggs of their own we were told. We saw lots of village dogs on the loose that seemed to know exactly where to dig up the little ones and lots of birds that would pick them off on the way to the beach. We also saw a carcass of a large turtle... likely a Jaguar that got her according the guide. We got pictures the next day of the tracks but none of the night... no cameras allowed. Other than feeling like part of a tourist trap, it was very cool to see. As we'd walk the beach, we'd see 10-15 tracks to the nests each day so no shortage of turtles coming in. In retrospect, I'm glad the tourists are only hassling 1-2 of them a night.
We also did a few more boat trips through the canals and saw a Cayman that was obviously used to seeing our boat as soon as we pulled into his little bay, he started heading right for the boat! He came right up to Jen's side of boat which caused her to freak out a bit... as per the video below!
As you can see, he wasn't interested in what we were dropping into the water (chunks of biscuit)... but in the fish that came to feed on the chunks! There were also two large river turtles that came over to get at the bread/fish and they didn't seem to mind the Cayman at all... climbing all over him!
Lots of Howler Monkeys (man are they loud!), Capucian aka Capachino Monkeys, Spider Monkeys, birds and turtles. We also got to spend an afternoon at a local resort for the price of lunch and had their swimming pool all to ourselves. We haven't really run into any other tourists outside of San Jose and even then very rarely.
We picked up a little 4x4 for about $7/day but then you need to add on $23 of insurance! The government legislates third party coverage with a 20% deductable and then you still need collision - and they make it clear that that doesn't include theft of radio's, windshields, etc. etc. Apparently this is the way it is in Costa Rica. I remember hearing Dad had issues with a car here one time as well. Driving here is fine for the most part. Jen was very concerned but even I can't really speed here as the speed limit signs outside of school zones are at about the highest possible speed you'd think of going anyway (and that's in my CLS... not this little crap bucket!). Of course you've always got a line of impatient "Tico's" lined up behind you who will pass with just about no room to spare!
The roads are fine in this neck of the woods except for the drive up to our "Casita".. the last 4 kms are on a BOULDER road... the smallest rock seems to be about 3" in diameter. You don't need a 4x4 for traction but for the ground clearance.
After Torteguero, we went back to San Jose for a full day and 2 nights. We didn't want to get back to San Jose and then drive to our Casita at the hot springs during the evening and used an extra day to get a rental vehicle and walk around San Jose. We went through a local zoo that had most of the local species along with a big male lion! Then we wandered through a local park that had a concert by some local groups playing local music... quite enjoyable and then we walked up and down the pedestrian shopping malls (5-10 city blocks closed to motorized traffic). Through all of that, we didn't see another tourist! Its definitely low season.
The next morning, the rental agency came and got us and took us back to their office near the airport to send us on our way with the 4x4. Must have filled out 5 different forms... suffice it to say if we have an accident here, its our fault and we've preassigned guilt to ourselves!
Then we drove out of San Jose on the Pan American highway north west towards Nicaragua. After about 45 minutes we turned north at San Ramon and headed up into the rain forests and to our Casita. We stopped at a local supermarket and picked up some supplies (our Casita is miles away from any restaurant/store but has a microwave/hot plate so wanted to be able to do some meals ourselves. Food isn't cheap in Costa Rica! Its at least as expensive as home... except for Banana's... those were about 2 cents each!
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When we arrived on Sunday, it was fairly busy with another 5-10 families playing in the pools but close to dark, they cleared out and we've seen exactly 2 other people since then (its now Thursday). We always intended to just hang out here... and we love it even more than we thought we would. The owners are a German named Bernie and his wife Cathy an American. They moved here from Tuscon where Bernie was the project manager on BioSphere 2. They set this up 4 years ago and have created a little piece of heaven here. They are wonderful people and we immediately felt right at home. They are both great with the kids and answer any questions about local wildlife and have arranged for us to go on a walk through the rain forest looking for howlers that we can hear every morning - no luck.
We managed to extend for a few days but were unable to delete our next reservation so have to leave in 2 days... we'll all be sad to go. Its clear that we'd all live here in a second if possible.
Next up Arenal Volcano...
love to all.
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