Tortuguero

We took an amazing weekend trip to Tortuguero, CR.  Tortuguero is on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, and can only be reached by plane or boat.  We left San Jose at 6am on Saturday morning, and arrived on the island by lunchtime.  It almost became the trip known as "the one in which two girls forget their duffel bag," ("I thought she had it."  "I thought SHE had it...") but thankfully we noticed that in time for a full recovery. 

Along the way we stopped for breakfast at a place with a butterfly garden, and also made a stop at a banana processing plant at a Del Monte plantation.  It was really interesting to watch the huge stalks of bananas trimmed down to the bunch we buy at the grocery store, though in the bright green color before they are ripe.

Once on the boat to Tortuguero, we began to see the huge variety of birds and animals that live in the region.  At times it seemed like we could not have been any closer.  When the seemingly uninterested Cayman turned on a dime and slapped our boat with his tail, a few in my family thought that perhaps we were a bit TOO close!  I was thinking that myself when the iguana puffed at us!

I think most of my family would agree that the best part of the trip was to see the newly hatched sea turtles make their way down the beach and cast off into the ocean.  We were not able to see any of the adult females, though we saw their tracks on the beach, leading from the shore up to their pit nests.  Seeing the babies more than made up for missing their mamas.  What a wonder, to watch them make their way straight toward the ocean with such determination and then get swept away by the outgoing tide. 

It was great to get away.  It was great to take a zillion photos!
To see more, visit my Tortuguero Album on Picasa.