Caiman in Tortuguero
The journey from Poas to Tortuguero was arduous and required a great leap of faith–we followed vague directions and a GPS that had not yet proven itself to us over mountain roads wrecked by the 2009 earthquake, through small villages, past magnificent waterfalls, and a couple of hours on what seemed like a gravel cowpath through miles of farmland. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, was a pavilion with a restaurant and a rickety boat dock. We left our car, dragging all our luggage through the mud to a small riverboat, where it was precariously piled on one end, and miraculously didn’t fall into the water during the couple of hours we sped through the jungle to the the small town of Tortuguero on the northern Caribbean coast.
Howler monkeys in Tortuguero
We had come to Tortuguero to see the sea turtles nesting. It was our first solid dose of jungle and the dense air and humidity that is part of the experience. It was a shock to our systems. Our second day there we took an early morning boat tour (with excellent guide Daryl Loth, also owner of the riverside Casa Marbella, where we stayed) through the jungle and were rewarded with loads of monkeys–everyone was happy. That night we met our guide from the state park at 10:00 for our trek down the beach to observe the sea turtles. This activity is very well-regulated–only a small number of people are allowed to be near each turtle, and we had to remain in total silence in the dark. We watched by moonlight as the huge turtle dug her hole, went into a trance to lay the eggs, buried them and camouflaged the hole. We silently followed behind her as she walked back down the beach and disappeared into the sea. It was one of the most amazing feats of nature I have ever witnessed. The boys forgot they were tired and sticky and thirsty and sat in the sand in awe. No photos were allowed.
A cricket??
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