I had
the best night of sleep yet - finally sleeping with the window open! We could
hear the rain, the bugs, the animals... peaceful! I actually slept in - until
5am - then quickly jumped out of bed to look for wild life. I took each step
hesitantly and carefully - trying to watch what I was stepping on but also look
in every direction for hiding creatures! Maybe I'd see a jaguar, boa,
bushmaster (only 5% of victims survive a bite), big spiders. Fortunately the
worst I found was the poison dart frog (I didn't touch it), toucans, and lots
of capuchin monkeys (there are lots in the trees here).
Our activity this morning was a boat ride into Tortuguero National Park. We saw lots of birds, monkeys high up in the trees, a variety of plants/trees, and a caiman. I stopped leaning over the side when our guide told us that all their snakes swim, and bushmasters chase the boats (at night)!
We went across the canal to the small town of Tortuguero. It has a population of 1000, 40% of which come from Nicaragua. We also walked on the beach. It was beautiful but it is too dangerous to swim here due to the current, bull sharks, barracuda, and crocodiles. We also tried some healthy coconut water.
In town Kate stated she wants to go home. She was hot, and seems to think she would be cooler in Sacramento's 100+ degrees. She then made a good point - they don't have air conditioning here!
I wonder what my boys think about all this good clean fun? They have been without their computers for 2 whole weeks, and all the kids hang together having all sorts of fun! Like today's chicken fights in the pool.
Glenn commented, "Only in Costa Rica can you be at the pool side watching the monkeys."
I am officially done looking for wild life; on our way back to our rooms there was a snake 10 feet from our door. It was small and non-poisonous, but did not back down to us. I have no desire to see anymore snakes!
Our nighttime adventure was to go watch the green sea turtles lay their eggs. We won spots in the early viewing (7:30 pm) group. You are only allowed on the beach at night with a guide. So to not frighten off the turtles, we had to dress in all black from head to toe, and could not bring any cameras. We took a boat ride to the beach. It's a long stretch of beach where right now 200-300 turtles come ashore each night to lay their eggs, but in a month it will be 2000-3000! We were assigned to Sector 2 near the airport and waited on the end of the runway while the spotter found a turtle. We waited a very long time, listening to facts about turtles, watching fireflies nearby and lightening in the distance, and gazing at the beautiful stars. In the dark dressed in black it felt like a night-ops mission! After an hour I began to fear that we were going to be out of luck. But finally the spotter called us to the beach. We walk carefully out single file and watch the mama go back into the ocean...no eggs. Another turtle is spotted and again we watch her go back into the water, though this time we get to see the huge hole she attempted to dig. She chose next to a palm tree and could not dig through the roots. And that was it - our time had expired. Kate could not believe it, and exclaimed, "Did you know turtles are so big?"
We returned to our rooms to a night full of very loud thunder. There was no counting any seconds between the lightening and the thunder. It was so close and loud I swear it hit the bungalow next to us!
Our activity this morning was a boat ride into Tortuguero National Park. We saw lots of birds, monkeys high up in the trees, a variety of plants/trees, and a caiman. I stopped leaning over the side when our guide told us that all their snakes swim, and bushmasters chase the boats (at night)!
We went across the canal to the small town of Tortuguero. It has a population of 1000, 40% of which come from Nicaragua. We also walked on the beach. It was beautiful but it is too dangerous to swim here due to the current, bull sharks, barracuda, and crocodiles. We also tried some healthy coconut water.
In town Kate stated she wants to go home. She was hot, and seems to think she would be cooler in Sacramento's 100+ degrees. She then made a good point - they don't have air conditioning here!
I wonder what my boys think about all this good clean fun? They have been without their computers for 2 whole weeks, and all the kids hang together having all sorts of fun! Like today's chicken fights in the pool.
Glenn commented, "Only in Costa Rica can you be at the pool side watching the monkeys."
I am officially done looking for wild life; on our way back to our rooms there was a snake 10 feet from our door. It was small and non-poisonous, but did not back down to us. I have no desire to see anymore snakes!
Our nighttime adventure was to go watch the green sea turtles lay their eggs. We won spots in the early viewing (7:30 pm) group. You are only allowed on the beach at night with a guide. So to not frighten off the turtles, we had to dress in all black from head to toe, and could not bring any cameras. We took a boat ride to the beach. It's a long stretch of beach where right now 200-300 turtles come ashore each night to lay their eggs, but in a month it will be 2000-3000! We were assigned to Sector 2 near the airport and waited on the end of the runway while the spotter found a turtle. We waited a very long time, listening to facts about turtles, watching fireflies nearby and lightening in the distance, and gazing at the beautiful stars. In the dark dressed in black it felt like a night-ops mission! After an hour I began to fear that we were going to be out of luck. But finally the spotter called us to the beach. We walk carefully out single file and watch the mama go back into the ocean...no eggs. Another turtle is spotted and again we watch her go back into the water, though this time we get to see the huge hole she attempted to dig. She chose next to a palm tree and could not dig through the roots. And that was it - our time had expired. Kate could not believe it, and exclaimed, "Did you know turtles are so big?"
We returned to our rooms to a night full of very loud thunder. There was no counting any seconds between the lightening and the thunder. It was so close and loud I swear it hit the bungalow next to us!
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