Tortuguero

Tortuguero es muy bonito.

We stayed at Casa Marbella (http://casamarbella.tripod.com), it is owned by the nephew of a friend of mine so that's why we went there and we were not disappointed. It was beautiful, affordable, great location, amazing breakfast included... I really can't say enough good things about it. We even ended up staying a day longer than planned.

 The beaches are beautiful and lined with turtle tracks!

 We saw the sun come up and go down as we walked the beaches looking for baby turtles.

This poor little guy was the last of his group and probably won't survive. One of his fin's/legs was not 100% so he was walking in circles. He would not have made it to the ocean without the help of some by-standers. People are not supposed to interfere with nature but these guys could not help but give this poor little guy a boost. However that just means he will die in a different location because now he will be swimming in circles in the ocean.

 These are the tracks made by an adult turtle and at the end is the hole she dug to lay her eggs in, cover them up and made her way back to the ocean. As big as the hole seems, it was much larger before as she has already covered the eggs and left.

On our last morning we got up extremely early and were fortunate enough to see this mother heading back to the ocean after laying her eggs.

And sadly this is the damage caused by birds, dogs and other predators... These are the eggshells left. At first I thought they were from the turtles hatching but when I saw a video I realized that when the turtles actually hatch their shells stay in the ground.

También canoed por el canal y vimos un montón de vida salvaje. Sobre todo las aves, monos y pequeños cocodrilos llaman caimanes.

Too funny... this bird is drying his wings after a bath in the river.

This is Rafa, our guide. We took two tours with Rafa, one to see a mother turtle laying her eggs and a second canoe trip down the canal and into the National Park to see the wildlife. On the first tour Rafa hired an 85 year old man with a very old boat. He said the man needed the money and we were a small enough group that we didn't need one of the bigger boats. I know Hailey was not quite as comfortable in this less than idillic boat and I was not thrilled when a couple of cockroaches were heading right for me and I couldn't move for fear of tipping the boat however I was very impressed by the thought in helping someone who would otherwise not get work. Our second trip was a canoe trip into the Park, Rafa brought along a 17 year old boy who is native to Tortuguero to help paddle as we had already expressed that if it were left to Hailey and Douglas we might be going in circles. Rafa was helping this young man learn the ropes of being a guide (and possibly trying to get him and Hailey married). The other guides all come from San Jose and would not want to help him out as this would mean more competition for jobs. Again I have to say I was impressed with his kindness and generosity of goodwill.