Tortuguero!

15-17/07/2011

This week end was a very good one. On Friday night I went with two friends of mine in a gay bar. It was an awesome evening. I love of free you can be in that kind of place, you don’t have to act differently or be scared to be yourself. If you don’t know how to dance but go dancing, no one is going to stare at you or make fun of you. On the contrary, people are going to come to dance with you and made you have a blast. It’s freedom, just freedom. I even got 2 girls numbers! My two friends were a bit jealous because it was “their” territory and I was the one getting the numbers: So much fun!!

He did a very nice show! I was impressed!

This week end I went to Tortuguero. It’s a very famous place in Costa Rica, especially from June to September because turtles come nesting there. It’s a very beautiful place but it’s hard to discover it completely in only 24 hours. Indeed, my group couldn’t leave before Saturday morning and had to be back by Sunday night. Therefore we left at 5:00am on Saturday morning, stopped to have breakfast and to visit a banana plantation. We arrived at the dock where we had to take a boat. His an 1 hour ride to go to Tortuguero on a river and it’s a precious view, you can see a lot of wildlife and it’s very different from what I’ve seen so far.

Once at the hotel, they gave us our key and we had lunch. After what we had an hour free time to rest or change and went to the city center by boat again. You could walk but it’s a 35 minutes’ walk so when you only have 1:30 it’s not worth it walking there! Alex, a guide who accompanied us until the city center, showed me around the town while all the students went to do some shopping. It was nice to have a private visit and learnt a lot about this region.

Alex giving some basic info about the town and turtle’s protection, I didn’t miss the chance to tell him he wasn’t giving a good example standing on a turtle!

Back at the hotel we had dinner and the kids went to the beach to try to see turtles. I stayed behind because I think I’m going to go back there with my dad in August so didn’t want to do twice the excursions. Alex and I went to the center again where we met 2 of my students who came by their own way (didn’t come with us). Back at 11pm to go to sleep because the next day, the alarm clock rang at 5:30am! We went for a tour in boat on the canal crossing the National park and it was a very awesome tour. We saw a lot of wildlife from Iguanas to Toucan or Parrot, even a Caiman. 

After the tour it was already time to pack and leave in order to be on time at San José. Definitely a very good place, settles away from everything else.

On our way back, we even saw horses crossing the river where it wasn’t deep. I was a bit anxious for them, knowing that there are a lot of crocodiles in this river. Even if I know it’s the “circle of life” I was just hoping not to assist to it. Luckily, they crossed safely!

That's all I have to say about my week-end. For those interested in learning more about Tortuguero, I put some information about this place.

Tortuguero

Tortuguero National Park is a National Park within the Tortuguero Conservation Area. The reserve is also included in the Humedal Caribe Noreste, a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. The park is located in the Limón Province of northeastern Costa Rica. It is the third-most visited park in Costa Rica, despite the fact that it can be reached only by airplane or boat.

The park has incredible biological variety, due to the existence within the reserve of eleven different habitats, including rainforest, swamps, beaches, and lagoons. It is located in a tropical climate, is very humid, and receives up to 250 inches (6,400 mm) of rain a year.

The park is located on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, and its beaches are key nesting ground for endangered sea turtles, such as Hawksbill, Loggerheads, Green and Leatherbacks. The rivers within the park are home to sensitive populations of manatees, as well as caimans, crocodiles, and Tropical Gar, which is considered a living fossil. The forests are home to jaguars, three-toed sloths, and three of Costa Rica's four species of monkey: Geoffroy's Spider Monkey, the Mantled Howler, and the [[White-headed Capuchin]). Basilisk lizards and poisonous frogs also inhabit the area, along with 375 species of birds, including kingfishers, toucans, blue herons, peacocks, and parrots. There are more than 400 species of trees and approximately 2,200 species of other plants.

Swaths of the Park have been illegally clearcut, which damage also allows access to habitat of the endangered Green sea turtle.

The park entrance is accessible from the Cuatro Esquinas center in the village of Tortuguero, in the northern part of the park. From this point there are a number of trails you can take. Three aquatic trails, and one trail by foot. The hiking trail is called the Gavilan Trail and is 1920 meters long. The three water trails are the Harold (most popular), Mora, and Chiquero. The Sector Jalova Station is further south near Jalova Lagoon and the town of Parismina. Aguas Frias Station is on the western edge close to the town of Cariari.

I hope you learnt a lot! ;)