First Week's Adventures

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Blogging fail! I didn't realize I'd only saved and not actually "published" the previous entry. I apologize to anyone who might have been concerned about our safe arrival.

Anyway, this blogging thing is not working out well on this trip, obviously. We were without internet altogether at our last stop (the lodge on the river we were rafting) and most places only have it near the "lobby"--often closes early or is out in the open air--not always convenient in the rain, which we've had way too much of! (Note to self--and anyone else thinking of visiting CR--go in April or May! If July is the "beginning" of the rainy season, I can't imagine the height of it (supposedly September/October)!!! The other "problem" is that we've been way too busy to blog--which is a good thing, right?

So I think this will be my last attempt--I officially cave to the circumstances and the ridicule of my family about spending time on the computer, and will probably not do anything further on this trip. I may use this format to summarize our trip and be selective about photos once I get home, but that kind of defeats the purpose of a trip blog...

So here are some photos from our first stop. I may try to post a few photos of our ziplining adventure at some point--it was amazing! We are now in Monteverde, which is a beautifu spotl, and plan to go on a coffee/chocolate tour in a few minutes. So I must stop.

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Photos

Banana Plantation
On our way from San Jose to Tortuguero, our bus took us through Barullio Carrillo National Park--looked like Hawaii on steriods--then out of the mountains and continued on the southern route, which took us through banana plantations. The blue plastic keeps insects away and helps with ripening.

Banana "Train"
This system carries the bunches of bananas (covered in blue plastic) from the fields into the processing plant.

Banana Processing Plant
We weren't able to leave the bus, but watched from it as the bananas were prepared for shipping.

Tortuguero Bound
After arriving at the transfer station in , we were sorted among boats like this for transport along the canals to our various lodges.

Canal View.1
In trying to come up with a way to describe what we were seeing, comparisons to Disneyland's Jungle Cruise were inevitable...

Pool at Evergreen Lodge
Eventhe pool was shaped like a turtle. Never got to use it due to the weather...

The Dock at Tortuguero
During our first afternoon, we were taken across the canal to Tortuguero town for a couple of hours. These "greeters" are pretty much the only exotic birds I've seen so far, although Dave and the boys had better luck during one of their walks on the grounds of our lodge.

Gate in Tortuguero
Turtles abound in Tortuguero

Elementary School, Tortuguero
At recess, the kids were having relay races, with a twist: they picked up pieces of trash discarded on their little field (which also served as a tourist walkway from dock to beach), ran up to the recyling bins lined up in front of the purple building, deposited it in the proper bin, then returned to start. Recycling and sustainability is huge here--looks like they start teaching them young!

Our Guide Describes the History of Turtle Preservation in Tortuguero
Willes (in white t-shirt) was our guide and surrogate "dad" figure for the time in Tortuguero. It is difficult, if not impossible, to travel on your own to Tortuguero, so large tour companies have built lodges, provide guides, offer the only options available for activites in the area, and pretty much treat you like errant children at summer camp--lots of rules and restrictions about everything from where you sit at meals to the timing of activities.

Tortuguero Beach
This is the beach on the Caribbean Sea, where later that night we were lucky enough to get a pass (via a lottery system controlled by the National Park) to go with a guide for a 2 hour slot to view the sea turtles nesting and laying eggs!

Tortuguero Beach.2
Later that night we got to see 4 steps of the turtle egg-laying process. Accompanied by Willes, 5 of us walked to our assigned spot on the beach, where National Park ranger/spotters located the turtles, then called us over to view the various parts of the process. We saw 4 different turtles, but unfortunately (though good for the turtles) no photos allowed.

Tortuguero Beach.3
We drew the 8 to 10 PM time slot and a section 5 of the beach (about a mile walk from this spot) for our turtle viewing later that night. We were so fortunate that the huge thunder and lightening system that stayed for 15 hours did not begin until we returned to the lodge..