Eeva and the pickled turtle

Puerto Viejo > Tortuguero

...continues from the previous entry.

I jumped up, ran to towards the reception in my pyjamas and could hear someone calling my name. The tour cordinator was there looking for me, looking slightly pissed off. I pleaded for 5 minutes to get changed, got to the loo and get my bags and he shouted "5 minutes is too long!" I didn´t have any other choice but to try and be as quick as possible which is not easy when all your stuff is in lockers and you have to get changed in the bathroom.

I made it in 10 minutes, and as soon as I got to the bus I got a big lecture about being on time. I apologised profoundly over and over again and explained that I must have slept through the alarm clock and that I did not do it in purpose and that it would never happen again, but the tour guy just wouldn´t let it go. We picked up several other people, and ever time someone new got on he pointed at me explaining why we were 20 minutes late. Not very nice!

We drove to a meeting point to have breakfast and I was met by the rest of the Tortuguero group, luckily most of the others in the my bus of shame were going rafting and our mutual journey ended there, so I got to start afresh.

We drove through a banana plantation and stopped at banana packing centre were lots of illegal immigrants were washing bananas for Del Monte. Apparently all the workers were Nicaraguan, who are lured to Costa Rica because they get a salary of 400 dollars a month which is much more than they could ever earn in Nica. There was also guy with giant beetles, I´m not sure if he was trying to sell them or what. At first I though they were toys, i.e. plastic as they looked like some, about 10 to 15 cm long. Then one moved and I nearly got a heart attack. In the end I picked up the courage to even hold one, and to my surprise its shell was soft like velvet and it was actually quite a charming little thing. I still don´t think I´d like to find one in my bedroom though.

We changed to a boat, about 16 of us, and down we went the river towards the Tortuguero village. The boat journey lasted about 2 hours and it was very scenic. Tortuguero is in the northeast corner of Costa Rica, on the Caribbean side, and quite close to Nica. The name Tortugues means "turtle place", and the place is famous for, yes you guessed it, nesting green sea turtles as well as leatherbacks. It´s very remote and difficult to get to on your own which is why I´d opted for the tour option. Only 1200 people live there. Unfortunately it´s not quite yet the nesting season, I was few months too early for that. Anyway I wanted to see it because it´s a gateway to an amazing national park.

Me and a Japanese girl Kumiko were dropped off to the village, while the others, who had opted for the all inclusive delux tour option continued to their luxury resort on the other side of the river. We got to our cabins, desperate for a shower, and discovered that there was no electricity and no running water until further notice. The whole village was suffering from a power cut. The owner Sara was very apologetic and really sweet, and our rooms were so clean that it almost didn´t matter. I say almost, as by this time I was really quite smelly from the night in a hammock followed by long bus/boat journey.

We wandered 2 minutes down the road to the village to get some lunch, expecting a typical Tico fair with rice and beans and some freshly caught local fish. We found three little cafes, all selling just pizza and pasta. One of them did salads, so we opted for that, and asked for some fresh juice. By now I´d gotten used to the beautiful freshly squeezed fruit juices on sale everywhere, so we were horrified when they only did fizzy frinks which turned out to be made by Coca Cola company. Our idea of a remote fishing village started to crumble, and finaly came crashing down as we spotted the herds of American tourists strolling down the road. What a weird little place.

We met the rest of the group after lunch and visited the turtle museum, which highlight was an 20 minute video explaining the nesting process. As there was still no electricity, all we got to see were some picked turtles.

We did a walk on the beach were they come to lay their eggs and saw all the now empty nests. They were huge. I really want to come back one day when the turtles are in town.

The others left to their resort, and me and Kumiko were left to our own devices again. Thankfully the electricity came back so I was able to have a shower finally. My first hot shower in 5 days! The water was hotter than we get in our flat in London.

We had dinner in the restaurant attached to our cabins, and they even did dome seafood. We chatted to Sara the owner who told us about the village and the turtles and her life growing up in San Jose and moving to this remote place with her mum and little daughter. She can´t have been much older than me, and she had made the sacrifice for her daughter so she could have somewhere safe to grow up. It´s an incredible place to live in for sure, but she she admitted that the social life was slighty lacking in Tortuguero. But it was an adventure, and she told us about the baby turtles sometimes getting disoriented and wandering to the restaurant instead of the sea, and about the iguanas who lived on the nearby trees (we´d seen one already), the lost baby crocodile in the garden, and finaly about the boa she once found in the bedroom. I really wish she hadn´t told us about the last bit. She also told us that the villagers ate the iguanas and also the turtles, even though they´d been protected for a long time now.

After dinner we wandered down the street through the village, got lost (I didn´t think it would be possible in that tiny place) and found ourselves in the villagers living quarers, and briefly wondered if they ate tourists as well. (Bad joke I know, sorry.)

We found the beach eventually and sat down on a tree trunk to admire the amazing night sky. I hadn´t seen so many stars in a very long time. I secretly was hoping that we´d get lucky and spot a leatherback, but none showed up.

Had an early night and loved having my own room and a proper bed with clean sheets for a change. Thought about the boa for a bit before I drifted off to the sounds of jungle.

...


Woke up at 5.30am and the sun greeted me through the window. The curtain rail had come down during the night (the boa?). Had a lovely, lazy morning just reading, then had breakfast with Kumiko in the garden: cheese omelette and toast. They had table mats that read "Sweden". Maybe there was Ikea in the village, I wondered.

There was a chicken wandering around the restaurant, and as I was photographing the table she suddenly got all territorial or something and attacked me out of nowhere. I couldn´t stop laughing, even though the chicken wouldn´t stop and my legs were getting quite scratched. Finally the waiter run for my rescue and the chicken incident was over.

At 8am we were picked up again with the boat, and started the canal tour of the national park.
It was one of the coolest things I´ve ever done in my life.

We glided though the Amazonian like canals spotting all sorts of creatures left right and centre: many many different birds...



...poisonous frogs...




...monkeys...



sloths, caimans, and a big crocodile, chilling out near the riverbank but mostly in the water. The boat driver started poking it it a stick, and not surprisingly, it eventually got very irritated and made a move, at which point we realised that it was much bigger than we´d thought... at least 5 metres... and then we spotted the baby croc nearby.



It was just incredible seeing all the animals in the wild. The monkeys playing on the treetops, the sloth and all the colourful birds. What a different experience from seeing them in the zoo. There´s just no comparison.

In the late afternoon we started heading back towards San Jose, and I got dropped off at the Kabata Hostel in the evening. The little girl Jimena came running to the door and gave me a big hug, and my cat friend gave a me a long meow. It was like returning home from a long journey.

What an amazing day. I should´ve done this years ago.

Healthcheck:Toothache gone. Face peeled a few days ago. Sunburn slowly starting to turn into a sort of tan, although I´m still redder than I´d like to be. Mosquito bites: about 15 at various stages of itchiness, all over the body from face to toe. Mood: great.

More pictures at flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eevaeevaeeva/sets/72157604307234503/