Last Day in Costa Rica

Greetings readers! Thanks for following Dave and I along with our Costa Rican adventures! When I last left off I indicated I'd update the blog letting you know about our last day. We awoke on Wednesday to a flood of showers; pretty sure that we wouldn't be able to partake in any activities. As with the entire trip; the weather gods graced us and the rained cleared just before our boating trip and we were able to spend the day along the canals in Tortuguero followed by a humid; low level rain forest hike. After a muddy; mosquito infected hike; we returned to Mawamba Lodge for lunch. We did another afternoon canal tour and that evening; following dinner, we were able to make our way to the beach to see the turtles nesting.

Tortuguero means "The region of turtles" and indicates the significance of the area for the endangered sea turtles. There are eight species of sea turtles in the world, six of them nest in Costa Rica and of those, four frequently visit the 36-kilometer of protected beach in Tortuguero. The area is the most important breeding ground for the Green turtles in the Caribbean and there is no other place where those turtles nest in so great numbers. Nevertheless, Tortuguero is not only turtles and sometimes the area is also called the Amazon of Costa Rica. The nature is impressive and a boat trip through the canal system of narrow waterways leading through primary rain forest provides close encounters with exuberant flora and abundant wildlife. There are no roads leading to Tortuguero and the only way to get there is therefore by boat or plane. This makes the area unique and offers the possibility of exploring nature in a tranquil and peaceful atmosphere as nowhere else in the world!

The turtle we were able to view that evening was the Hawksbill Sea Turtle. The common name is Hawksbill - named for its narrow head and hawk-like beak. The hawksbill is one of the smaller sea turtles. The head is narrow and has 2 pairs of prefrontal scales (scales in front of its eyes). Adults range in size from 2.5 to 3 feet in length. The female turtle nests at intervals of 2, 3, or more years and nests between 2 to 4 times per season. She lays an average 160 eggs in each nest and the eggs incubate for about 60 days.

It was an incredible experience to view! The overall procedure for the female takes approximately 3 hours from the time they come out of the water; select their nest and dig the hole to lay the eggs and return back to the ocean. We came into viewing mid-way through the egg laying. We saw the turtle lay all the eggs; cover the nest; proceed to camouflage afterwards and then make its way to the sea. Amazing!

This was our last night on the Caribbean side of CR and the next day we flew back to San Jose. On Friday we toured the Zoo Ave Wildlife Conservation Park. While we enjoyed the walk through the facility; we felt as if it just wasn't the same excitement as seeing the animals in the wild! The facility is a 142-acre haven for in excess of 100 species of birds as well as monkeys. This rescue center tends to injured and confiscated wildlife.

That afternoon Dave and I ventured out on our own for a mini San Jose city tour. We toured the Teatro Nacional (National Theater) and the Gold Museum.

We finished up our last evening in Costa Rica at our hotel with dinner and flew home to San Antonio the next morning. Our wildlife adventure took us through the north central portion of the country; definitely leaving us with a desire to return to see the Pacific and western portion of the country. If you ever have the chance to tour the country; we encourage you to do so!

Until next time!

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