Costa Rica

The last but not least country to visit on my Central America tour was Costa Rica.

The place I particularly wanted to see was Tortuguero. From San Jose we took a bus to the ferry that would take us to the Pachira Lodge. The ferry ride took 2 hours along the canal system and was quite interesting

                                My luggage is in there somewhere!
Why Tortuguero? In this National park giant water turtles come ashore to lay their eggs and people can book for a guided tour to watch the turtles. This activity is strictly controlled and the guides need a permit from the government to be able to conduct these tours.
There were 2 tours leaving from our hotel, one at 8pm the other at 10pm. We were lucky to be on the early tour as we were a bit tired after all the travelling we had done that day. We set off to the meeting place, where we had to wait for the “spotter” to tell us what the turtles were up to. We had strict dress rules as well. No white or bright clothing,  no cameras or videos,  no phone.
Once the turtles start laying they are in a kind of trance until the job is completed so it is quite safe to approach them.
Again we were so blessed. It was a clear night with a full moon. We could see everything. First we saw a turtle coming up the beach. We stood very still not to disturb her. We had to wait a little while for her to get settled, make a deep hollow in the sand and start laying. We all saw this wonder of nature very close up. Our guide actually lifted one of her flippers to let us see the eggs falling into the hole. When she had finished she started to cover the area. Sand was flying everywhere!! We had been so concentrating on our turtle that we completely missed another one starting to lay her eggs close by.  
Back at the hotel, we had to have a beer and talk about our adventure. What a special event had we just witnessed!
The howler monkeys woke us up at 4.30 am  It did not worry us too much, as we had to get up at 5 am anyway as this day was set aside for a trip around the canals to have a look at the abundant wildlife.   

We saw plenty of this and had to laugh at the antics of the Howler monkeys. Unfortunately it bucketed down with rain, so the walk in the rain forest was cancelled.
We left for Sarapiqui the next day and here we had a ride in the Areal Tram. It was wonderful to view the rain forest from above the canopy of the trees.

Our next stop was Arenal. We stayed in a five star plus hotel right at the foot of this active volcano. From our beds we could see the lava glow in the night sky and clouds of steam leaving the caldera. It was awesome!

Our very handsome Costa Rican guide picked us up from the Hotel and on the way to the airport in San Jose we visited a Humming Bird Sanctuary. I met a rather large, but beautiful spider here. It was bigger than some of the humming birds.

Yes, it is alive! No, I was not scared. Just very, very careful.

Costa Rica, you will always have a place in my heart.