According to our guide, Tortuguero is a place where pirates used to come to hide out and bury their treasure. Who knows if any of it is actually true, but seeing the silvery beaches, the river that snakes back into the jungle, and the shadowed mangrove swamps, you half way expect to see Long John Silver-type people looking out at you from behind a vine. We never did see any pirates, but we were still amazed by the way the ocean and the river seem to weave themselves into everything that happens in Tortuguero.
In fact, there are not any real roads at all (at least none that we saw), and I can't recall seeing a single car or truck. The river provides the only sort of transportation that matters. Just a few short steps from where our plane landed we discovered a dock complete with the sort of flat-bottomed motor boat that is so common to the area. Boats do take the tourists to their inns and on wildlife tours, but they are not just there to amuse the foreigners. We saw boats full of locals going to work, boats laden with all types of groceries, building supplies, and other goods; we even saw a boat that was ferrying dirt from one building site to another. It turns out that Venice does not have a corner on the water highway lifestyle.
The first thing you notice about Tortuga Lodge is the fact that it actually hangs out a little over the river. The second thing you notice is the noise. The wall of sound created by an unseen cloud of cicadas is unbelievable. There can be no doubt that the jungle and the swamps are all around. The lodge itself is not meant to be overly glamorous or impressive. Instead, the surrounding gardens and the setting on the water are the main attractions.
The first thing we did upon arrival was go up to the dining room for some food (it was only about 8:30am). This is where we had our very first taste of Costa Rican breakfast. The main dish is something called Gallo Pinto which is made from the rice and beans from last night's dinner. They are cooked together with another Costa Rican specialty, a sauce called Salsa Lizano. Both gallo pinto and salsa Lizano are most delicious especially when paired with the eggs, fried plantain, and sliced avocado and tomato that complete the breakfast. Did I mention the fruit? Oh the fruit!
The main entertainment at Tortuga Lodge is taking the boat to view the wildlife. On our very first visit out we saw a crocodile almost immediately, but our guide told us that, at about six or seven feet long, it was considered a small one. We also saw turtles, layman, hundreds of birds including a very friendly Brown Pelican, and even some monkeys swinging from the vines just the way monkeys should. We also managed, on that very first boat ride, to get fairly impressive sunburn. Why, oh why, didn't I remember the sun block? I blame lack of sleep and lack of caffeine.
The other big attraction at Tortuguero is the GIANT sea turtles. Remember the surfer turtles in the movie "Finding Nemo?" These are the very same ones only without the comic relief. They never come to shore except to lay their eggs, and they only do so at night. Therefore, we left the lodge at about 10pm, took a short boat ride to the village, walked through the village and jungle for half an hour, and ended up on the beach. It just so happened that a lightening storm was coming in over the ocean, so a sudden flash of lightening illuminated the beach from time to time. This was pretty much the only light we saw since flashlights and other white light are not allowed around the turtles.
It was kind of a surreal experience with a long line of people waiting on the dark beach for their turn to look at the turtles up close. The tiny red lights held by the guides gave the turtles a kind of strange glow, and I felt a bit like a voyeur looking up the back end of the turtle as she tried to lay her eggs into a hole in the sand. They looked exactly like leathery, cream-colored ping pong balls, and each turtle was capable of laying hundreds in various different places along the beach.
Tortuguero is not the sort of place you forget in a hurry. The boats, the turtles, the breadfruit, all combine for that classic image of tropical life. However, one of the most memorable incidents of our visit did not have anything to do with the local area. Most of the rooms in Costa Rica do not actually have windows, or at least they don't have glass. Instead, shade cloth is used to keep out the bugs but let the air flow through. This means that you hear every single thing that happens outside your room. One night, with the curtains drawn, we lay on the bed and listened to American teenagers trying to shock each other by discussing drug use. Now you might be horrified (teens and drugs!) but it was so obviously a show meant to impress, that M and I lay there laughing silently in the dark.
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