How to Visit Sea Turtles:
2. Have an adventurous friend who decides to take a day trip to Tortuguero Village in Limon and will ask you and your roommate to come along.
3. Reserve a bed and breakfast the night before. Because the best trips are spontaneous, but it really sucks when you have no place to sleep.
4. Get out of class early, and take the extremely hot and dirty 2-hour bus ride to Cariari, Limon.
5. Get off the bus to find that Cariari is hotter than any place you've ever been.
6. Chill out (ha!) in Cariari for two hours while you wait for your next bus.
7. Take an hour-long, dirty, dusty, hot (again) bus ride through banana fields until you get to the river.
8. Be overcharged for water. Buy a ticket to go on a boat. Get hounded by tour guides offering you a "discount".
9. Book a Turtle Night Tour and a Morning Canoe Tour for a "discounted price".
10. Take an hour-long boat ride to Tortuguero Village. Feel like the Crocodile Hunter. Be a little intimidated when you actually see crocodiles.
11.Pay for your tours and check in to your hotel. Withdraw money because you're already almost out. No time for dinner. Who needs it anyway?
12. Be led through Tortuguero National Park and onto the beach in the dark. Like a flock of blind sheep.
13. See turtles.
14. Profit.
15. Pass out in hotel room after a long, cleansing shower.
Overall, it was an awesome experience. The village is cute, the bed and breakfast was nice, the sea is beautiful even though it's dangerous and you can't swim in it, the turtles are awesome even though you can only see them at night, the canoe tour allowed us to see a bunch of wildlife, and the trip home was not nearly as awful as the trip up.
However, I have never felt more like a "weary traveler" than I did during this trip. I only brought my chacos, so my feet got really dirty and I even got blisters after a while. I took three modes of transportation, including a boat. And Tortuguero Village is probably one of the remote places I have ever been. It was exhausting, but a great way to go out with a bang in Costa Rica.
I really loved Tortuguero Village. Even though it was touristy, it was rather small and the locals seemed to all know each other. It had a small hospital. I would love to live there for a couple of years and work for the hospital. That would be the perfect job for me.
I have also now officially been to every province in Costa Rica. They are:
1. San Jose - City Visited: San Jose
2. Alajuela - City Visited: La Fortuna (Arenal Volcano)
3. Cartago - City Visited: Cartago (Irazu Volcano and the Basilica)
4. Heredia - City Visited: Heredia (Cafe Britt)
5. Puntarenas - City Visited: Quepos (Manuel Antonio)
6. Guanacaste - City Visited: Tamarindo
7. Limon - City Visited: Tortuguero and Cariari
Check. Mate.
I am excited to go home on Saturday. I need a haircut, a pedicure, and my family. I just found out today that I will be tutoring for the Enhanced Learning Center at the UofA, so I am also excited for the school year.
Tomorrow, I have my last class, then we are going to the children's museum. After, I am making a point to go to the artisan market and buy all of my last gifts and souvenirs.
I have no idea what we're doing Friday, but it will be fun, whatever it is.
I will be leaving for the airport at 7am on Saturday so I can catch a shuttle. My flight leaves at 12:45pm. I have a layover in Miami. I won't be in Dallas until almost 11pm.
I can't believe it's almost over. 2 days left!
Chao!
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