Tortuguero

Hi friends and family,
Carol and I are now in Nicaragua but did want to finish sharing some of our wonderful times in Costa Rica. This photo was taken from a boat in Tortuguero National Park. This park on the Carribean side of Costa Rica is most famous for the migration of Green Turtles to lay their eggs on the beaches of the park. We knew going into this part of our trip that we wouldnt be there during the nesting season but from Carols previous trip there in 2003 we knew there would be much more to see than turtles...and we did. We saw caiman and crocodiles about 5 minutes after our boat ride into the jungle waters of Tortuguero. There were also all kinds of beautiful birds. Probably my favorite spotting was of a pair of toucans. A very lucky find was getting to see what is called the Jesus Christ Lizard named for its ability to walk on water. We didnt get to see it do that but we did experience its ability to hide itself in green leaves. Click here to see its skills! We also got to see lots of beautiful small frogs including the poison dart frog, and red eye frog. No trip to the jungle is complete without seeing both spider and howler monkeys. We got pretty close to both on our last walk in the park along a jungle trail. The howler monkeys are apparently one of the loudest animals in the world. We have now heard them throughout Costa Rica and in Nicaragua. Check out the link above to both see video and hear there amazing sounds!
Equally interesting to me was the human life surrounding the park. On the long drive to our boat (the only way into the park) we passed two huge banana plantations owned by some names you might recognize- Del Monte and Chiquita. I did get to ask our guide a little bit about the conditions and she said they were very poor. Although the working conditions are poor, its still a good job opportunity for the people who work there. About 70 percent of the employees on the banana plantations are Nicaraguan. Costa Rica has a similar relationship with Nicaragua as we do to Mexico. Nicaraguans come to Costa Rica for job opportunities and Costa Rica relies on their cheap labor to do things such as process bananas to ship around the world. Of course, Chiquita and Del Monte are owned by Britain and the U.S. respectively so there are multiple layers to the stories of these bananas. ...more on Tico-Nica relations in future posts!