Sorry about the delay!

Now I know it´s probably just my parents worrying about me, but I apologize. I did end up staying another night in Tortuguero and was on the incredibly slow internet writing a very detailed entry about everything I had seen when the internet stopped working and I was too frustrated with it to keep going (I think I paid 3 dollars for 45 minutes of internet which amounted to what i can do in about 10 minutes at home).

Anyways, Tortuguero is unlike any place I´ve ever been. It's this small little village that survives off of eco-tourism but isn't very developed, so for instance, where I went for dinner was off of someone's kitchen and serving whatever they happened to be cooking that night and the 'reception' of the cabinas I was staying in was the owner's living room.

The main attraction in Tortuguero is the turtles (or tortuga in spanish), so I went on my 'tour' from 10pm to midnight which seems at first like an exercise in futility waiting around in the dark being attacked by mosquitoes (thank god I'm taking malaria medication because they LOVE me!) while you hope and pray that the ranger in your section of the beach finds a turtle in that time span on your part of the beach. Luckily, just when I was losing hope at about 11pm a turtle was spotted. Another half hour of waiting later and my group and 3 others got to take turns watching a green turtle (more than a meter long!) lay about 200 eggs then bury them in the sand to try to hide them from predators. It was a pretty impressive sight! Unfortunately we didn't get to watch her go back to the ocean though because it got to be midnight which means everyone is kicked off the beach.

Fast forward about 4 hours of sleep and I was up to do a canoe tour of the national park. It was early and I got rained on, but I loved every minute of it :-). Animals I got to see include (but may not be limited to):

-Howler monkeys - they are pretty hard to miss because they have a very apt name and make a ton of noise

-Tons of birds (tiger herons, blue herons, kingfishers, toucans and something crazy that likes so swim along with only it's neck and head out of the water... I'm sure there are more)

-Jesus lizards - I'm not sure if that is the official name, but they actually run across the water!

-A sloth!! Also very aptly named as they move very quickly

-No manatee, but we did see a section of sea grass that apparently the manatee had eaten (although who knows, my guide could have been making that up)

Anyways, by the time the tour was over it was only 9am and I was ready for a nap! I said by to Vince and went to bed for another few hours. The afternoon was pretty laid back. Mostly made up of a 2km hike through the park (more wildlife, more mosquitoes.... and an eagle!, and some weird crabs that were living nowhere near the water in little holes), and a long walk on the beach. Some of that walk was with the ugliest dog I've ever seen. It had no hair on most of it's face and legs, but was SO excited to be walking with me! I never touched it or even said anything to it, but it still had a blast running along beside me and playing in the waves until it got distracted by some other dogs. My walk was completed with my first swim since I've been here which felt great. I couldn't go in too far but the water was awesomely warm and the waves were fun to jump into.

Now for today: up early again to catch the 6am boat out of Tortuguero. I was going to take the bus from Cariari to San Jose then from there to La Fortuna, but the guy working on the bus to Cariari told me it was faster to go the other way so off I went. Today's trek was total of about $10, 11 hours, 1 boat and 5 buses. What I've learned is a) the guy didn't know what he was talking about because some american girls on my last bus had left San Jose at 12:30 and if I had gone there I would have arrived at 11am. Also learned was that it's a little unfortunate that I am a woman travelling alone. Ever since I've arrived most of what I hear from Tico men is cat calls so I pretty much ignore all of them, however today on one of my buses a guy sat down next to me and after talking to him (while somewhat trying to ignore him) for about half an hour he said goodbye and was on his way. I kinda wish I could talk to locals more often and not have to worry about their intentions.

I have now arrived safely in La Fortuna and when arriving at my hostel found the couple that I met in Turrialba staying at the same place :-) So we are headed out for dinner tonight, and they are off to Monteverde tomorrow (where I will likely be going in a few days).

That's it for today, now you can stop worrying,
Kaila