This weekend, we went on a trip that ICDS (my program) planned to Tortuguero. Tortuguero is a national park in Costa Rica known for its beautiful canals and sea turtles. It has a lot of other things to offer as well. We left for Tortuguero on a small bus at 6:15 am. The bus ride took about 5 hours which included breakfast at a local restaurant, the food was good as usual. Once we got into the small rural town, we took a boat through the canals which led to our small resort. The resort was beautiful. We slept in huge tents (about 5 beds to a tent) which was the best way to do it. It was an eco-friendly lodge so there was a noticeable effort to reduce electricity and water consumption, which was nice. Once we got there, we ate lunch and I took a tour of the waters through a kayak and also ended up lounging around on the hammocks in the resort. Then, we took our boat over to the local school. This school was very small and poverty stricken. There is 1 teacher and 6 students in the entire school. All afternoon, we built a path for the students so during the rainy season they could walk to school without ruining their shoes and clothes everyday. It was manual labor, but extremely rewarding and fun. After that, we all embraced our sweaty-ness and played some volleyball, then got showered and ate dinner. We ended the night by singing around a campfire and talking ourselves to sleep. Falling asleep to the sounds of the rainforest was so amazing, I cannot describe it. Throughout the day we got up close and personal with a really cute sloth, saw and heard many monkeys, and saw a ton of cool birds, insects, and plants. On Sunday we woke up at 5am and took our boat to a green sea turtle sanctuary. We watched the turtles get pulled out the sand, we measured a few, and then released them all. They were so adorable. We took the boat back to the resort, ate breakfast, hung around the resort, and headed back to San Jose. Oh and right before we left, we saw a small crocodile!
The weekended was phenomenal. Like I said before, I cannot begin to describe how amazing it was. The teacher, counselor, and guide who accompanied us were so happy to have us and they helped make this weekend one of the best in my life. I am so thankful! Remember to get to know your teachers. Our teacher, Helen, came with us and she is a great friend! She is so knowledgeable and down to earth.
Unfortunately, I need to start my homework. Sundays are always the days I have this great realization on how wonderful my life is... and then I start my homework.
Here is a picture of our captain, boat, and a bit of the canal:
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