Turtles, Turtles Eveywhere...

or not.

Fear not Team, I am alive and well and trying to figure out where the punctuation marks are on these central american keyboards. So if the punctuation is whack for you when you read it, thatçs why... it is not because I got high at Tortagaro or anything, even though I was offered The Spliff once. Though only once, which is kinda surprising since its got a rasta vibe.

But I digress... I have not been swept up in a mudslide and sent down a mountain. Though as many of you have heard, the rains here have been pretty intense. Not "Rains of God" intense, like in Uganda, but still very heavy and very continuous. And I donçt pretend to be everywhere in the country... like the Pacific coast. I was trying to decide which way to go, either to the Pacific or Caribbean coast first and then loop around the country, and Mother Nature gave a very clear message to head east to the Caribbean, as the west coast of Costa Rica was declared a disaster area with mudslides and tragic deaths. All the children were off school two days ago in mourning for the 60 plus folks who were buried when a hillside gave way. Hopefully the rains will abate a bit soon, so as to give the country a break.

And due to the rains, I wonçt likely be going to Corcaverda or Quepos, since they are flooded. Sorry Nikki and Tom, I wonçt be able to share memories from other times...

But letçs get to the thousands of turles... I didnçt see.

Now, I didnçt really know that the east coast of Costa Rica was all about turtles. As in, during the high season, from July to the start of October, there are literally 10,000 tourists a week in a town that has 700 residents.... I cançt find the exclamation point to make that last sentence as dramatic as it should be. We had our choices of rooms, because of the slower time that has come. The town of Tortugaro, where the main turtles crawl up on the beach, thousands of them, and lay their eggs, is a cool place. Muddy streets, no cars, chill nice people and tasty food. The only way there is by boat, or you could fly if you were lame. :)

So my first day was landing in San Jose and meeting some other travelers. Getting me "see legs" back, which happened very quickly. Usually it takes 3 days or so to get back into the swing of backpacking. But because I was soooooooo ready for this trip, I felt like I was back at it quickly. Though Ive been cheating a bit... more on that later.

San Jose is a green mountainous town. One friend of mine would say it sucks ass since he was mugged there, and well, if Id been mugged there Id say it sucks ass too. Fortunately I wasnt... but when I was wandering around, trying to locate my hostel as darkness was falling fast, rain was falling hard, and the map I had not only didnçt have all the streets labeled... it didnçt have the hostel in the correct location! So I had to decode where I might be in a town where very few streets have signs or labels, and I was carrying around a lot of money cause I had just stopped off at the bank. Yikes. Eventually I saw a roofline from the side that I imagined to be what the rooftop bar from the hostel would look like if I were outside it, and I was able to find the gate and the very small sign. whew.

I met a few fellow travelers. We all played OMNI SCORE, which is known as Yahtzee in places other than Holland, where Marleen, the games owner, is from.

The next day I cruised to the bus station, got my 2 dollar ticket and rode out of town... into an AMAZING landscape of mountains, valleys, rivers, clouds, rain, sun. Wow. It was spectacular. I looked down to set an Ipod playlist, rocking songs like Ramble On, Touched, Kyrie, St. Elmoçs fire, Africa and more... and looked up as we emerged from a tunnel onto an amazing, uber green landscape. It was great. Music rocking. Street rolling beneath us.

Oddly, I couldn,t help but think of Viet Nam. I just finished reading MATTERHORN, written by my good friend Laurel-s dad, Karl Marlantes, before I left on the trip. And the book is an incredible story of soldiers in Nam. And the terrain and mountains and super thick jungled slopes made me imagine even more the hell the soldiers went through.

After a bus, we transfer to another bus. The first was like a greyhound in the states. The second was like a school bus. No wait, it WAS a school bus!. Replete with seats built for 8 year olds. I love it! sure, my 6 foot frame barely fit, but its traveling like this that makes you really see a place. The bus dropped us at a water taxi, which took us for an hour or more into the Mini Amazon of the northeast of Costa Rica. Awesome.

In Torugaro I ran into Marleen and Ulrike from San Jose, and also made friends with Ina. We saw a baby turtle, about 4 inches long, crawling ot the ocean, but no mass influx of turtles. Again, that was over months ago, and now that I know it exists I will have to come back and check it out sometime. There was a festival for the end of turtle season that consided of 4 of the LOUDEST OUTDOOR BARS IN THE HISTORY OF THE PLANET. Holy crap, the reggaeton was SOOOO LOUD everyone was standing on the paths outside the bars.

The next day we did a canoe trip into the national park... in the rain. Our guide, Mr. Bill, is 84 years old and used to hunt Jaguars and other animals before it was outlawed, and now hes a guide. He had great stories and even though it was raining, we had a great adventure down the sampy canals and into the hidden jungle world. I loved the rain. It made it really cool and feel like quite an adventure. The rest of the day was about eating, yep its me, gotta eat!, and a hike through the jungle and on the beach. I got to know my travel buddies and they are all cool. Ulrike especially was inspiring, as she has MS, but isnçt letting that stop her from living life. She might have an attack at anytime, but sheçs going on an around the world trip, following her dreams, and saying kiss off to the physical issue that might stop other folks. I was humbled and impressed.

And we capped the night off with an Imperial beer, really LOUD raggaeton again, and some Omni Score.

Today was one of the coolest boat rides Içve ever taken in my life. 3 plus hours zipping along a canal and rivers surrounded by jungle and green and occasionally seeing the caribbean beyond. We stopped at stilted restraunts, we got gas from gas pumped in a town that was flooded, and the boats were on the streets and the cars were no where near. There was even a bus parked in the water, collectging travelers.

But it was the jungle, smoothe water, overcast sky, wind in my face, occasional splashes or huge ass splashes that kept it lively and wet that were the best. It was really wonderful.

Now Içm in Cahuita, on the south Caribbean cost. Ina and I are still on the same path today, so weçre hanging. Nope, no RBR here team, donçt get to excited. :) Just travel buddies. Though tomorrow I think I will head off on my own. Sheçs fluent in spanish... and english, and dutch, and french. So itçs sorta cheating to have someone who makes it so easy that I donçt have to make the connections in a language that I long ago should have learned. So tomorrow, even though were still heading the same direction, Içm going to branch on my own a bit and get out of the comfort zone. After all, thats a big part of what doing these trips is for.

Things to look forward to: rafting, rain, surfing, rain, hiking, rain, Panama, rain, Mountains, rain, Ziplines, rain, and more fun that you can throw a mudball at.

Rock on
Craigo