Seamail No. 9 - Hampton Appears Part 2

after signing in we sat for about 45 minutes with no explanation in the dark. apparently we were in the second group, because we were told to wait separate from them. after 45 minutes, a small man named jose came over and explained to us that we weren't allowed to use any kind of white lights when on the beach because it disturbs the turtles. this was encouraging. maybe we're on our way to see a turtle.

2 hours later, with, again, no explanation for sitting in the dark, a swiss man finally said something to the tour guide about how we didn't understand why we were sitting there. about an hour before, the first group had been led away, apparently to see a turtle. we thought we were next. finally, after the swiss man complained, the tour guide told us that we were waiting because only 30 people are allowed to see each turtle. a good rule, as long as it is explained to people beforehand. so the first group returned and we were notified that we were waiting for another turtle to come on the beach to nest. about 30 minutes later, we were notified that the tide was too low and that if we wanted we could come back the next night for free or we could have half of our money back since we didn't see a turtle. certain members of our group, including us decided to come back, but others were leaving the next day, and couldn't. so we walked back to the boat and were transported back across the crocodile infested waters to the large shack. the people who weren't coming back had to ask for their money back, and even though they paid in colones, they were given their money back in us dollars. still though, the company didn't have exact change, so they got 25 dollars for two people instead of 26. also, other people were told they would get their refund when they got to their hotel. when we got to their hotel, and they asked for their money back, the driver told them he had nothing to do with it. we're pretty sure they just lost their money.

so that night, after waiting 5 hours and seeing no turtles, we cooked some indian food before going to bed and sleeping late the next morning.

the next night went much better, for two reasons. the first is that the swiss man and his wife from the night before came back, and we all sat around in the dark complaining about the night before instead of just wondering what was going on. also, they and some german tourists that joined us that night were happy to pick liza's brain about all the turtle facts she could regurgitate. if you can't learn it from your tour guide, it's nice to have someone like liza around... after waiting about an hour, we were told that an olive ridley turtle was nesting nearby, and we could go see it, but then we would have to go home, having seen our turtle. the reason we were there, though, was to hopefully see a leatherback turtle (the really big ones, olive ridleys are smaller.) so we decided to hold out in hopes for a leatherback. we expressed to the guide how stupid it was that we couldn't go see the olive ridley, then wait more and hopefully see a leatherback. there was no other group that night, so it's not like we would be denying others there opportunity. anyway, after thinking it over and deciding that it would be better to do this than to have to give us all half our money back if we saw no leatherbacks, the guide decided to let us go see the olive ridley. so we did! HAMPTON APPEARED!!

olive ridley turtles average about 2.5 feet long by 1.5 feet wide. this one was pretty average. when we got there, it had dug it's nesting pit already, and was maybe half done laying eggs. it used it's back flippers to cover and guard the eggs it had already laid, and every time it dropped eggs (two or three at a time) it lifter up the flippers to give us a perfect view. amazing!!! it's nest was probably 120-140 eggs, and as it started to cover the nest, we were notified that a leatherback had been spotted, but that it had already finished laying its eggs. so we hurried down the beach to get there before it left. when we got there, it was finishing covering it's nest (quite a process!), and just like we hoped, it was HUGE! this thing looked like a dinosaur.

in the light of the moon (before they turned on the red flashlights) you could see that it had 4 rows of spikes down the length of its back, and that it's head was at least as big as mine! this thing was 5 feet long, at least 3 feet wide, and that was just the body, the flippers were huge too. we were told this was a pretty average size, and that it weighed probably in the 1100 lb. range.

since turtles are not meant for land travel, and since the sand is so soft, and it so heavy, it seemed to have so much work just to move around, covering it's nest and crawling back to the sea. whenever it moved, it sprayed huge ammounts of sand on the people standing behind it. it was incredible! we watched as it crawled back to the sea toward the moon, and on it's way, it made two complete revolutions, apparently turning to check on it's nest. the whole process, from covering to back in the water took about an hour and fifteen minutes. this one, at the behest of our new swiss friend Jorg, we named Goliath. kind of fitting that we stick with the male names even though the turtles we see nesting are female since we started with a male name. and Goliath definetly fits.

so, we've seen a turtle (two actually) in the wild, and it was all worth the waiting and annoying guides, and money. hopefully things look up now in that department.

the next day in tamarindo, we decided to take another surfing lesson, because jorg had told us that he took one, and that he loved it and his wife, natalie was going to take one the next day with him. so we took a sunset lesson with them, for only 25 dollars each for two hours. it was great! liza had some trouble at first, but eventually got it, and overall, this lesson was much better than the last one for several reasons. the waves in tamarindo were managable, even for beginners. the boards we were using were soft boards especially for beginners. so that helped with the bruising, etc. and the sunset was very nice to boot. eventually, i got sick of the instructors helping me, so i went off on my own and found my own waves, and was actually pretty successful at it. overall, much more fun than the first time.

after our lesson, we decided to meet jorg and natalie for dinner at a local soda, and had a really wonderful time talking for hours about cultural differences, and life in general, and skiing. what fun to have friends! currently, we're actually trying to work out a plan to possibly tour tortuguerto national park with them later this week. and it turns out they are going to the galapagos islands soon too, so they should be a good information source on that, as fellow budget travellers.

the next day, we left our lovely place in tamarindo (not without hesitation) and headed by bus to liberia, the northernmost largish city in costa rica. it's a nice place, and we stayed at a hotel owned by a man who went to high school in missouri and lived in leavenworth kansas for several years. crazy small world. from liberia we took a day trip to rincon de la vieja national park, which is a volcanic national park in the mountains. it was a great place to day hike, and we went all over the place, bathing in some hot springs, past waterfalls, boiling mud pits and a volcancito (little volcano). unfortunately, the volcano crater itself was fogged in and rainy, so we didn't get to hike to it, but the highlight of the day came when walking back from the hot springs around dusk. we happened upon a family of white-faced capuchin monkeys. about 12 in all! babies, females, males. incredible. we just sat there and watched and wished we had a decent camera to take pictures with.

now we're back in san jose for a few days, and the camera is fixed and working wonderfully!!!! so picture updates should be around soon, i imagine. last night we checked back into our great hostel, and got an even better room with closets! we also saw the movie red dragon, which opened here last night, and we enjoyed it very much. tonight we're in escazu, a suburb of san jose, where an english language theatre group is performing ART by yasmina reza (one of my favorite modern plays) which should be interesting, because the other productions i've seen of this show are performed with an all male cast, and this one is all female. also, the theatre is apparently in the back of someone's house in a really upscale neighborhood. should be interesting.

for now, we're enjoying the cool weather, and trying to work out the details of our tortuguero tour while just doing some basic stuff in the city. costa rica is still much better than mexico, and we're so happy being on the move, seeing and doing things. it's stressful, but much more fun than being in one place. you meet so many nice people..

well, i think that is about it for this seamail installment. no new pictures for now, but we are in the process of taking some and will maybe put them up on the website sometime soon. if i can remember how...it's been awhile. the site is http://lizamueller.tripod.com and the text of this will be on www.airtreks.com - just go to trip journal and search for liza mueller.

on another note, we found out sending postcards from here is extremely cheap. BUT we have almost no addresses since our address books were stolen. please, please, please send us your addresses. there's a good chance you'll get a postcard (in any case, a better chance than if we don't have your address!)

love to all,

liza and jerad

adelante with the music pick of the week!

this week i fell back in love with the crash test dummies. remember mmm mmm mmm? how many pop singers actually have bass voices? give it a listen, the lyrics are what'll suck you in after you get past the voice (which is probably the best part). the cd is called god shuffled his feet.