Costa Rica day 3

Well we had a great night of sleep and are ready to explore!  Our group had a brief meet-and-greet followed by an overview of where we would travel this week.  Does this face look excited?

I am not sure he is ready for this whole group thing either, but he is thrilled there are other kids on the trip too!  Our first stop would be the airport.  Yes, we are taking a small plane to our first over night in Tortuguero.  As we pull up to the airport they were getting our plane ready to go . . .

. . . oh my . . . a tractor is pulling our plane . . . what have we gotten ourselves into?  We all board the flight and is it full!  I don't know how Colin and I got split up but he is towards the front and I am on the back row with the emergency exit.  Thankfully it is only a 45 minute flight and when you look down at the views you sort of forget.  The first place we flew over was the hotel we stayed at the last two nights . . .

Then we saw lots of the beautiful countryside and a volcano too.

The plane took a sharp left turn and I saw a very narrow strip which I am hoping in not the runway . . .

. . . well we landed safely but the airport was empty!

Since we are staying on basically a narrow strip of land between the ocean and river the only mode of transportation is by boat.  We boarded the boat for a quick ride to the Laguna Lodge.  I love being on the water . . .

Now I have been reading up on this place and let's just say the reviews were extremely mixed but mostly not so good.  I am setting my expectations pretty low.  We arrived and were given a few minutes to change shoes and given instructions for the day.   Since we arrived so early, our rooms are not ready so we will spend the morning doing activities.  Our first stop was the Turtle Conservatory where we watched a short video but never saw a single turtle . . . seemed like a waste but oh well . . . our group did name a rescue turtle, Emerald.  We get back on the boat and head into Tortuguero National Park to explore deep in the rain forest/jungle.  We saw monkeys, lots of birds, and even a caiman.

I have always found being on the water so calming and relaxing.  Today was no different as I really enjoyed just riding in the boat and looking at the beauty of Costa Rica.

Now when I see things like this, it is is nice but that was about as close as I needed to be!

It is HOT . . . thankfully we have nice cold water to drink and heading back to the hotel for lunch.  I am still very curious about our room for the night too.  The locals (ticos) are beyond friendly and so nice . . . you ask for something and they do their best to get what you need and quickly!  Lunch was very good and with a key in hand we set out to see room 102 where we would stay tonight . . .

. . . well, I am very surprised and I do not consider this 'rustic' at all . . . our room has three beds, toilet, fans, shower, and our luggage had been delivered.  What more does one need?  It is so hot that we quickly change and head to the pool for a short break before our next adventure.  The pool is warm but it is nice to just relax and listen to the waves!  The optional tour to the village of Tortuguero was next and we went.  I mean why not?  I am so glad we did.  The village is very small.  We walked to the school to see what it is like . . . wow . . . I think even Colin realized how fortunate he was at all the opportunities he has at his school.  However, he did like the fact the classes each seemed to have a pet that wandered in and out of the classroom.  One young girl had a small rabbit in her purse too.  We then headed to the beach and learned all about the sea turtles that nest here each year.  Jenny had promised the kids ice cream so made a stop for ice cream and water.  I was surprised that the guides paid for it too.  I am beginning to think this group thing isn't too bad.  We walked around the village a bit before heading back to the lodge.  We again quickly changed and headed back to the pool to relax.  Now this is the first official day of our group tour and after an hour in the pool we had a incident.  Colin was playing with one of the boys in the pool and by playing I mean wrestling roughly and being boys . . . I was just about to tell them to tone it down.  I was worried they would hit their heads on the side of the pool but well instead we have a child that looses half of his front tooth while Colin has a gash on his knee . . .

. . . I will refrain from posting the other kid because it was not pretty.  I noticed the other kid run to the side of the pool with what appeared to be blood so I told Colin to sit down and went to check on the other boy.  Oh yes there was blood, lots and lots of blood.  We think while they were playing too rough Colin's knee hit the other kid in the mouth causing his tooth to break off, bite his bottom lip, and cut Colin's knee.  Yep and all I could think was great we are spending the next week all together!  So the broken tooth had previously been chipped and was a fake, but we both still felt bad.  After everyone seemed somewhat okay, I returned to Colin and noticed he needed to be tended too.  He first went to check on his new friend and make peace.  We all went back to our rooms to clean wounds and prepare for frog hunting and dinner.  Before dinner we met our guide, Jenny, to see if we could see any of those cool green frogs with the red eyes.  They come out at dusk and make a very distinct noise.  Just was we were about to throw in the towel Jenny found one . . .

It was super hard to try and take a photo, but it is there.  I was worried about walking to dinner knowing that every critter that scares me was probably near exactly where I was walking.   We arrived at dinner and were greeted with a nice drink . . .

and wonderful live music too!  They even welcomed the kids to join the fun!  After a great dinner with new friends, music, and games . . .

. . . it was time to head to bed in our cute, small, unairconditioned room.  Did I mention we had two awesome fans?