Monday 12th August.
Today was a 5am get up so we could make the 10 minute walk with our bags, buy tickets and catch the 6am bus to tamarindo. We were a bit apprehensive having been told it was 3 changes and about 8 hours of travel but we were ready for it.
After buying tickets and waiting around we finally got onto the public bus and set off for the first 2 hour ride. We napped most of the way but I do know the views were stunning. It was early so the sun was still low, the clouds were low, and the combination over the rolling hills of forest was beautiful. After a couple of hours we were dropped off at the side of the road where we waited for 10 minutes or so for the next bus. That bus was around an hour and a half and was a combination of us sitting on the stairs, standing and sitting due to it being full. The next drop off was worse than the first as we got off at the side of the road but didn't know where the next bus would be coming past.
We found a bus stop after a bit of walking in the heat, and had a 15 minute wait before getting onto a smaller more full bus than before. That journey lasted about 2 hours and was very hot, sticky and close. We stood for all of it save the last 10 minutes or so and the bus driver was a bit crazy. They all are so it doesn't bother me too much but Liam gets very upset about these things and thought we were going to end up in a ditch. The roads were awful and the bus driver actually knocked off another cars side mirror by getting too close and too fast at one point so it was eventful.
Finally we arrived in tamarindo which is more built up than the other places we've been, it's all very dusty and old sort of looking but lots of restaurants and shops. The hotel wasn't too much of a walk with our packs and we were happy to be in the room by the time we had booked in. It was so hot and sticky we had a quick shower as soon as we had chance. The room was very nice, and the weather was nice too so we headed out for a walk within an hour or so of arriving. The beach is beautiful there, the sand is just so soft, the water warm and lots of iguanas around and big birds diving into the water after fish. We walked quite far down to the rocks, and spent an hour or so looking through all the rock pools which were so so warm it was like bath water! We saw so many things moving around, hundreds of crabs, loads of different kinds with different shells and colours. We also saw a lot of weird sea slugs and anemones. It started to rain a bit so we headed back to the hotel. Once in the hotel the rain got a lot worse and it continued to rain for the rest of the evening, which was fine by us really as we'd had a fairly difficult day of travel so were happy to lounge in our nice room watching things on the Internet. We also managed to Skype Liam's family which was nice before heading out in the rain to find food.
Tuesday 13th August
It continued to rain all the the night and most of the next day. We were a bit annoyed as we had come to the area for a bit of beach time but it only meant we could have a lie in and not feel bad about it.
We managed to Skype Millie to say happy birthday to her, and we also managed to get outside to look around. We browsed the shops considering buying a couple of new things but with money being tighter now and the place being expensive we decided against it. We spent the day mostly just lounging around, we had a late lunch and then managed to get onto the beach for a short time in the rain. We spent time in the hotel watching a few things and doing our own things before heading out again to find food. We wandered around for a while but the place is a little dodgy at night and we didn't feel fully safe, plus most places seemed very expensive. We ended up sitting in a sports bar and pub called sharkys with a jug of cocktail to share with our tea. Not much to write about for the whole day really, even though it was quite a nice one.
Wednesday 14th August
I'm writing this on the 4th september!
I was awake a lot earlier than the alarm again today and before Liam. Luckily it was fairly sunny so we got to go and spend some time on the beach for 2 or 3 hours before it rained. I just dozed and read my book whilst Liam played with hermit crabs and build them forts out of sand. Other than that we really didn't do much during the day. We spent some time panicking over what to do with our travel plans as we had previously decided to go south to ostional and see turtles there. However when we looked into it despite it only being about 30km away it would take all day and several changes on the bus , plus according to an email from the hotel we had booked into there went that many turtles coming ashore at the moment. We had to completely rethink our plans, and after going into a couple of "information" centres and not getting very far we eventually decided on booking onto a tour for that very evening. We had about a hour to go back and get sorted before we were picked up to go to a beach around 40 minutes away where turtles had been spotted over the last few nights.
It was about a half hour drive away and we were in a van with a French family of 3 and a newly married couple. On the way we saw the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen, the sun was so massive and the colours were something I'd not experienced before. They were so so bright and a kind of bright in your face orange colour right up until it slipped under the sea completely. On the way the path got more and more bumpy and un-road like with vines hanging all around. We began seeing lights in the trees and grass, then more and more until it was like every other blade of grass had a small light attached. They were beautiful and must have been lightning bugs.
We got to the beach and has to sit for a while and wait in the dark. Well it wasn't dark at all really, the moon was very bright so you could see a lot without any lights at all. We wernt allowed to have any white lights on because they scare the turtles away.
We were told we could be waiting for an hour or more to spot anything and nothing was even guaranteed so we settled ourselves down in the sand and spoke to the newly weds for a little while hoping we wouldn't get too many mosquito bites. Despite putting spray on you still seen to get one or two that manage to find an area of skin to suck on!
Luckily we were only waiting for about 15 minutes before we were told one of the scouts had spotted one come out of the sea and up to the bank to find a nesting spot. We waited 5 minutes before setting off in that direction to maybe watch it digging its nest. For some reason it didn't like the area and was turning back around to the sea by the time we reached it, so we followed behind it with the guide shining a red torch on it so we could see it without frightening it.
By this time a second group had arrived onto the beach, and I won't lie, it ruined it slightly for us because we liked the intimacy of the small group. Despite the downer of having a big group tag on it was still great so shouldn't complain.
Another one did the same as the first, the guides saying they thought perhaps the moon was a bit too bright today for them to feel safe to dig and stay. It was great following them back to the sea with them shuffling across the sand. They can get some speed on them when they want to.
We were then told it might be good if we tried the beach across the hill, so we set off on a 15 minute trek across the beach and over the hill with our torches. It was very dark in the shelter of the trees so was a bit of an adventure in itself.
We found one that was already digging a nest, but by this time there were probably about 20 people all in the same area so we had to share the nest viewing with people. The guides got groups of about 5 at a time to go quietly and stagger in a semi circle around the nest so everybody could see. One idiot child of about 12 years old thought she would put her torch on to see more which really got the guides massively over domineering when it came to lights and taking pictures. We wernt even allowed to get our cameras out to take a photo but it will be etched in my mind for a very long time. For me it was one of the best things I'd seen, watching a wild turtle digging its nest in the dark. It flips the sand out with its flippers and it was going everywhere, and if it hit you it hit with some force. They dig quite deep, maybe just under a meter deep. They then lay their hundreds of eggs and recover the hole, flattening it all to disguise their presence to any animals when they've returned to the sea. The sex of the turtle babies depends on the temperature of the sand, if I remember correctly where the sand is warmer girls are born and colder sand produces boys.
After a while of watching her dig her nest we were told there was another one actually laying eggs about 5 minutes away. We ran over the sand in the dark to get there in time before slowly approaching her nest. She had already lain loads of eggs and was still going, it was just amazing to watch. She would push and about 4 or 5 would spill out one after the other, then she would pause for a bit and do it again, she was on top of a massive pile of hundreds of big beautiful eggs. We watched for maybe 10 minutes before being leaving her alone, good job too with the amount of people turning up to watch her, I felt a bit sorry for them because although we were being quiet and not shining any lights they must know we're all there.
After we had got back we got a pizza from the place we ate at the first night because it was so nice and seemed to even be the cheapest place. We took it back to the hotel because it was about 10pm and ate it on the bed. A nice end to a nice evening.
