My flight from San Jose was at 5:50 am. I got to the airport fairly early through the hotel shuttle and waited. The plane we were flying on was fairly small, just a little Cessna, so to even get to the airplane we had to be taken on a bus from the terminal. The flight to Caño Palma was amazing. I will post a few videos below but you cannot fully get the experience until you go yourself. Right as you take off, you see these rolling green hills filled with jungle. The plane ride is also exceptionally exciting because it is a tiny plane and you feel every single bump (not what I am used to). I also saw some lightning while we were flying, which I am not sure if that is entirely safe but our pilots did not seem to be very worried.
I finally landed at the Tortuguero airport and met Charlotte, COTERC station manager. I had already talked to her through skype and she is lovely in person as well. We boated to the station through a canal, which was amazing. Exactly what I imagined. So my first day I saw: a basilisk lizard, green iguana, caiman, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, toucans, black river turtles, golden orb weave spiders, heron. It was GREAT. I am so excited to be around so much diversity! It is shocking to my system honestly. I have never been in such a diverse place in my whole life. Everyone here is very friendly and from so many different places! France, Britain, Netherlands, Canada, USA.
My first night without air conditioning really was not bad. I went to sleep at 6:30 pm because I had to get up to do turtle morning census this morning at 4:30 am. So I slept for quite a long time. It was kind of uncomfortable at first but I got used to it. I was going to add pics but my phone is being kind of funky, hopefully I can add some later!
Here's a link to my flying video over San Jose
https://youtu.be/M9omCXScD2Q
I finally landed at the Tortuguero airport and met Charlotte, COTERC station manager. I had already talked to her through skype and she is lovely in person as well. We boated to the station through a canal, which was amazing. Exactly what I imagined. So my first day I saw: a basilisk lizard, green iguana, caiman, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, toucans, black river turtles, golden orb weave spiders, heron. It was GREAT. I am so excited to be around so much diversity! It is shocking to my system honestly. I have never been in such a diverse place in my whole life. Everyone here is very friendly and from so many different places! France, Britain, Netherlands, Canada, USA.
My first night without air conditioning really was not bad. I went to sleep at 6:30 pm because I had to get up to do turtle morning census this morning at 4:30 am. So I slept for quite a long time. It was kind of uncomfortable at first but I got used to it. I was going to add pics but my phone is being kind of funky, hopefully I can add some later!
Here's a link to my flying video over San Jose
https://youtu.be/M9omCXScD2Q