Costa Rica (in short)

So I'm sitting in a hotel in Austin, TX anticipating my flight to India tomorrow and I'm still processing my trip to Costa Rica which only ended 2 days ago.

What an amazing trip! The rain and mosquitoes made it rough at first. Itchy bites, perpetually wet, mildewy clothes, and no turtle sightings (at least for my group). But by the 3rd/4th day, I had the most awe inspiring experiences with nature that were well worth the mosquito scars. We excavated a nest and found about 10 tortugitas (baby turtles) dead only inches away from the surface of the sand. The research assistant, Laura, said the rain had hardened the sand and the roots from the beach morning glories stopped the turtles from a chance at life. But as luck would have it, there were 3 living tortugitas below their deceased brothers and sisters. She pulled each out gently, turned them over, brushed the sand off their carapaces (leathery shells), and laid them on the sand. A small tap on the back, and they awoke. Testing their fins, they opened their eyes and started making their way toward the waves. Further into the nest, the other tortugitas had already been meals for maggots. Some had maggots still feeding inside them. Others had barely recognizable bodies. It was nasty. I posted some pics on flickr under the screen name "tortugitas" and also put up some videos on my Facebook. Check it out!

The best experience on the beach was seeing a mother tortuga come to shore at 12am under the moonlight. She booked up the beach in minutes and tossed sand to make a body pit. With her back flippers, she strategically dipped each flipper, one by one, scooping out handfuls of sand to make her nest. Then, in a trance of soft grunts, she started releasing eggs into the pit. About 35 in total. The last "eggs" were "vanos" which aren't really eggs. They are much smaller white sacs with no embryos, only albumin (egg whites). No one really knows what the vanos are for. Perhaps to trick predators.

Some other cools species we saw were sloths, holler monkeys, white-faced chapuchins, poison dart frogs, cane toads, walking sticks, enormous cicadas and grasshoppers, Jesus lizards, and giant katydids and spiders. All contributing to the crazy sounds of the rain forest. Morning, noon and night, the sounds are both eerie and wonderful! "Sound scapes" as our instructors called them. Tarn described the cicadas calls as "pulsating" through the trees. It's true. If you close your eyes, you hear the heartbeat of the forest. Absolutely amazing.

We ended our trip at a Mountain Lodge where they grow organic coffee beans. So yummy. And we rafted through rain forest canyons down the Pacuare River. Nothing can beat that ending.