Rafting, Turtles, Monkeys

This is so difficult....I can't even try to keep up with all that I have been doing. Between the limited internet access and all the fun we do in a couple days, unfortunately this blog just doesn't do this experience justice. I'll try a quick overview though...

RAFTING!!

Amazing! Literally the best rafting experience of my life. It was just so exciting the whole time with lots of huge rapids. We didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into, but Turrialba doesn't mess around. Rio Pacuare is the 5th best river in the world for rafting! Sweet. Our guide was so-so, at first he kind of yelled at us, but I guess he was just intense. Jen and I were on a boat with 3 Spaniards and they were good rowers. Thank goodness because there were some tight squeezes. I actually fell out twice...and one of those time the whole raft tipped over. Our guide (from Patagonia) told us that was the first time he had flipped this season, but it always has to happen to someone and it actually was fun! I got a couple new bruises, but it was seriously amazing and beautiful! The Spaniards were cool too, and we actually we went out for dinner with them that night too....good to practice some Spanish and hear the 'vosotros' :)

Then to Tortuguero...

We had to take 3 buses and then a boat to get to this remote 'island' part on the Caribbean coast called Tortuguero. It is a little jungle spot (no cars allowed) and when we got there we got right into a tour for the night to see big sea turtles laying eggs. It was so cool. It just happened to be this time of year, and it is quite the process. We went out with a guide at 10pm to see these turtle come out and then dig huge holes to lay about 150 eggs in, which will hatch in 60 days. It was of course a slow process, but it was cool to see it. Then the next morning at 6am we had a jungle canoe tour. We went around for 3 hours on this little canoe and got to see 3 species of monkeys, sloths, caymen, and many types of birds. I loved the monkeys, of course! It was fun too as we met these fun British friends (Max and Sophie) and a sweet Dutch couple. They really helped make our experience in Tortuguero great.

Now we are in one last Costa Rican beach: Playas de Coco. Then we will head across the border to Nicaragua. I will try to avoid the sun at all cost (aka more spf 50)...I am still peeling like crazy!!

Moving on up to the USA!
Love you all!
Taylor