Sea Turtles & Serenity: Why Tortuguero Should Be on Your Bucket List

Mar 2

With so many wonderful places to explore in this big, wide world, it’s not very often that I choose to make a return trip so soon. But, when my auntie asked me to travel to Costa Rica with her - one of my favorite places with one of my favorite people! - how could I say no?

Our first stop was a quick overnight stay at the Bougainvillea Hotel just outside the capital city of San José. We landed in Costa Rica at 7:30 p.m. to find it was already dark, a quick reminder that being so close to the equator, days and nights are each roughly 12 hours long and sunset occurrs around 6 p.m. We were just in time to get settled into our room and grab a light cosada dinner at the onsite restaurant. It was a typical Costa Rican meal consisting of chicken, beans, rice and salad. Delicious.

In the morning, we awoke to all the vibrant colors and sounds of Costa Rica. A sticker on the window read, “The best picture in my room is my window.” There was so much truth in those words!

Caribbean Side (East Coast) | Limón Province, Tortuguero

After an early-morning wake-up call, we took a bus ride to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, then a boat ride through the Tortuguero Canals. We got settled at the Manatus Hotel, then took the boat back to the village of Tortuguero - a protected area at the edge of the Tortuguero National Park and the nesting place for turtles along the Caribbean Sea.

The village of Tortuguero was little more than a main street lined with souvenir shops, restaurants, grocery stores and places to sit and enjoy a cold drink. To make the most of our limited time, I grabbed a fresh coconut to go! It is possible here to walk along the beach bordering the Caribbean Sea during daylight hours, but walking on the beach is prohibited at night (even for locals). This is the nesting place for turtles at different times throughout the year (especially between late-August and November) and is very special to the region. We learned from our guide about Tortuguero’s history of settlement, originally to hunt the turtles, though its transformation into a national park and turtle sanctuary. The people native to Tortuguero have much to be proud of.

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Back at the hotel, we enjoyed a delicious meal , then a quiet night listening to the waves, wind and rain.

Walking in the national park is prohibited - and often dangerous - everyplace but on the resort property or through the village, so getting from place-to-place requires a boat ride on the canals. For this reason, all meals were included with our stay at Manatus Hotel in their onsite, open-air restaurant.

We spent one full day in Tortuguero, seeing the rain forest from a boat on the canal and from deep in its heart at night. The wildlife in Tortuguero is plentiful and so very representative of Costa Rica. As we meandered the canals through the National Park, our eagle-eyed guide and boat captain shared so many wildlife spottings and education with us. Among the things we saw were:

A family of green macaws having a party in an almond tree
A spider monkey climbing a tree and another family of monkeys swinging from branch-to-branch
A mama two-toed sloth and her baby lounging in a tree
Multiple caiman alligators and all ages of Jesus Christ lizards and iguanas
Pelicans, egrets and SO many herons

Before heading back to the hotel for an afternoon swim, we sped to the end of the river where it meets the Caribbean Sea. The power and majesty of that transition was incredible to see!

At twilight and into the dark, we took a nature hike into the rain forest. SO… MANY… MOSQUITOES! Definitely don’t forget your insect repellent!

The rain forest at night is something altogether different and spectacular. It was incredible how dark it got so quickly, and the volume of the forest sounds. We saw tiny poison dart frogs and giant bullfrogs… We saw land crabs, golden webs, owl butterflies and a two-toed sloth (how our guide, Ricardo, spotted the sloth so high up and far away will always be a mystery to me)… We saw the flickering glow of the click beetles (much like fireflies in Indiana)… And at times we saw nothing.

I cannot say enough about the kindness of the staff at Manatus Hotel. The grounds are beautiful, the rooms inviting, the food delicious and the tour guides kind and knowledgeable.