Jordan in Costa Rica 2012: Mary's Visit!

What a whirlwind adventure! My best friend Mary came to visit me. Let me tell you our story through pictures :)

Tortuguero

Mary and I headed to Tortuguero for our first adventure. After two buses, we boarded a boat. It was not the most professional of settings, but certainly an adventure.

We had to hop from one boat to the other in order to find a seat.

We were just happy to be together!

Mary looking skeptical at the tug boat system.

Time for silly pictures!

After the boat ride we headed into with the intention of checking into a hotel I had reserved. The reservation was not in place so we walked around with the manager of the hotel looking for another place with room for the night. We finally were placed in a small "cabina" and went to dinner. We decided to head out to the Turtle Tour that night. Essentially, a trained guide takes you to a waiting spot at about 8pm and tells you all about sea turtles. Once a turtle has come to shore to lay her eggs we would head out to watch this amazing ritual. Of course, it was just our luck that all the turtles were partying that night and decided not to lay their eggs. We waited in the dark for two hours and headed back to the cabina, hoping that our canoe tour the next morning would be a bit more fruitful.

And it was INCREDIBLE! It was everything I had imagined before coming to Costa Rica and more.

Cute Mary heading out for our adventure

Fisherman we saw on our way to the canals

Blue Heron.

Our Guide, Luis, his nephew Jack and daughter Chayla.

Caman.

Waiting for the rain to slow down gave a great opportunity for pictures!

Awesome aquatic plants.

The "crew"

Tortuguero, Pura Vida

Mary, finding friends wherever she goes!

Heron

Grasshopper

Creepy bug by our cabina. No bueno! Good thing our Zaguate friend came to the rescue!

Turtle shaped depression in the sand!

Turtle tracks!

Turtle nests!

The only turtle we actually saw the whole trip...

We had heard that if you get up super early in the morning, you would see baby turtles making their first run to the ocean. Everyone said "yeah, just walk on the beach, you'll see them!" So this is us, awake at 4:30am.

Turtle "doughnuts" :).

Many turtles get scared and head back to the ocean without laying eggs. It takes 30 years for a turtle to reach maturity. It's a wonder any of them ever make it back to their beach.

While we did not see baby turtles, we did see many carcasses of adult turtles. So sad! Pirates kill them and sell the eggs and meat at market. It is not very much profit. Approx $2 per kilo of meat.

Incredible sunrise...

mixed with the sad reality of life.

We returned to Tres Rios. Mary came to visit school with me on Tuesday and then went on adventures with Emilia on Thursday! She had some issues with getting her bag returned to her (never fly areomexico if you want your bag delivered to you in one piece!) so she spent Wednesday figuring that out. Luckily, it just meant spending more time with her :)

So cute! Mama Emilia and Mary!

Delicious crepe and good company. I was observed by my supervisor, Barb on Thursday. That's the lovely lady in the background. She took us to coffee after the observation, so nice!

Today (Friday) we decided to go to InBioParque. It's a natural, biological zoo. Meaning that only dangerous/poisonous things were in cages (Snakes, tarantulas, etc) the rest were roaming free!

Our breakfast!

Awesome bottle cap sculpture.

Awesome jungle plants!

Apparently some natural drugs are made from native plants in Costa Rica. A pharmaceutical company teams up with InBioParque to make these drugs. The park decided it would be good to show examples of the pills in the middle of a nature walk.