My alarm sounded at 4:45 — I don’t recommend Tortuguero as a destination for sleeping in — and I hopped out of bed, oddly alert for such an early hour. Sun rays were beginning to peek through the trees outside my room, and I could hear the roar of the surf and howler monkeys just past my window screen. Waking up in a tropical, Caribbean paradise — it’s a rough life, I tell you.
Cerro Tortuguero, or Mount Tortuguero, was closed to tourists just a few years ago; an influx of hikers had compromised the integrity …
After yesterday’s power nap and a solid night’s sleep, I woke up at dawn and walked along the beach. Turtle Beach is one of few Tortuguero lodges with its own beachfront, and I wanted to take advantage of every minute in this perfect location. The sun was a soft yellow and the volcanic sand was already warm beneath my feet. I’m an early riser, but rarely do I get a chance to walk along a deserted beach just after sunrise — I decided that this was the ideal beginning to the day.
Fifteen minutes and a …
I don’t know what it is about traveling that saps every, last ounce of energy from my body, but it does. I just woke up from a four-hour nap, and this is coming from someone who “doesn’t take naps.” Let me explain.
Michael from Turtle Beach Lodge picked me up at 5:20 this morning. The early pickup was part and parcel of our trip to Tortuguero, a sleepy village on Costa Rica’s northeastern coast. Tortuguero is also the name of the surrounding national park, which hosts four of Costa Rica’s sea turtle species: leatherback, hawksbill, loggerhead …
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