Tortuguero, also known as the Land of Turtles lies on the North East coast of Costa Rica. Its one of the most remote places in Costa Rica and is only accessible by boat or plane.

On the river taxi we saw sloths, hundreds of different kinds of birds, iguanas, caimans and crocodiles. Although it was a taxi, it was like a wildlife tour for us two! Talk about killing two birds with one stone!

When we arrived, we were surprised as although very remote Tortuguero is actually a bustling village with teenage girls gossiping, the boys playing football, and family lives going on as normal. As we got off the boat we saw a guy holding up a sign for the hostel we wanted and thankfully they had a room left!

Once we had settled in, we booked ourselves on a 'turtle walk'. Throughout the year four different species of turtles visit the beach to lay their eggs, the leatherback, hawksbill, loggerhead and the green turtle. We set off at 9.15pm with our guide and a small group with our red torch and when we arrived at the beach we saw an enormous green turtle laying eggs, she clearly looked exhausted when filling up her nest!
All Nick could think was that the eggs look like golf balls and Helen was thinking wow, one day those little eggs will be baby turtles! We saw a further three green turtles but in particular the last one we saw her haul herself up the beach, dig a hole, lay about 120 eggs and then drag herself back to the ocean exhausted!

As usual, Tortuguero was one of those places that used to kill turtles for their meat, shells and eggs until they realised what a money making machine the whole egg laying process was and now the turtles are protected, yay. The beach is prohibited from 6pm-6am and you can only visit during this time with a guide. The money we spent on the tour went towards the turtle project to protect the turtles from scavengers and looters! Some good done there :)

We had hoped to leave the following morning for La Fortuna, however transport was full so we stayed another day. Nick got stupidly sunburnt while playing in the sea and Helen just relaxed all day. We went for a walk hoping to see some monkeys. Now that we are in a hot country again it marked our return to having cold water showers again!

We did manage to get transport the following day to La Fortuna!
(If you ever visit Tortuguero, go to Wild Ginger - an amazing restaurant where 'California meets Costa Rica' - they do amazing guacamole!)