Hi, dear friends of the IECR blog,

Let me tell you that last weekend was great! Our friends of the Troy University enjoyed a two days`excursion to the national park Tortuguero.

This park is located on the Carribbean coast of Costa Rica and attracts thousands of visitors every year due to its rich variety of tropical flora and fauna.

Our trip started early on Saturday accompanied by a bilingual natural guide. Driving first past coffee plantations, we crossed the Braulio Carrillo national park where we could appreciate a precious cloud forest and beautiful waterfalls. Just after Braulio Carrillo we stopped for a typical Costa Rican breakfast, fruit juice, coffe, eggs and the popular “gallo pinto”.

Then we continued to a Banana plantation, where our guided explained us the process of growing and exporting that fruit. We later abandoned our bus and embarked on the most exciting part of this tour: the boat trip into the jungle of the Carribbean Canals. At that time we went to the museum of Tortuguero and the village of Tortuguero.Back at the hotel we relaxed before dinner which was served at 6.30 p.m.

After dinner, we had been offered  an optional activity, the “night tour”, which consisted of a boat trip to Tortugero national park and then walked along the beach to observe the nesting of the Giant Green See Turtle.

On Sunday morning breakfast included plenty of tropical fruits, eggs, gallo pinto and fres brewed Costa Rican coffee. Our tour guide took us by boat to one of the most attractive sites in the region: national park Tortuguero where we explored the lagoons and hidden canals. There we appreciated tree towers nearly 50 metres tall covered with bromeliads, vines and orchids and an array of wildlife.

Then we returned to our lodge in order to prepare for the check out. After lunch we took a tour to the south of the park and then walked through the rainforest. We returned about 7 p.m.  from this exciting jungle adventure where we learned a lot about the green seat turtle, the rainforest and its endangered mammals such as sloths, monkeys, agoutis, coatimundis and manatees. We also appreciated lots of kinds of birds, such as toucans, trogons, egrets, herons and anhingas, as well as crocodiles, turtles and countless colorful butterflies, including the precious blue morpho.