Day 6.1

Rana Roja Lodge, Costa Rica--Last night we had the awesome experience of seeing a turtle lay eggs! We had to take a boat to the village at 8:00 PM, creep quietly onto the beach, and approach the turtle from the back only once it started laying eggs. If we had approached it before it began laying, we would probably have scared it off back into the ocean. While stumbling around a dark beach was challenging, the chance to view a five-foot turtle up close made it worthwhile. Marcy had fun imitating the turtle laying eggs the following day.

The wildlife here is...well, wild. As Be'l pointed out to me earlier, Costa Rica has an amazing range of ecosystems despite its small size as a country. This allows for a variety of exotic plants and animal species we've never seen before. Outside of Be'l and Grandpa's cabin, Be'l spotted a species of blue crab that literally looks like it's from outer space. I've included a picture below.

Cabin life is fun, but it does have its challenges. For example, the cabins have no walls. Rather than being paper thin, they are nonexistent. Instead, we have huge windows with screens. This means come nightfall, we have to be a little more quiet than we would be otherwise--and as Diddy pointed out, us children failed utterly at this our first night. This also means that any animal sounds we hear outside have the potential to wake us up and really freak us out.

Early this morning, Marcy, Jonas, and I were all awakened by something heavy hitting the roof of our cabin. As I had had a dream earlier about tropical snakes hurling themselves at our windows, I was a little freaked out. Then the howler monkeys started their early morning mating calls, and it was rather hard to sleep through that. If you all have never heard a howler monkey howl before, imagine the loud guttural grunt of a hippopotamus in labor and you'll be close. Of course, it was a "real life experience," as our guide Piko would say, although I think I would have preferred to wait until the morning for this one.

Zoinks!