Pure Vida
I can’t begin to tell you about the amazing experiences I’ve had in 48 hours. I’ll begin with what happened about 3 hours ago.
I’m in Costa Rica in a province called Guanacaste. Mix of rainforest and dry forests on the pacific coast side. I was coming out of one of three restaurants in the area after eating an amazing piece of Marlin wrapped in banana leaves on pineapple rice which cost 3800 colones….About 7 bucks. A few minutes later this kid is yelling to me “Run Run..Get your scooters” The next thing I know I’m traveling down on a dirt road on my scooter in the middle of central america. Its bumpy and crazy from the rainy season. There are vines swinging in the road. A stray dog chases me. Its pitch black but for the headlights of our scooters. We ride for 10 minutes into the middle of nowhere. Carlos a local environmentalist guide riding on the back of my friends scooter signals to stop. We must shut off the lights. We go on foot. We have only a flashlight in the middle of the woods. The path is barely wide enough for a person. How long will this path take. What the hell was that animal that just moved right near my head. I’m getting a little scared. Where is this guy taking us. And why is he taking us out away from all light and civilization and what is in his backpack. Then I hear the roar..of the ocean! A couple minutes later we step out of the woods onto a beach and I look out and see every star. Apparently I’m standing somewhere between the north star and the southern cross. I’m on a beach thousands of miles away and I am the only one that doesn’t speak spanish and waves are crashing We walk rapidly along the shore and then about 200 feet up ahead I see a tiny red light. We get closer. A guy with a red flashlight is waiting for us and he has 5 others in front of him.Carlos reaches into his bag and pulls out a red flashlight. He pushes us forward toward the others. They are all on their knees or standing with their backs to us. looking down. Looking down..
At a huge leatherback turtle! 4 feet in length and probably 800 pounds. Its digging and grunting. Its back flippers dig a perfectly rectangular two feet deep hole in the sand. And over the next 20 minutes it lays 88 eggs. I watched it all. This is all true. And it just happened under the stars here in Playa Grande, Costa Rica. I put my hand on Carlos’ back and say “muchos gracias amigo.” He says “pure vida!”
Good night:-)
