February 7–13, 2007, Number 133
Here I am hiking in the nature reserve in Curù. It was a really beautiful hike. Top inset: This white-faced monkey was amazing to watch while it caught and ate bananas. Bottom inset: This is a picture of a mother howler monkey with her baby, also eating bananas.
Curù and Tortuga Isla
On Sunday, I traveled with my school to Curù and Tortuga Isla for the day. To get there, we took an hour-and-a-half ferry from Puntarenas. At Curù we visited a family-owned nature reserve. There were so many amazing animals here! I saw a lot of monkeys, lizards, birds, butterflies, and sloths to name a few. They even have white-tailed deer, which I did not expect to see in Costa Rica. We took an hour-long hike through the nature reserve. It was really fun except I was terrified the entire time that I would see a huge snake or spider. The tour guide said that they have many different types of snakes and that it is very common to see snakes during the hikes. Thankfully, I made it through the whole hike without seeing anything too scary. After the hike, we were served a great lunch. The monkeys must know what time lunch is served, because shortly after we were finished eating about 20 white-faced and a couple howler monkeys showed up. They were surprisingly tame and let us get within 5 to 10 feet of them. The lady that was cooking us lunch, threw bananas up to some of the monkeys that were hanging out in the trees. It was so neat to watch the monkeys catch and eat the bananas. After watching them for a while, it was time to head to Tortuga Island.
Left: My friends, Jon and Brennan, are pictured here having a great time snorkeling. Below, left: This picture is of me hanging out at the beach on Tortuga Island. I had so much fun spending the day here.
By boat, we traveled about 15 minutes to a turtle-shaped island, hence the name Tortuga (or Turtle). As we drove up to the island, I kept thinking to myself how lucky I was to be able to see such an amazing place. Never in my life have I seen any place as beautiful as Tortuga. At Tortuga, the beach has white sand and the water is bright blue. After dropping some non-snorkelers off at the beach, the snorkelers headed off to a tiny island about five minutes away from Tortuga to go snorkeling. As I mentioned in my last article, I am very scared of fish. All the students got in the water with their snorkel gear and began snorkeling. After building up as much courage as I could, I too put all my gear on and slowly slide into the water. Initially, I held onto the boat for security.
Eventually I realized that the fish weren't really that scary, but rather they were a lot of fun to watch. In no time I gained confidence and was swimming all over the place. I saw some amazing fish. They were all really different. Different shapes, sizes, and amazing colors. I was having so much fun that I didn't want to go when it was time to leave. After snorkeling, we headed back to Tortuga for fresh watermelon, pineapple, and coconut. We spent the remainder of the day swimming and playing volleyball at the most beautiful beach I could have ever imagined.
I had a wonderful time at Curù and Tortuga Isla. Even though it is really expensive to take a trip there, I would love to go again before I leave. I am happy to say that I overcame my fear of snorkeling and I can't wait to go again soon.
- Sincerely,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885