It all started earlier in the afternoon when my family decided to rent a car on a rainy day to explore our surroundings. The JW Marriott in Guanacaste is lovely, but it's a bit isolated and we needed to get out of the tour bus for a day and get lost in our surroundings. FIrst stop -- check out the turtles that nest on the local beaches this time of year.
A guy behind the desk at the hotel suggested we talk with the guides at the Los Baulas National Park near Tamarindo. So off we went... the little brown wooden building was just where he said it would be, but the guides were quite unorganized. After a few confused minutes, the guy "in charge" said he could help us --- if we came back at 5:30 when it was dark and turtles would come out. $40 later and a promise to pay another $40 made a deal. It all seemed fine... at least in the daylight, that is!
So several hours later, he's riding in our car, we have NO IDEA where we are going and we are assaulted by the overpowering smell of non-filtered cigarettes emanating from this guy. Who, by the way, informs us his name is Cerdo Verde -- green pig. This does NOT add to my comfort of this strange guy taking my little family out into the jungle when no one knows where we are and we have no idea where we're headed, and it is just getting darker and scarier. Believe me. I was praying to my sweet Jesus to save us and promising myself to NEVER EVER to do this again.
PRAISE JESUS! We finally arrive at a pitch-black beach where we quickly shut off all lights -- and there is another car with a young couple and a toddler there with us. Just seeing other Americans put me more at ease.
We were then treated to a most amazing experience! Although the beach was dark and dificult to navigate (especially when we were told, RUN NOW! HERE'S A TURTLE!!) We spent a couple of hours on the dark beach while our guides found several Green Pacific turtles for us to see. We also took a 20-minute hike (in the dark! but with flashlights) through the jungle and up and down a mountain to yet another dark beach and another turtle.
Finally, back at our original beach, we even witnessed a Ridley turtle laying her eggs -- there were about 80 of them -- covering her little nest, and heading back to the ocean. Green Pig came through for us and it all ended well, albeit a shaky, scary beginning. I still think it is not wise to hire a guide in this way and I would not do it this way again.... but praise God it was quite an adventure.
The other cool memory I have is the twinkle in the sand as we walked -- something like fireflies would light up as our feet hit the sand. It was like we were fairies leaving fairy dust on the dark beach as we walked.
Jesus is so good.
