Catching up

Greetings veryimportantresearch nation,

I've been trying to get caught up in my life since returning from Costa Rica and catching up with my blog fans is a part of that process. The last time I spoke with all of you I had just returned from whale watching in Drake bay. After that I returned to La Selva to finish up some lab work while we had the luxury of a real lab. A week later we packed up our equipment which Dr. Eaton and family took to a jungle lodge up near the Nicaraguan border. Mel, Brenda and I decided to take a circuitous route up through Tortuguero on the the Carribean coast and meet Bill a few days later. There are no roads to Tortuguero, the only way to get there is by plane or boat. Being poor college students, we decided to take the boat, which crashed into the shore at one point, combined with a few bus rides. The main reason to go there for us, and everyone else who travels there, was to see giant sea turtles laying eggs on the beach. We weren't disappointed. We got to see three green turtles and watched one while she was laying her eggs. The other great thing about Tortuguerro is the Carribean flavor. Many of the locals are dreadlocked with African ancestry and speak english with a Jamaican sounding patois. There is also the sound of carribean music and the smell of spices and coconut milk. I took the opportunity to party with the locals until three in the morning. It was a great time.
When we left Tortuguero it was a full day, a boat ride, three bus rides, and a ride in the back of a truck to get to the Laguna Del Lagarto lodge near the confluence of the Rio San Carlo and the Rio San Juan. This is one of the most remote lodges in the country and it felt like it. After the last couple travel adventures it was nice to relax, do some stat work, and clone some DNA. The place was a bird lovers paradise and had lagoons for canoeing. We even had a coconut Olympics.
Everyone left about a week into September. I delayed my flight a week so after everyone else left, I still had a week to travel solo before heading back to the U.S. Tune in later to hear about that adventure.