2022 Vashon Island Osa Costa Rica Conservation Expedition

Today we packed up and left the reserve, then we rode the bus over to the beach for surf lessons. I had never surfed before, but I was able to stand up and keep in pace with the wave. I got a bit of a burn on my forearm, but the sun and the warm water felt great. I also got a cut on the underside of my right arm from the fin of the surfboard, but it didn’t hurt too much. The instructors did a great job teaching everyone how to surf and guiding us when we were out in the water, and I definitely want to do it again. After that, we went back to the new hotel to dry off. Then we had lunch, and free time until dinner. I watched Harry Potter in Spanish and read a little bit on my kindle. The hotel was really nice, and I slept well after an exciting day.

Today I started my day off with waking up at 5:45 and headed downstairs for the tortuga walk. We walked on the beach for about an hour and a half we walked through rivers during the walk after that we were able to chill out for a couple hours until lunch time which we had soup after that we drew animals and ecosystems after this a bunch of us went and got some pastries from a nearby store after that we had hamburgers for dinner and played cards I then went to bed at around 12:30.

On day 7, we started the morning off at 5am to go on our morning walk. A small group of us went on a walk to Hermosa Beach and were searching for turtle nests. Unfortunately, none were found; but we did see crabs, macaws, and a beautiful sunrise. Later, Graciela gave us an interesting presentation on  history and anatomy of monkeys and how they compare to humans. We then went to go look for monkeys through the trails of the reserve. We got lucky and saw quite a few. Finally, we had dinner. Everyone played ping pong together and then went to bed.

Today was our first day at Reserva Playa Tortuga in Ojochal. We got assigned different activities in the morning. My activity was a walk at 4:45am on Playa Hermosa to look for turtle nests and collect data. We saw hermit crabs, grey crabs, scarlett macaws, (a mammal I don’t remember the name of), and a vulture. Unfortunately we didn’t find any turtle nests and had to fight against the high tide coming in. After lunch we spent the day painting the local community salon. We had down time until dinner and hung around the reserve. At 7:30 a group of us went on a night walk through the swamp and jungle. Within minutes we saw so many kinds of spiders, crickets, cockroaches, beetles, and frogs. We also saw a scorpion that was around a centimeter in length. We trekked through the swamp and found a turtle, red eyed tree frogs, a milky frog, a Mexican opossum, and crabs. We saw so many spiders and one of was one of the most poisonous spiders in Costa Rica. In the trees we saw a rare mammal called a Kinkajou. The night walk was the coolest experience ever.

Breakfast in Alajuela was at 7, and afterwards we headed off on the 4 hour drive towards our next destination. Pit stops on the way included a river filled with crocodiles, and a Coasta Rican grocery store. At 12 we stopped for lunch, and ate tacos and burritos. We walked along the beach and shopped for souvenirs. Then, we headed to our jungalows in the rain and dried off to prepare to make empanadas and either coffee or hot chocolate. Our host family consisted of Graciela, her husband Roy, and their 3 kids. We all loved her youngest kid, who’s name was Alejandro. Some of us played football or water guns with him. Then, we played some pool while waiting for dinner, and walked back to our jungalows for bed afterwards.

Yesterday was day 3 of costa rica! we woke up in our tents by the river at Nido de Tigre on the Pacuare river . We gathered in the kitchen for breakfast (pancakes, eggs, and fruit), and waited for the van to take us up the bumpy road to hop on the bus, to head to a new river (due to flooding). We rafted for a couple hours and saw all sorts of birds, monkeys, sloths, and on the way back we even spotted a turtle. After rafting we traveled for 5 hours in traffic back to Alajuela. We stopped at the Exploradores headquarters to eat lunch and shower. When we got back to Hotel Rosa de America we ate  rice and beans and mini tortillas.  We ended the night (which was also Izzy’s birthday) in the pool and eating cake together.

We woke up early at hotel Rosa de America and went on a bus ride that took FOREVER to get to the rafting place. After we arrived we went river rafting down level 1-3 rapids and it was very fun. We rafted down the river until we reached El Nido Del Tigre where we spent the night in tents. While we were at El Nido Del Tigre we saw lots of bugs and some of us even ate some. During the night the river started flooding because it was raining so hard and so some people in tents closer to the river had to evacuate to tents higher up. Overall it was an awesome and unforgettable adventure.