Curu Wildlife Refuge and Tortuga Island
This is the last day of our “Family Expedition to Costa Rica” for this week. We opened our eyes with the sunrise, finding ourselves at the transitional wet forest on the southern end of the Nicoya Peninsula. Clouds were rising over the forest, a few laurel trees were in full bloom and the green lush vegetation on the cliffs around us were the first inspirational moments of this day. The location for today was Curu Wildlife Refuge, a unique family owned private project for the protection of this life zone and a rescue center for injured primates. It is a great achievement that in Costa Rica more than half of 25% of the protected areas are managed by private families and non-government organizations.
After breakfast we started three different nature walks into the forest. Male mantled howler monkeys performed loud vocalizations for several minutes that came from different troops in the area. The rain and a few thunder blasts might have created an unpleasant moment for them, hence the calls. Some others tried the munchies of the day: Termites! A few hikers were able to find a footprint left in the mud by a Margay that maybe passed a few hours before us through the trail.
We all returned to the ship for lunch at the main lounge and realized how lucky we were the entire trip for having almost no rain at all. After lunch we noticed a few kids showing up on the third deck with mud facial masks. Did our ship become a floating beauty salon? Not really, but those faces brought images like a cover page from a magazine showing native chiefs or warriors from an African tribe.
The weather forecast did not look promising for the afternoon. Then at 3:00 p.m., when the first people disembarked at Tortuga Island, the rain stopped and the overcast skies remained, bringing some relief to the people who were “tropicalized” by the sun during the entire week. Beach Volleyball, Ultimate Frisbee and other games were played until the end of the afternoon. Wonderful families joined us for the adventure and a great expedition with lots of long lasting memories.
