Tortuguero

       

It’s 5 am on Wednesday, April15.  I’m here listening to the sounds of what must be the howler monkeys – although I think “growler” would be a better name.  “Here” is the Turtle Beach Lodge on Tortuguero Island, in Costa Rica.  Tortuguero Island is a very biodiverse ecologically preserved place on the Caribbean side of the country, a place so remote that it is only accessible by boat or by a private airline.

It is stunningly beautiful.  We took a 90 minute drive from San Jose, stopping somewhere for breakfast. Then, shortly after the town of Guayapil, we came to Almendreja, where we got off the vans and got onto little boats (and where they charged us $1.00 to use the bathroom).  The boat ride was very nice, about 90 minutes more, during which we saw sloths (maybe that was on the drive), crocodiles, caymans, turtles, the Jesus Lizard, hawks, and monkeys (again, that was on the drive,  I think). 

We stopped in  the Tortuguero park in the town of Tortuguero before continuing on to the lodge.  The town is just a poor strip with a school and some tourist shops.  Thankfully there was an ICE shop selling Kohlbi cards, since Claro doesn’t work here. Of course,  Kohlbi doesn’t really work here, either, but there is a place out by the beach where you can at least send/receive texts and make calls.  It says no internet, but a lot of my fb notifications seemed to come in while I was there.

One of the things that has impressed me while here is the nearly reverential way in which some people regard the land and nature.  I’m not going to make any parallels between that and native people deifying things of nature; I am going to say that, as Christians, we tend to focus on relationships with other HUMANS, forgetting that God has given us stewardship over an entire world.  What I am learning is that one’s verbal profession of faith is perhaps not as important as the stewardship one exercises over one’s talents /gifts.  And those talents/gifts do not have to impact one’s personal body. Perhaps your gift is a love of flowers.  Perhaps it is a green thumb.  Then you need to be the best florist, the best horticulturist you can be.  That’s what I see around me, people honoring whatever God has given them.

I’m going to go down and have some coffee while waiting for the 6 am (pre breakfast) tour.  I will never go anywhere in the Caribbean or Central America without being covered in bug spray – though I can’t really complain. I’m in the jungle here, and it’s amazingly beautiful.  The bugs live here; I’m the intruder.

I have slept incredibly well since I've been here -- took an afternoon nap and fell into an amazingly deep sleep.  I think that being so deeply in nature, plus having neither internet nor cellphone signal --I think the lack of distractions and the vast immensity of the natural environment does a number on me, taking me back more deeply to my natural rhythm.  Whatever the reason, I am truly loving the rest and the environment.

9:10 am.  We arrived back from the boat trip at 8 am, at which time we had breakfast.  This morning was pinto gallo, huevos revuelots, queso, pancakes, cereal, and bread with butter, cream cheese, pina jelly or dulce de leche.  The joke here  is that in Costa Rica they eat beans and rice for breakfast, beans and rice for lunch, and rice and beans for dinner.  Beans and rice (pinto gallo) is served at every meal.  While it is a complete protein, I have to watch my intake of it.  Haven’t been in a gym or on a scale for two weeks; if I follow my usual pattern, I will simply have gained back the last 5 or 6 pounds I’d dropped.  It seems my body’s set point is about 30 lbs higher than the goal I have for myself.  Oh, well.  It’s a journey, not a destination.

So the boat trip was amazing. Two hours boating around Tortuguero, stopping wherever we or the guides saw something.  It was  mostly the guides, and once I realized I’d never remember all the stuff, I started to write down what we saw.  We saw:

-          White Collared mannequin (a bird)

-          Toucans, both black mandible and “kill bill” varieties

-          Capuchin monkeys (in families!!!!)

-          Jesus Lizards (so named because they can walk on water)

-          A white-breasted something (little bitty bird)

-          Some bird that I think is some kind of oriole but is in the owl family.  It was cleverly disguised on the end of a branch, and though I saw it and have pics, I’m not completely convinced it isn’t the branch.  AMAZING how these animals camouflage themselves; more on that later;

-          Two different kinds of bats

-          A yellowtail (don’t remember its proper name, but it’s a black bird, maybe white chest and long bright yellow tail.

-          Tiger herons.

-          Spiders

-          Cayman (don’t know what the plural of cayman is, but we saw a lot)

-          Some bird that is or is related to the national bird of Honduras

-          Kingfishers

-          Bees

-          We heard the poisonous frogs; we are supposed to see them on  the forest walk that starts in 45 mins.

-          Yellow crowned night heron

-          Iguanas

-          Anhinga, a fowl from the duck family

-          Gazillions of butterflies, all indescribably beautiful

-          Bolt-billed heron

-          And, of course, tortugas.

So. It was amazing to me that the guides always saw things that we didn’t see.  The white-breasted whatever is only about 3 inches tall, and it was up in the top of a tree that looked to be 15-20 meters high.  Yet these guys spotted it.  Maybe they knew it was in the area because of its call, but that wouldn’t explain how they saw the little bats which were about the size of golf balls, the same color as the trees, and in one case, hanging on the underside of the trees.  What I took away from this is that to see things you have to know both what to look for and where to look.

There’s probably a sermon in that somewhere, and there’s definitely a sermon in the Bloody Tree.  It’s a big, giant yet unimposing tree.  What’s unique about it is what gives it its name:  when you cut it, apparently its sap runs blood red.  Interestingly, that red sap has curative properties.  When you put the blood (red sap) on your body to cure a cut or to otherwise use for healing, as it begins to work, the color changes from red to white.  As much as I don’t like the popular Christian notion that to be cleaned is to be whitened, you can’t escape the fact that the blood is used for healing and as it heals, it turns the area white.  I’ma leave that alone until I can figure out how to preach it without implying that whitening is healing.

But first I’mma stretch out and take a little siesta til the forest walk.  Then I think I’ll come back and hit the pool.  It’s been a good trip here, and even though I didn’t get to go to Quepos to parasail, and even though I didn’t even get to see Danny, this CR trip has been awesome, as always.

I’m quite taken with the focus on ecological responsibility, and would perhaps like to pursue the nexus of ecology and theology.  While I love people and people generally love me, Christian folk often get on my nerves.  Many times we uplift our tradition or our own understanding of the Bible over anything else, thereby shutting the door for God to still speak to us.  Right now, in the African American community, there is a big push for social justice.  That is as it should be, but that does not mean we ignore ecological integrity.  The things we’re seeing with our environment (and attributing to the end of the world) might have been prevented had we looked at our entire world, including our physical environment, 20 to 30 years ago.  Again, I am NOT saying we should not focus on social justice as well; I’m saying the opportunities for social justice will decrease and mutate as our physical environment shrinks and or is poisoned.  Just as humans must focus on the entire tripartite person, so must we follow Christ in ALL the world.

I happen to think that stupidity, while anathema to Cassandraism, is a choice, one that I need to respect.  If you’re invested in being stupid, I don’t know that the best use of my time, talent or resources is to try to get you to divest of that stupidity.  Perhaps the best move for me is to deal with someone who’s not invested in being stupid.

12:45.  Lunch is in 15 minutes, but I want to  get this down before I forget.  Last first:  I’m sitting out by the dining area and speak to a guy who walks by. It occurs to me that I have a camera around my neck which likely cost more than some of these people’s houses, and that put a whole new perspective on the constant asking for tips.  It’s not about being wealthy, it’s about sharing of what you do have.

And then down  the walk comes this American (I think).  I automatically don’t like him because of the way he walks, but when he and I are the only two people in sight and he doesn’t even acknowledge my presence, well – so I watch him go towards the registration area and pull out his iPad.  I know there’s no internet service except on one part of the beach, but since he hasn’t bothered to acknowledge my presence, I choose not to interrupt him.  I watch him wander around and around searching for a signal and remember how I was prone to do the same thing.  I then wonder  if I come off as arrogantly to some people, and think of the possibility that he could be a perfectly sweet guy, just a bit preoccupied. Of course, by then he’s wandered off somewhere else in search h of a signal, and I head to the room to write down these thoughts before they leave me.

So the rainforest walk was AWESOME!!! They gave us these big ugly boots. I thought it was a bit over the top, but the rainforest is full of mud, and we needed them.  Then we got to pick walking sticks as we entered the forest.  I’m not really one for traipsing around a hot humid rainforest, but this was great!  We saw:

-          Iguanas

-          Brown vine snake

-          Brown two-toed sloth

-          A turtle laying eggs

-          Cayman (two) in the water and

-          A Tiger heron, all on the grounds of the Lodge, before we even entered the rainforest!  Inside the rainforest, we saw:

-          A termite’s nest

-          The poisonous red frog

-          The hot lips plant

-          A woodpecker

-          Spider monkeys

-          Howler monkeys

-          More termites

-          Cicadas

-          The helmeted lizard and

-          The green climbing toad.  Kenneth talked about the Green red-eyed frog, but we didn’t see it.

So I wore shorts, a wicking shirt, and a long-sleeved cotton shirt.  I was absolutely drenched when I got out of that rainforest.  SO humid!  But I’m grateful it didn’t rain.  I think I’ll hit the pool this afternoon, then do some more writing or just chill.  This has been quite the adventure.

Pics from SJ are here:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10205392428944018.1073741901.1048146180&type=1&l=95bc8b8d8e

And Tortuguero pics are here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10205392465464931.1073741902.1048146180&type=1&l=17de467d70

Weds April 15 - Tortuguero Morning Boat Ride is here
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10205392517826240.1073741903.1048146180&type=1&l=b84e69b962

and Weds April 15 - Tortuguero post breakfast rainforest walk pics are here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10205392810633560.1073741904.1048146180&type=1&l=9cf141f734