So anyways, back to the last few days. On Friday I woke up at 4AM (so I could catch a 5 AM bus to San Jose), turned on the light switch, and nothing happened. Turns out we'd lost power the night before in a big rainstorm. I decided it wasn't worth it to try and make the 5AM bus - too high a risk of missing something while packing with only a small flashlight, and went back to sleep. I was vindicated when it started pouring 5 min later - definitely made the right choice. So at 7 AM I began take II, and this one was much more successful. I switched buses in San Jose (I ended up getting to the bus station with 4 min to spare before the next bus to Cahuita left, but then found out it was full and I had to wait 2 hours - lame!), and got on the bus to Cahuita.
Finally I arrived in Cahuita, where I met some fellow guests at "Spencer's Seaside Cabinas", and we all went out to dinner. It was 2 for 1 foofy drink night, and we definitely took advantage of it (pic below). The next morning I went on a snorkeling trip where I saw a 5' a shark, and didn't wet my pants! Honest! I then joined Joy (one of the people I'd met last night) and another person staying at the Cabinas on a hike through Cahuita National Park. I will be writing a separate entry on the wildlife seen there, so you'll just have to wait for the details!
The next day I went up to Tortugera, a very small town a little further north. It has 2 main attributes: it is a great place to see turtles come and lay their eggs, and it is reachable by a 3 hour boat ride up a very scenic river. I enjoyed the river trip a great deal (although we got ripped off by the captain who told us that his boat was the only one leaving that day and thus charged us 40% more than normal), but decided to pass on the Turtle tour. It wasn't the right season for green turtles, and the leatherback turtles had just started coming in, but there was only a 50-50 chance you'd see anby turtles. Since I had already seen turtles laying eggs 5 years ago in Nicaragua, I decided those odds weren't worth it, and hung out at my hotel practicing my spanish in an hour-long discussion with the hotel owner. Good thing I didn't go - I talked to some people the next day who had hiked around in the sand for 2 hrs on their tour but seen nothing.
Since Tortugero was so small, I had seen all there was to see in the one afternoon I was there, so I left the next morning for Puerto Viejo. It's another nice beach town, although at this point I've seen so many I'm kind of numb to it. I did stay at a very cool / fun / artsy hostel named Rockin' J's. Everything is decorated in some way - the floors and walls and pillars have mosaics on them, the bathroom / shower stalls are painted, and the tables have collages etc on them which have then had a laminant on them. Very fun place. I spent my day and a half in Puerto Viejo chilling - caught up on computer stuff, wandered the beach a bit, and read in a hammock (one of my favorite activities).
Anyways, that brings me to where I am now - finishing up my last night in Puerto Viejo, ready to get up at the crack o' dawn to schlep on over to Panama, hopefully getting there early enough to claim a spot at this cool hostel which even offers free pancakes! Wish me luck!
As per usual, photos below:
John, Eli, Joy and I with our foofy 2-for-1 drinks. Hit the spot after a long day of bus-riding 
sunrise in Cahuita. This pic was taken 30 feet from my hotel room. And I'd been resting in a nearby hammock like the one in the pic right before taking the shot.
on the way back from tortugero, our boat captain naps on the deck while his 10-year-old son drives. Good times.
birds on a log - photo taken from our boat on the way to Tortugero
the police station in Tortugero, with a turtle mural on the side
looks like someone loves coconuts
the bathroom/shower/sink area at Rockin' J's - note the mosaic floor, mosaic sink, and painted doors.
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